UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, and UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, commemorated the UN International Day of the Girl Child on 8 October with a cricket day for girls. The event took place at Pakistan Sweet Homes in Islamabad on Tuesday, and more than 70 girls from 4 different schools and 15 women from the expatriate community participated.
A total of 350 spectators, organizers and cricket players took part in the event. Young girls from Mashal Model School, Millennium Roots Schools, National Special Education Center and Pakistan Sweet Homes played a number of cricket matches in an all-day tournament to celebrate the day.
The UN International Day of the Girl Child promotes girls' human rights, highlights gender inequalities existing between girls and boys and addresses the various forms of discrimination and abuse suffered by girls around the world, a statement issued by the UNICEF office in Islamabad said.
The world's 1.1 billion girls are part of a large and vibrant global generation poised to take on the future. Yet the ambition for gender equality in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlights the preponderance of disadvantage and discrimination borne by girls everywhere on a daily basis. Speaking at the event, Ms. Sangeeta Thapa, Deputy Country Representative of UN Women, congratulated all participants and said that cricket is an excellent way to promote girls' empowerment. "Sport creates confidence which is required for all girls to grow into strong and independent women", she said.