Globally, 1 in 3 girls around the world is denied an education by the daily realities of poverty, violence and discrimination. Every day, girls are taken out of school, married far too young, and subjected to violence in school. Not only is this unjust, it’s also a huge waste of potential with serious global consequences. Gaining an education has the power to transform their lives and the world around them. Making it through both primary and secondary education is critical to girls being able to help break the cycle of poverty.
A girl who makes it through both high quality primary and secondary education is:
- less likely to experience violence or marry and have children whilst she is still a child.
- more likely to be literate, healthy and survive into adulthood, as are her children.
- more likely to reinvest her income back into her family, community and country.
- more likely to understand her rights and be a force for change.
Comments
Violence in school
150 million girls under 18 have experienced rape or other forms of sexual violence.
Fear of violence from other pupils and even teachers prevents girls attending school and makes their parents more likely to remove them from school early. Studies have found that some girls are coerced into sexual acts by teachers who threaten them with poor grades if they do not cooperate.
Enforcing legislation to criminalise gender-based violence will remove this barrier to girls’ education, allowing more girls to make the essential transition to secondary education which they deserve.
Forced into marriage
For millions of girls, reaching puberty can be the first step towards a forced marriage. Too often, girls are taken out of school, isolated from their friends and forced into marriage and motherhood when they are still children themselves.
Child marriage has a direct impact on girls accessing secondary education. Child marriage is a global problem: 10 million girls under the age of 18 marry each year, many as young as 8. In developing countries, 1 in every 3 girls marries before they are 18.
In several countries in West Africa and in Bangladesh, two-thirds of girls are married before age 18.
Removed from school
Girls are often removed from school to prepare for a wedding or to work in order to save for a dowry, once married they are not permitted to continue their education.
Child marriage lies at the intersection of a broad set of problems facing girls. The practice violates girls’ human rights, curtails their education, harms their health, and sharply constrains their futures.
Girls who marry early are most often deprived of the opportunity to reach their full potential and rise out of poverty. The negative consequences of early marriage ripple across entire societies, undermining achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Generations damaged
Early marriage usually marks the end of girls’ education, the investment that could have the greatest payoff for both their development and for national development goals.
The consequences of early marriage reach beyond the lives of young married girls themselves to the next generation.
Children of young, uneducated mothers are less likely to have a good start to their education, to do well in class, or to continue beyond minimum schooling. The daughters of uneducated mothers are especially likely to drop out of school, marry young, and begin the cycle again.
Because I am a Girl campaign aims to reach 4 million girls directly – improving their lives with access to school, skills, livelihoods and protection. They achieve these improvements through better family and community support and access to services for girls.
In addition, this campaign aims to reach 40 million girls and boys indirectly in terms of positive improvements through their gender programmes.
They aim to reach 400 million girls through policy change. This means helping to bring about quantifiable improvements in policy makers, service providers and government support for gender equality and girls' rights.
Raise your hand if you believe every girl has a right to an education. Join the global launch of Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign tomorrow, 11 October – the first ever international Day of the Girl.
http://plan-international.org/girls/index.php?lang=en
"married by 18" is not the same as forced marriage.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
EXPLANATION = The World is Stupid.
The World is filled with stupid selfish people who dont give a cr@p about the above ^ ^
Its sad and pathetic but thats the world we live in.
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