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The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has declared 8th December as "Girl Child Day" to focus attention on the Girl Child especially the Girl Child of the South Asian Region - WHY?

The answer lies in the fact that she is deliberately or by tradition discriminated against and is the beginning of discrimination against women which has resulted in half the population of most countries and the world being discriminated against and their energies and talents not being utilised to the full in development.

Is it therefore surprising that South Asia Gender Development index is among the lowest in the world? Can we South Asians be complacent about this situation and let it continue without interventionist action?

Let us first try to understand this situation: gender discrimination starts with the Girl Child, resulting in female foetal abortion, female genital mutilation, child brides, child prostitution and sale.

While there has been gender discrimination throughout the ages, today it exists mostly in countries where poverty prevails and where socio-cultural tradition endows the male with an aura of superiority over the female, forcing a choice between males and females in the provision of the limited facilities available.

Thus, the girl child is discriminated against in addition to being vulnerable as a child. At the same time, being regarded traditionally as "mother's aide" places a heavy family burden on her.

The Girl Child of Sri Lanka is in a better position than her South Asian sisters. Generally prejudice against the girl child is not marked in Sri Lanka as in other parts of South Asia, but research shows that the boy child has a slight edge over the girl child who tends to be regarded as the "lesser child".

Free education, has, to a high degree, reduced preference for education for the boys rather than the girls, but among the vast majority of the populace, comprising low income families, time budget surveys have shown that there is an uneven distribution of household chores between boys and girls for which the mother is also responsible, indicating the need to sensitize her on the issues. While the early assumption of responsibility and power to make decisions on the part of the girl child can be viewed positively, the overall impact of gender role stereotyping of domestic chores is negative in terms of equal opportunities for girls and boys. Traditional school text books, activities and early childhood training further aggravate the problem.

Discrimination against the Girl Child creates a cycle of discrimination. To begin with mothers are as much to blame for this discrimination as anyone else because discrimination starts at home and the mother, the former girl child who was discriminated against perpetrates this discrimination almost without thinking in the tradition of patriarchal gender bias society by showing preference for the boy as an "asset" and treating the girl as a "liability" and as the "lesser child" for whom a dowry may be necessary and hard to come by. Food and healthwise being given second place and subjected to taboos during menarche and pregnancy, she tends to produce low weight babies - if she survives the numerous instances of bearing children - and is relegated to the home and its chores with no choice of being a participant in and beneficiary of society and its development.

Many girl children wind up as domestic aides, working hard and earning little and are subjected to sexual harassment and abuse and goes through life being more vulnerable to the vicissitudes of life than a boy and a man.

Therefore, the realisation on the part of SAARC that, apart from it being in tune with the UN's action in respect of children, it should also focus special attention on the Girl Child has resulted in an interesting interaction between the UN, SAARC and Sri Lanka as well as the following landmarks indicate:

In 1990 the World Summit for children adopted a global plan of action for children which was accepted by Sri Lanka. The Children's Secretariat of the Ministry of Women's Affairs dealt with the programme of early childhood education, while the Women's Affairs division of the Ministry dealt with the SAARC activity relating to the girl child. The SAARC reinforced this global consensus by designating at its Male Summit in 1990, 1991-2000 as the SAARC Decade of the Girl Child, with appropriate Action Plans to be drawn up by SAARC member countries to address the issues, advance the status of the girl child and reduce disparities between girls and boys.

In 1991 The Decade Plan of Action was endorsed by the SAARC Colombo Summit. The Colombo YWCA, in collaboration with UNICEF, organised a seminar on the girl child in November, which examined the problems in depth and made wide-ranging recommendations covering, inter alia, health and nutrition, education, legal aspects, cultural aspects and the girl child in the context of national development.

In 1992 the Second SAARC Conference on Children of South-Asia, Colombo resulted in the Colombo Resolution on Children which was endorsed by the Dhaka Summit the same year.

In 1994 a separate Ministry of Women's Affairs was established with a Children's Secretariat and in September 2001 it was once again combined with the Ministry of Rehabilitation and development of the East and Development of Rural Housing. SAARC's focus on the Girl Child had the effect of the 1995 4th UN World Conference on Women in Beijing declaring the Girl Child to be one of the critical areas of concern in its outcome - the Beijing Platform for Action-and has resulted in it figuring in the agendas of several other international and regional fora.

Sri Lanka is perhaps unique in having a Girl Child Centre which was established with NORAD providing its equipment. With the assistance of other Agencies it has held health camps for girls from disadvantaged backgrounds, conducted several training programmes for government and NGO personnel caring for children, especially abused children - and held 2 regional Workshops - in 1997 on "The Girl Child: The First Stage Towards Gender Equality and Equity" in the SAARC Region followed by a Poster Competition for the region on the Girl Child which was viewed by the former Secretary General of SAARC, and in 2001 a Workshop on "Children of the Region with special focus on the impact of the SAARC Decade of the Girl Child".

The Centre has been fortunate in having a sponsorship partnership with SIDA since 1999 and works with a CORE GROUP of fellow NGOs caring for children and especially with the National Child Protection Authority. In the latter half of 2001 the Centre has extended its outreach to the Provinces in training their Probation and Child Care Officers.

Thus, the cause of the Girl Child is very much in focus in Sri Lanka as in the rest of the SAARC Region with joint efforts to realise the objectives of the SAARC Girl Child Day.

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