ASIA / PACIFIC
Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
October 15, 2018
In Pakistan, Ansa, age 10, starts her day with prayer
By Saba Rehman
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL
CHILD. Ansa Khan, right, and her elder sister and
neighbors gather tobacco leaves in Mardan, Pakistan.
Since 2012, the United Nations reserved October 11
as the International Day of the Girl Child “to recognize
girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face
around the world.” This year the theme was employ-
able skills for girls, particularly in poorer economies.
(AP Photo/Saba Rehman)
The Associated Press
ORU, Pakistan — She’s just 10
years old, but Pakistani girl Ansa
Khan’s day is a hectic one.
At the first hint of dawn, she is up saying
her morning prayers before reading her
Quran, Islam’s holy book. Those are Ansa’s
quietest moments. After that, her day is a
whirl of chores, school, studying, and the
occasional moments stolen away to play
marbles.
Since 2012, the United Nations has
reserved October 11 as the International
Day of the Girl Child “to recognize girls’
rights and the unique challenges girls face
around the world.” This year the theme
was
employable
skills
for
girls,
particularly in poorer economies.
Early marriage is often the first option
for girls in many of the world’s poorest
countries and Pakistan is no different.
According to the global organization
Girls Are Not Brides, in 2017, there were
1.9 million women in Pakistan between
the ages of 20 and 24 who had been
married off before they turned 18. The
organization had an even higher figure for
India — 15.5 million. There are no official
figures for the current numbers of child
brides.
Poverty and patriarchy are the oft-cited
reasons for child brides.
T
But Pakistan also has its girl heroes,
most notably the youngest Nobel
Laureate, Malala Yousufzai, who was shot
by Taliban insurgents at just 13 years old
for speaking out in favor of girls’ education.
Yousufzai survived and made educating
all girls everywhere her goal. She was only
slightly older than Ansa when she first
blogged for the BBC advocating education
for girls, even as the Taliban burned girls’
schools and threatened harsh punish-
ments for those who would send their girls
to school.
Like Yousufzai, Ansa is from Pakistan’s
conservative Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Prov-
ince, which borders neighbor Afghanistan.
Also, like Yousufzai, Ansa enjoys school,
saying her favorite subject is Islamic
religious studies. Electricity is not always
reliable in Ansa’s village of Toru and she is
often forced to study by flashlight.
Ansa’s father, Tajbar Khan, said his
young daughter often helps him on the
land he farms for a large landowner in the
area. She runs to help feed the cattle and
spends hours with her mother making the
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dung or manure collected from the animals
into large round cakes that are dried out
and later used for cooking.
The farm produces tobacco, a major crop
in the province. While her father and older
brother harvest and shred the leaves from
the tobacco plants, Ansa, her older sister,
and mother sew the leaves together to be
dried.
This year’s U.N. statement about girl
child day called for a focus on gaining
skills.
“Of the 1 billion young people —
including 600 million adolescent girls —
that will enter the workforce in the next
decade, more than 90 percent of those
living in developing countries will work in
the informal sector — jobs that are not
regulated or protected — where low or no
pay, abuse, and exploitation are common,”
the statement said.
“The most disadvantaged girls —
including those in rural areas and those
with disabilities — have even less access to
decent work.”