International Day of the Girl: Janet Mbugua’s relentless gender equality advocacy

The International Day of the Girl was declared in October 2012 by the United Nations (UN). Every year on the 11th of October, the world comes together to celebrate girls as they “inspire, break boundaries and take charge of their own future.”

The purpose of this day is to support the girl child by encouraging more opportunities for them alongside increasing awareness of gender inequality as faced by many girls around the world.

This year, according to the UN, the theme of the International Day of the Girl is “GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable.”

Each year, 12 million girls under 18 are married off; 130 million girls are out of school and about 15 million adolescent girls are victims of forced sex, according to UN statistics.

As the world comes together to share the stories of girls and creating a better future for all, we take the moment to applaud our very own Janet Mbugua.

Janet, a renowned media personality, has been relentless in her fight for fairness towards the needs of the girl child. Through her Inua Dada Foundation, the former TV anchoor has managed to create awareness around Menstrual Health and Menstrual Hygiene, and more and more girls are having access to their basic needs including sanitary pads.

She is also active online. She has a YouTuber channel that focuses on discussing and exploring topical issues that seek to empower and bring social change. Her social media pages are vibrant with encouraging content that seek to engage and empower the girl child. Here are some of her posts:

For better or worse, in richer or poorer...vows echoed the world over, often in a setting filled with love, joy and the anticipation of a better life... But every year, 12 million girls are married before they turn 18—some are as young as 8 years old. That's one girl married every 3 seconds. That means that in the time it takes a couple to say ‘I DO,’ a girl is denied her choice to say ‘I DON’T.’ Here’s what you can do to stand with girls everywhere: Post a photo of your ring finger using #VowForGirls. Tag 3 friends in the caption. For every post, like and share, our partners will donate $1, up to $50K, to VOW to help stand up for girls’ rights and prevent child marriage. I’ve tagged some in this post ???????? Because unless she can say ‘I DON’T’, she doesn’t stand the chance at life of her choice. That sets and her community back. #VowForGirls @VowForGirls @CrateAndBarrel @TheKnot @PeninsulaHotels #VowForGirls on #DayOfTheGirl

A post shared by Janet Mbugua (@officialjanetmbugua) on Oct 7, 2019 at 6:02am PDT

For the last two years I’ve been project lead for #Better4Kenya, which collaborates with influencers to breakdown what gender equality means and how we can push for more, in our own way. It’s been great working with our growing group of influencers and working alongside @ahiveco as well. Major shout out to @thekingkaka for what he’s doing with #bankonme (please follow for details), @this_is_ess for sharing amazing stories and insights through her work on @livingwithess and to @adelleonyango who isn’t just shifting perceptions through her podcast #pursepective but was just featured on @worldofwomen_project! And to all those of you doing what you can, when you can to progress the work around #genderequality, thank you! if you know anyone whose work we should highlight, please share below! Follow @better4kenya as we highlight more of this!

A post shared by Janet Mbugua (@officialjanetmbugua) on Oct 1, 2019 at 10:34pm PDT

I filmed this video back in 2014 as a concept for #InuaDadaMinute part 2. Hoping I can actualize it soon! Part 1 had already aired on Citizen TV for 3 months (find those on YouTube). This is just a snippet of the conversation I had with these students. They also cited fear of #childmarriage and the trauma and shame that they faced during their #periods. When I hear stories of girls becoming deeply traumatized, to the point of suicide, I’m broken because it reminds me we have so much more to do to engage girls, boys, teachers, parents and the community on NORMALIZING MENSTRUATION! If we can collectively empathize and intervene where these girls need us to, we will make headway. Let us not tire in getting these issues to be discussed and normalized. We can’t afford to allow a generation to be traumatized. #EndPeriodStigma #MenstruationMatters #PeriodPolicy #Periods

A post shared by Janet Mbugua (@officialjanetmbugua) on Sep 10, 2019 at 11:09pm PDT

Period Update - It’s been a few months since I put up a petition that now has close to 35,000 signatures (link in bio, keep signing!). I love how the conversations around #periodequality continue to evolve and gain momentum. Many of you have been tagging me on the image of President Kenyatta signing the amendment (swipe), an image from 2017. I believe a more holistic policy will be realized in the coming years. For now, tireless public and government engagement will be necessary to see this become a reality! Lets keep at it! There’s also an interesting conversation around canceling periods (last image). It’s an article on Vice Health that talks about how ‘menstruating can be a choice, and that "period suppression" is a very valid option.’ (article courtesy of @periodmovement). Let’s convene back here soon and have THAT conversation, which I’ll gear towards women and NOT girls. A huge kudos to the numerous #periodchampions in Kenya, Africa and around the world who are bringing us all closer to a world where #menstrualequality can be prioritized and realized ????? #menstrualmovement #periods #periodmatters #menstruationmatters

A post shared by Janet Mbugua (@officialjanetmbugua) on Sep 5, 2019 at 6:43pm PDT