There’s a story behind the Town of Cochrane’s declaration to acknowledge Oct. 11 as International Day of the Girl Child and who better to tell it, than young girls.
The 2nd Cochrane Brownies wrote a letter to Mayor Jeff Genung and town council in late September to request the International Day of the Girl Child be recognized locally.
Fourteen girls aged seven to eight make up the 2nd Cochrane Brownie chapter.
“All girls need to be equal,” Averie Knowles, one of the Brownies, said. “Some girls around the world don’t get to do the things I do, like go to school and be in Girl Guides.”
Town council agreed to acknowledge the day and also agreed to a pink light-up of the Jack Tennant Bridge Oct. 9.
The inspiration to write a letter to the Town came from a lesson the 2nd Brownies from their three Brownie leaders about the inequalities that girls face across the world.
They spoke about young female activists like Malala Yousafzai, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for her role in promoting education for women and girls in her home country of Pakistan, even in the face of a gunshot wound to her head from a Taliban gunman.
They also spoke about Greta Thunberg, a Swedish environmental activist known for challenging world leaders about climate change action.
The United Nations declared Oct. 11 International Day of the Girl Child in late 2011 “to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world,” according to their website.
Second chapter Brownies Averie and Kinsley Lemieux agreed that girls are never too young to promote positive change no matter where they are in the world, using their own experience as an example.
“It makes me feel really good because we made a difference in Cochrane,” Kinsley said.
The Brownie group also created several posters to promote awareness around the day and to celebrate the young female figures who actively work toward bettering the world for girls.
The Cochrane Public Library is also getting in on the initiative and will display the posters along with several books about equality for women and girls.
