Mark your calendars! Upcoming: Day of the Girl and Men’s Day

October 11^th is internationally celebrated as Día de la Niña (known in English as Day of the Girl or Day of the Girl Child) to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world. It’s only 4 weeks away! Here are some ideas for celebrating in your site…

• Host a movie night with films like Girl Rising or other local variations that show the challenges girls face and their potential to contribute to their communities. (click here for our post on gender consciousmovie nights)
• Perform plays and sing songs about the importance of girls' education at primary schools
• Do a poster contests depicting girls’ life goals or women’s role in work or society
• Hold a sports tournament for girls—volleyball, soccer and kickball are all huge hits.
• Organize mentoring activities for girls, such as Take Our Daughters to Work
• Have a parade, feria or other public event with local women’s groups
• Discuss how gender norms affect the classroom with teachers in your town (more info on this to come!)

…

Less than two months away, November 19^th is recognized as International Men’s Day. This day is a great opportunity to recognize how men and boys are challenged by harmful gender stereotypes and how they are critical partners in promoting gender equality, fostering positive gender norms, and reducing gender-based violence.

Here’s a handful of ideas for celebration activities…

• Organize a celebration of men or boys in the community who demonstrate positive masculinities and gender norms
• Promote engaged fatherhood through discussions or community events around the valuable role of fathers in a family
• Host a billiards tournament (click here for our post on what a billiards tournament looks like)
• Work with male youth to organize community service or activities that reinforce boy’s positive contributions to the community
• Organize sports events and use the venue to discuss positive male role models and norms
• Take photos of men and caption them with a sentence like A man is… or a A caring father ….
• Have prominent men in the community speak about being a male role model or have a discussion session about well-known men in the country.

…

A couple more dates for your calendar

--November 25^th – International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

--November 25 – December 10 – 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence

--December 1 – World AIDS Day

--December 10 – Human Rights Day