Girls and adolescents must be recognized as participants in social change to advance towards equality

• Girls and adolescents must be recognized as persons subject to law and cease to be the object of protection: International experts. 

• The #NiñasPoderosas recognize the legacy of women and girls from previous generations, live in contact with their reality, do things for their country, make solidarity networks and fight for human rights; they experience curiosity, solidarity, creativity, and exposure to diversity. 

The initiative Weaving Childhood Nets for Latin America and the Caribbean carried out the third and last day of activities around the IV Latin American Thought Seminar on children's rights #NiñasPoderosas, where more than 30 speakers specialized in women's rights, representatives of international organizations, civil society and powerful girls, adolescents and young people from Latin America participated, who joined to demand the guarantee of their rights and in particular the right to a life free of violence. 

On the third day of activities, various topics associated with the guarantee of children's rights were addressed, with an emphasis on adolescent girls and women. The event was held in a hybrid format, given the health contingency under the leadership of Ana Francis Mor, a Mexican cabaret, writer and activist. 

The first topic addressed was the "Challenge of the joint general observation to make girls visible" developed by Leticia Bonifaz Alfonzo, member of the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Bonifaz recalled that the rights of children were born in the 20th century and that currently children have gone from being the object of protection to being subjects of rights and that the greatest challenge is faced by the States, because it is no longer possible to continue with rights that remain. only on paper. 

To address the issue, What kind of education do girls and adolescents want? Camila Olin, a member of #EvalucacionJusta and activist for the right to education, expressed that in the current educational system, one survives, one does not learn and that the grade point average ends up defining the possibilities in the life project of each girl and adolescent , even though this does not define who you are, he warned. The young woman drew attention to the fact that today's educational system is not adapted to the needs of the new generations.

“For the educational system, girls are invisible; there are situations that have to do with social status that fracture the learning process. Education is a privilege, even before the pandemic we forgot that education is a universal right ”, referred. He also pointed out that during the global health emergency due to COVID-19, the violation of these rights worsened. As an example, he cited figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), who reported that 5.2 million students abandoned their studies because of the pandemic, leaving some questions unanswered such as what will happen to the life projects of those who dropped out of classes and how many of them will be able to return to class? "Education will be feminist or it will not be", added. 

Tania Ramírez Hernández, executive director of the Network for the Rights of the Child (REDIM) The organization that sponsored the Seminar in Mexico pointed out that state violence is currently hurting the lives of thousands of girls, a scenario that makes it essential to strengthen them, he considered. 

From their perspective, there are premises present in the lives of the #NiñasPoderosas, among which the recognition of the legacy of women and #NiñasPoderosas by previous generations stands out. In addition to living in contact with their reality, they do things for their country, they create networks of solidarity and of struggle for fundamental human rights. 

Another topic analyzed was the Feminist iconoclasm. Current challenges of feminism in social protest ”, A topic that was addressed by Carla Ríos, a member of the Marabunta Humanitarian Peace Brigade, who pointed out that young women are creating changes in reality in their environment. From his experience as a brigadista, he related that people who are in the fight and defense of their human rights, through social protest, are victims of different forms of violence that have led them to seek legal channels and turn to social mobilization to access justice. I point out that the challenges for society are to stop pointing out the mobilization as something dangerous, since the mobilizations in public spaces do not have to be dangerous, in addition to accompanying the young women who are in mobilization fighting for their rights in their cause. 

Citlali María and Miriam Elizabeth, two indigenous girls and members of the Code F Collective, shared with the audience “An intersectional view of feminist indigenous girls”. In their speech they discussed the reasons why feminism is a girls' issue. 

“We are outside the right to education. There is the idea that as girls in an indigenous community we were born to get married; Confinement and the pandemic have exposed girls and adolescents within their families to situations of violence. For a long time children have had more privileges simply because they are children. Feminism allows us to be leaders of our lives. What we want to achieve is that we all know what we want for our lives ”, they reflected. 

To talk about the importance of representing the diversity of humanity, Raquel Ramírez, a member of Wikimedia México, explained the topic “What is not named does not exist”. 

“For a long time they told us that the generic of humanity in masculine is neutral, the reality is that it makes us invisible. We come from an androcentric society that takes men as a reference of humanity, it is necessary to break with those mandates, "he said. According to the expert, only 22% of the biographies available on the Wikimedia consultation site are of women. Out of every 10 people who write on the site, only one is a woman, while in the history of Mexico there have only been nine governors ”. We need to make more powerful records of women so as not to make ourselves invisible ”, she recalled. 

Nora Huerta, a member of Las Reinas Chulas, a Mexican cabaret-theater company, also participated in the event through the presentation of a Sketch where the multiple daily tasks of young women and adolescents were portrayed, thus portraying suffering as something learned normally and on a daily basis in the lives of girls, adolescents and women. 

"We have to learn to laugh, I like to imagine that we are writing another story for girls and boys", said the actress.

Today's society lives within a structure where women are placed in the care of others. It is essential to talk about the roles of men and to work on masculinities in girls and boys. It is also important to question gender roles and talk about sexual education to decide contraceptives, enjoy and even have the ability to choose a legal abortion. In Mexico, 16.2% of pregnancies occur in adolescents between 15 and 19 years old, added Isabel Erreguerena, co-director of the organization Equis Justicia para las mujeres during the presentation of the topic: Feminist, free and safe motherhoods.

The third day of Seminar #NiñasPoderosas It also had the participation of Friné Salguero, Executive Director of the Simone de Beauvoir Leadership Institute, to explain part of the work done by REDefineMx, a network of young activists that educates young people of both sexes as leaders of their lives and especially of their sexual and reproductive rights. Salguero pointed out the importance that both they and they can recognize their ability to demand their needs.

“We have to ask children and youth what they want in their lives given the institutional, public policy and budget vacuum. The policies are not focused on childhood, they are not asked what they want ”. 

Yésica Sánchez Maya from the Management Team of Consorcio Oaxaca also contributed on an issue that is rarely made visible, such as the defense of those who "They defend the rights of women." The activist specified that rights defenders call themselves seeds of hope, change and hope and that activism always achieves collective changes, but that their protection is also necessary and urgent, since Mexico is one of the four countries classified as highly unsafe for the defense of human rights. 

During the development of the theme "Inclusive feminism: diverse girls and adolescents", Ana Francis Mor, gave her testimony as a lesbian woman who lived her childhood and youth without knowing and knowing her sexual preference.

"What I felt, was systematically prohibited, we can accompany children and youth to name sexual diversity to be able to name and recognize themselves as free beings with rights and opportunities", shared. 

Marta Ferreyra General Dr. of Autonomy and Empowerment for Substantive Equality of INMUJERES, who talked about the "Empowerment of girls and adolescents: why and for what", mentioned that in early childhood the social order builds the concepts of femininity and masculinity: terms that rigidly limit the construction of life projects and that is when differentiating roles are established that create inequalities for women since they are girls, she explained. 

The closing of the Latin American Thought Seminar on Children's Rights was in charge of girls and adolescents from #NuestraVozCuenta, who from Colombia, Peru, Mexico and the Dominican Republic recalled the challenges that girls and adolescents still face in society and especially in indigenous communities, on issues such as access to contraceptives, forced marriage and the various forms of violence to which they are exposed, among others. However, the young women highlighted that girls, adolescents and women in the world, and especially in Latin America, continue to work to be able to promote together the change towards their own and real empowerment. 

Look at the photographic material:

The broadcast of the third day of activities of the IV Latin American Thought Seminar on the rights of the child #NiñasPoderosas is available here: 

About:

Ollin.TV is an Internet television channel created as part of Weaving Childhood Nets in Latin America and the Caribbean an initiative co-financed by the European Union, which seeks to contribute to the strengthening and consolidation of a platform for the defense of children and adolescents in 20 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of Children's Rights Mexico AC / Weaving Childhood Networks and in no case should it consider that it reflects the views of the European Union.

Press contact: Alejandra Gallardo / [email protected]