Birth of the girl-child in Nigeria society: Cultural implications

Culture is the way of life of a people. It includes everything people do and have as members of a society, such as knowledge, ideas, skills, beliefs, literature, philosophy, religions, language, among others. Culture represents the way of life of a group of people. Every child has the right to be born; right to survival and development; right to enjoy the best attainable state of physical, mental and spiritual health, irrespective of the sex of the child. Also, every child has the right to free, compulsory and universal education; and, every child who is in need of special attention and special protection measures has the right to such measures as is appropriate to his/her physical, social, economic, emotional and mental needs and under conditions which ensure his/her dignity, promote his/her self-reliance and active participation in the affairs of the community. This paper discussed some of the injustice infringed on the girl-child from birth through to her life as a woman. The paper discusses the denial of the girl-child’s right to be born; the girl-child discriminated after birth, the girl-child’s education and its cultural implications and, the girl and national development. It was concluded that the birth of a girl-child today is a blessing because no family, community or society can develop without women involved directly or indirectly. When a girl is born, a woman is born; and a nation is born. In the same vein, when a girl is trained, a woman is trained; and when a woman is trained, a nation is trained. Based on this conclusion, it was recommended among others that Nigerian society should appreciate the birth of girl-children; as well as welcome the western ideology in training or educating females.