The Girl in Development Discourse

In 2013 Malala Yousafzaiai addressed the United Nations General Assembly on issues related to the education of girls. She embodied an emerging theme in development discourse - the figure of 'the girl'. In recent years we have seen increased attention to the figure of 'the girl' in development discourse, particularly evident in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and in various campaigns around the empowerment of girls. In this paper I trace the genealogy of the figure of the girl. from 1970s reformist feminism around the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women to the more recent Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals.