From DEBRA@oln.comlink.apc.orgWed Sep 13 12:39:59 1995 Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 10:52:00 +0100 From: Debra Guzman Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijing95-l@netcom.com, beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org Subject: WCW: Day of the Girl observed in Beijing [The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] ## Original in: /HRNET/WOMEN ## author : theearthtime@igc.apc.org ## date : 07.09.95 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Day of the Girl observed in Beijing By Mathilde Camacho Earth Times News Service BEIJING--A steady downpour and gray skies did not dampen UNICEF's Day of the Girl on Wednesday. The morning session started with a smile and a song and ended with a laugh. Little girls and big girls were honored and cheered and applauded and everybody forgot their wet feet and their dripping umbrellas. Two rows of young girls dressed in colorful red print dresses sang in Chinese and in English. Their faces were wreathed in smiles as they sang a song written in honor of the girl child and her hopes for education and life. The girls came from the Milky Way Art Troupe and their song, composed and written for UNICEF's "Special Celebration of Girls" is called "We Want Sunshine." In Chinese poetry, "flower bud" is a metaphor for a young girl and these girl children sang "We are young plants; we are flower buds; we want our rain and dew; we want our sunshine." This set the scene for short speeches by some very distinguished grownup girls who prove by their ranks and accomplishments what women can and should attain. The Vice President of Uganda, Speciosa Wandira-Kazibwe stressed that the education of girls should bring out more than just a submissive even though educated girl. Make the girls learn science and mathematics, let them play with dolls but give them bicycles, teach them martial arts, teach them the power of money, make them sure of themselves so they can ask a boy out and pay for him too. And give boys dolls to play with so they can learn the art of nurturing and care. Scientific and technical education for girls was also emphasized by the First Lady of Brazil, Ruth de Cardoso. Women in Brazil Have made great strides and have been integrated into the work market but they are still a long way from getting equal pay for equal job. Conference Secretary General Gertrude Mongella explained the hardships of girls in Africa who start working almost as soon as they can walk, helping the mother cook, fetch water, take care of siblings. Free them to study and learn. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Begum Khaleda Zia, also stressed the importance of education and Princess Basma Bint Talal of Jordan, the need to provide an incentive for girls to remain in school and get a higher education. Then other distinguished ladies and some young girls gave testimonies on what it was like to grow up a girl and what it means to be a girl now. Most had caring fathers, extended supportive families and only came to feel discrimination when they grew up. A 14-year old girl from Nepal thought it was wonderful to be a girl but that child marriages were "horrible, horrible, terrible." And Nina from the United States thought it was fine to be a girl too and that the only advantage boys had was that they could stand up when they went to the bathroom. By far the most entertaining and meaningful account of growing up a girl came from Bella Abzug of WEDO who grew up in a humble family in the Bronx, New York, where her father had a butcher shop called "Live and Let Live." As Abzug explained she was not a "good" girl. She argued and questioned and fought, both with boys and with traditions. Tradition said that women were not to say morning prayers in the synagogue but little Bella went there anyway after her father died. Everybody said she should not do it but that didn't stop her. She wanted to be a lawyer and applied to Harvard and was furious when Harvard refused her only because she was a girl. So she went to Columbia instead, with a scholarship and became a lawyer. She ran for Congress and became a woman in the House as well as in the home. Her advise for all girls is to get in there and push and fight for an equal share of the earth.