Why girls matter

In the world’s poorest countries, it’s often women and girls who fare the worst. Here’s why.

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In the world’s poorest countries, it’s often women and girls who fare the worst. Here’s why.

LIFE is tough when you live in poverty. But it’s particularly tough if you happen to be born a girl.

To put it bluntly, women and girls worldwide are more likely to be impoverished, less likely to be educated and more likely to suffer poor health.

“I don’t think it’s fair that where you’re born determines your opportunity,” World Vision Australia CEO Claire Rogers says. “It became very clear to me that girls and women in poverty contexts have some unique challenges. Lack of access to education, violence, rape … and social norms that say you have to confine a girl to a shelter.”

When a girl living in poverty turns 11 or 12, her future can be mapped out for her like some kind of twisted destiny. Forget long-term dreams and aspirations. Statistically speaking, she is more likely to marry young, often sold to an older man for a dowry. According to UNICEF, one in six adolescent girls are married.

And early, forced marriage is just about the worst thing that can happen. Once married, she will likely be ripped away from the classroom and expected to produce children. She is more likely to die during birth because her body is not yet ready for childbirth and the hospital care is rudimentary. Her marriage is more likely to be marked by sexual and emotional abuse. It’s the grim reality for some 700 million women around the world.

Cruelly, a girl born into poverty is less likely to be able to lift themselves out of their circumstance of birth.

Poverty is one of the world’s thorniest issues. The situation becomes even more complex when factoring in child marriage and gender inequality. Like climate change, it’s an issue that affects us all, and there are no easy answers.

But there are ways global citizens can systematically dismantle the barriers and cultural restrictions preventing girls from thriving in some of the world’s poorest countries. Education is the single, simplest solution. It’s powerful enough to lift a girl from poverty.

“The children of educated mothers have a much higher percentage chance to live beyond their first five years, which, in a poverty context, is their most vulnerable years as a child,” Ms Rogers says. “If a girl gets eight years of education, she’s four times less likely to end up in a child marriage.”

Educated girls are able to pursue meaningful work and support themselves, just like their male counterparts. They can own businesses, give back to their communities and empower other women. With education, long-term aspirations become altogether possible.

It’s that simple.

Education sees a new cycle emerge; one of prosperity. According to UNICEF, educated mothers are twice as likely to send their own children to school.

“The power of education speaks for itself,” Ms Rogers says. “The challenge is to get access.”

Sponsorship is part of the solution to keep girls in the classroom where the only thing they’re forced to do is their homework.

“I’ve also been with a girl, Meghla, from Bangladesh,” Ms Rogers says. “She was a sponsored girl, which gave her access to a program on life issues. Her mother arranged a marriage and threatened to commit suicide if she didn’t marry this man. But she escaped from that at age thirteen, and now at eighteen years old, she is an advocate to help girls in Bangladesh to help get out of early childhood marriage.”

Bangladesh has one of the world’s highest rates of child marriage, ranking fourth with the rate of 59 per cent child marriage by 18 years of age, according to 2017 UNICEF State of the World’s Children report. Globally, every day, approximately one girl every two seconds is forced to marry against their will.

Progress for girls living in poverty-stricken countries will only happen with a huge amount of coordination, willingness to tackle socially sensitive issues and sustained commitment of sponsorships.

“We need to fight as a global community to increase access to education for girls in whatever context they find themselves in,” Ms Rogers says.

TIMELINE FOR ENDING CHILD MARRIAGE

2008 to 2009 — Approximately 25 per cent of women are married as children.

2012 — The first International Day of the Girl Child on October 11 focuses on preventing child marriage.

2013 — The UN Human Rights Council puts child marriage on its agenda for action. The UN General Assembly declares child marriage to be a barrier to development.

2015 — The UN Population Fund estimates that one in three girls marry by age 18 and one in nine marry by age 15.

2018 — International Day of the Girl happens on October 11. Stand up for girls and sponsor a girl before that date.

2030 —  Goal to completely ending child marriage. This is only possible is global action is taken.