International Girl Child Day

In only the last three months, these have been just a few of the headlines:
A 12-year-old rape survivor in blood-soaked clothes walked miles asking for help; not a single person listened to her plight. In Madhya Pradesh.
A five-year-old was raped and murdered. In Kerala.
A seven-year-old raped and strangled. In Uttar Pradesh.

Shock, horror, disgust. And then we move on.
We take out angry processions. Light a few candles. And then we move on.
We scroll furiously on social media. We create trending hashtags, and live campaigns. And then we move on.

What we don’t do is teach our impressionable tween- and teen-age boys to stay away from Andrew Tate’s misogynistic sub-culture of social media hate speech. Instead, we laugh it off as boys will be boys.

What we don’t do is let people know that feminism is about shattering patriarchy; that structure which impacts her, him, them. Instead, we scoff at feminists.

What we don’t do is build a safe society where women can wear what they want, say what they want and do what they want. Instead, we call them immoral and pass judgement.

Grim Reality: At least 90 minor girls were raped every day in the country last year, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

Sorry, but I can’t make myself wish you Happy International Girl Child Day today because it is not happy. Yet hopeful as I am, perhaps in the near future, our girl children would be able to enjoy a happy, safe and judgement-free run. We owe that future to them!