Chapter 5 applies Welby’s Meaning Triad to analyze the definition of ‘child’ in international law, especially in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC 1989) as concerns the girl child. It explores the sense of ‘silence’ in terms of gender neutrality and the absence of any reference to the girl child or violations specific to her. It studies the meaning-intention of the CRC drafters and thus the travaux préparatoires. Finally, it examines the significance of the wording of CRC provisions, and how it impacts the protection, implementation and monitoring of girl child rights. In this context, Chapter 5 discusses Peirce’s immediate, dynamical and final interpretants, and studies reservations to the CRC and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW 1979). It employs semioethics to propose an amended definition that would undoubtedly include the girl child and thereby guarantee her visibility, both legally and symbolically.

Chapter 7 considers the boundary for the end of girlhood under international law. It applies Welby’s Meaning Triad to discuss the sense, meaning and significance of the current definition of child in the CRC. It argues that this definition is problematic on several grounds: absence of a minimum age for the end of girlhood, discrepancy between the end of girlhood and emancipation, possibility of unequal treatment on the grounds of gender, national domicile, and between girls under domestic law. It examines positive features of the CRC and the benefit for girls to be covered until eighteen years. It also analyzes ‘childist’ provisions of the CRC and empowering provisions of other treaties, and whether girls should reach majority before eighteen years. It conducts case studies of child justice and child marriage. Finally, it employs semioethics to identify amendments to the definition of child in the CRC that would tackle its shortcomings.

Chapter 8 employs Welby’s Meaning Triad to examine the boundary separating girlhood and womanhood under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and its repercussions on the protection of the girl child. It examines the definition of ‘woman’ in international law and the English language, and the life-cycle approach. It notes that the CEDAW fails to provide a parameter for the beginning of womanhood, thus it is not clear whether girls of all ages – young girls and adolescent girls – are covered by this treaty. It observes that female human beings located at the intersection of girlhood and womanhood may fall short of the protection of both the CRC and many provisions of the CEDAW. It applies semioethics theory and considers revising the CEDAW to undoubtedly ensure that girls are covered under this treaty, save for provisions allocating ‘adult rights’.