October 11: International Day of the Girl Child

Friday, October 11, 2013 is International Day of the Girl Child

On December 19, 2011, United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.

Girls face discrimination and violence every day across the world. The International Day of the Girl Child focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.

Come honor this special day with two great events

Dr. Laura Lovett

Associate Professor in the Department of History

Room 228 Furculo Hall

10 - 11 a.m.

Professor Lovett specializes in twentieth century U.S. women's history with special interests in the histories of childhood, youth movements, and the family. She explores generational dialogues concerning gender roles and the place of children in the women's movement in a new collection of history written for the public, When We Were Free To Be: Looking Back at a Children's Classic and the Difference It Made. Her first book revealed the unacknowledged legacy of eugenics in a range of reforms regarding populism, irrigation, conservation, and housing, which indirectly or directly promoted selective reproduction. Conceiving the Future: Pronatalism, Reproduction and the Family in the United States, 1890-1930, was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2007. She is currently researching the intersection of eugenics and housing reform and their resulting influence on discriminatory housing policies in the United States and Europe. From 2008 to 2011, she was the Director of the Five College Women's Studies Research Center. She is also a founding co-editor of the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth.

‘Born Into Brothels’

Mark’s Meadow Auditorium

2 p.m.

Born Into Brothels is a documentary about the inspiring non-profit foundation Kids With Cameras, which teaches photography skills to children in marginalized communities. In 1998, New York-based photographer Zana Briski started photographing prostitutes in the red-light district of Calcutta. She eventually developed a relationship with their children, who were fascinated by her equipment.

After several years of learning in workshops with Briski, the kids created their own photographs with point-and-shoot 35 mm cameras. Their images capture the intimacy and color of everyday life in the overpopulated sections of Calcutta. Proceeds from the sale of the children's photographs go to fund their future education. Directed by Briski and filmmaker Ross Kauffman, Born Into Brothels was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the documentary competition.


Sponsored by the Children, Families, and Schools Concentration of the College of Education, UMass Amherst

For questions, contact Dr. Sally Campbell Galman at sally@educ.umass.edu