International Day of the Girl. Wow. What could this mean? Do all girls get capes and spandex onesies? Do girls get to make up the rules for 24 hours? Is this a brilliant new initiative for boys to spend a whole day in a long flappy wig (that gets stuck in their lip gloss) and have to totter about in huge heels (smiling and without complaining)? No. This day has a very different and much more important agenda (although I still would like to see an International Heels Day).
The first ever International Day of the Girl, successfully lobbied for by Plan UK, will happen on Thursday 11 October. Plan UK is a charity that works with the world's poorest children so they can move themselves from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity.
The aim of this day is to raise awareness to the fact that millions of girls around the world are denied the access to education. Plan UK are also encouraging people to take a minute to sign their petition to the UN Secretary General to make girls education a priority.
I had no idea that as many as one in three girls worldwide are denied an education due to poverty, discrimination and/or violence. This is why it's so important to support Plan UK's petition to put pressure on the UN to ensure that more girls are given the means to reach their potential.
So on 11 October 2012, the first ever International Day of the Girl, please blog and tweet about the petition - the more we show our support, the more we can help Plan UK change the future of so many girls so that they can choose their own future and be a force for change.