International Day of the Girl Child: Creating a World Where Girls Can Lead, Care, and Dream Equally

When I was invited to write for the International Day of the Girl Child, I found myself reflecting on the quiet moments that have shaped my journey as a woman, and how these moments echo in the lives of girls everywhere. Like many, I grew up in a world where opportunities were filtered through expectation. My brother’s needs were anticipated and met, while I was taught to wait, to adjust, to understand. When I spoke of studying abroad, the response was calm yet conclusive: “You’ll get married and go anyway.” Those words, and the many unspoken assumptions behind them, pruned my ambition before it had a chance to bloom.

Graduation felt like a gateway to independence, but instead, I was handed responsibility. I was asked to move in with my brother, not to pursue my ambitions, but to care for him while he pursued his. My days began before dawn and ended long after dark, balancing professional work and household duties, walking kilometres to catch a bus while my brother rode his new bike to college. It was not hardship that defined this arrangement, but someone else’s choice about what my role as a girl should be. Over time, I realised this was not just my story. It is a pattern that shapes the lives of countless women and girls, where care, compromise, and responsibility are passed down as expectations rather than choices.

As we mark the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11, it is a moment to reflect not just on progress, but on the systemic challenges girls face worldwide. Tradition, expectation, and inequity shape lives long before a girl can claim her independence. Across cities and villages, globally, the weight of responsibility placed on women is relentless. In earlier times, in some deep rural corners of India, a girl child was often killed in the womb or shortly after birth simply because she bore the burden of her gender. Over time, society realized her survival could be justified not for her potential but for the unpaid labor she could provide.

Today, whether a corporate leader or a daily wage worker, women continue to shoulder disproportionate responsibilities. They are expected to be caregivers, emotional anchors, and the silent managers of everyone’s needs. A working woman may rush from meetings to prepare dinner or arrange her child’s doctor visit while others rest. A daughter is expected to care for ageing parents, often at the cost of her own career. A new mother is expected to return to work while continuing to shoulder most domestic duties. Even women in senior positions frequently manage not only strategy and teams but also meals, family schedules, and emotional balance. In rural homes, the story takes another form: long hours of unpaid labor tending to children, fields, and elders, often before she earns her own meal. The faces and settings may differ, but the weight remains the same.

These burdens are not just the stories of women; they are the realities that shape the next generation of girls. When girls see their mothers, sisters, and aunts sacrificing their ambitions and wellbeing to care for others, they internalize these roles as their own destiny. The impact is profound: girls learn early that their dreams may be secondary, that their value is measured by how well they serve others.

At ApiaryLife, a women founded and women led company, we see these inequities every day. Our team, founded, led and made up overwhelmingly of women, supports clients through life’s pivotal transitions such as caregiving, illness, divorce, domestic violence, and loss. These challenges often fall hardest on women, and the effects ripple outward, impacting daughters, nieces, and the next generation of girls who watch and learn from the women around them.

Our mission is to make these transitions easier, providing structured guidance and practical support so women can focus on what truly matters: their safety, their growth, and their independence. Whether it is managing life admin tasks, organizing care, or connecting women with legal and wellbeing support, we aim to lighten the load that so often falls on women’s shoulders.

But support alone is not enough. True change requires shared responsibility at home, at work, and in society. Caregiving and domestic duties must be divided fairly, and emotional labor recognized as real work. Open conversations about ambition and career goals for all children, regardless of gender, help challenge expectations. In the workplace, maternity and paternity benefits, paid caregiving leave, flexible schedules, and employer supported caregiving insurance can ease burdens. Employee assistance programmes for challenges like divorce, domestic violence, or bereavement, combined with a culture that actively supports women’s responsibilities, ensure that help is reliable and accessible.

The International Day of the Girl Child reminds us that progress is not automatic. Every step we take to share responsibilities and invest in support systems for women and girls builds stronger families, resilient communities, and thriving workplaces. When girls see that ambition and independence are truly attainable, we create a world where they can pursue their potential without compromise.

At ApiaryLife, we are proud to champion this change, not just for ourselves, our sisters, our daughters and our nieces, but for every girl whose future depends on the choices we make today.