We live in a world that undervalues girls.

Every day, the world pumps out conflicting messages en masse.

On one hand, it argues vehemently that a woman should have the right to earn equal pay and the right to do whatever she wants with her body.

At the same time, relentless print and media ads framed as self-improvement or entertainment pieces remind a girl that she is lacking–that how she looks and who she is will never be enough.

Over hundreds of years, we have honed a script where adolescent girls and young women are given an extremely narrow role: Please people. So that when culture prizes women on the basis of sexual attractiveness or proposes the concept of a post-gender society, girls and women fall in line, accepting it as a form of female empowerment instead of what it is–slavery to a worldly system that does not factor in the truth of God.

Bottom line: Girls are worth far more than any of this.

International Day of the Girl

The International Day of the Girl, established by The United Nations, highlights and addresses the needs and challenges girls face. And there are many needs and challenges, to be certain. 

*Consider these:

• Globally, 65 million girls are not in school.
• Nearly a quarter of young women aged 15-24 today (116 million) in developing countries never completed primary school and, as a result, lack skills to get a job.
• 2/3 of the 774 million illiterate people in the world are female.

So why does education matter in the discussion of a girl’s worth? Is it really a big deal if girls don’t go to school?

*Consider this:

• Educated girls are less likely to marry as children.
• Educated women are less likely to die in childbirth.
• A child whose mother can read and write is 50% more likely to survive past age 5.

Given all this, educating girls is a key factor in orphan prevention… which is the best form of orphan care.

But something else. Educating girls gives them the opportunity to read … which means they can read the Bible for themselves. When a girl goes to a school that believes and teaches the Gospel, she is given the greatest escape plan from the bondage of sin and a world bent on self-destruction.

It has rightly been said, “Educate a girl; educate a nation.” But it could also be said, “Educate a girl about God; educate a nation about God.”

When girls believe–heart, soul, and mind–that God loves them and sent His Son to die on their behalf, they often become mothers who teach their children the same thing.

So what is the value of a girl?

We live in a world with a complicated view of women’s empowerment. But despite the best efforts of thought-leaders and game-changers, one thing is certain:

It is impossible to negotiate your value until you first understand your worth. So what is a girl’s worth?

Every girl should learn and understand that she—

• was ransomed “not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19)
• is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14)
• is “more valuable than rubies” (Proverbs 31:10)

To be sure, this issue is far bigger than improving pay gaps or creating healthcare reforms. Every girl should be taught that she is the excellent craftsmanship of a Creator God who loves her infinitely–and when she believes that, she can take hold of the truth that God has only good plans for her life.

When this happens–and only when this happens–will we see the true change this day represents.

Girls are worth far more than we could ever imagine.

*statistics gathered from UNESCO Institute of Statistics, Education First, National Academies Press, the World Bank, UNICEF, EFA Global Monitoring Report and United Nations Statistics Division