Ok, so here's the issue.....
There are currently 600 million girls living in the developing world.
Their world is full of poverty, warfare and abuse.
Their time in this world is short and difficult.
Imagine, by the time a girl is 12-years-old, in the eyes of many, she is considered a "woman." She faces the reality that 1 in 7 girls experience of being married off by the age of 15. 14 million girls aged 15 - 19 fall pregnant, the leading cause of death for girls in that age range. If they do survive childbirth, without a proper education, often, the only way of supporting her family, is by selling her body. This puts her at high risk for contracting and spreading HIV. 75% of 15- to 24-year-olds living with HIV in Africa are female an increase from 62% since 2001. (Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, Keeping the Promise: An Agenda for Action on Women and AIDS, http://data.unaids.org/pub/Booklet/2006/20060530_FS_Keeping_Promise_ en.pdf[2006a].)
This is not the life a 12-year-old girl, or anyone deserves, but this is truth and reality. It is evident that these girls face many road blocks in their lifetime. While at least 80% of humanity live in poverty, life expectancy is very low for, especially women, who live in developing areas.
An uneducated girl does not know her rights. An uneducated girl does not know any different. A survey in India found that girls who married before age 18 were twice as likely to report being beaten, slapped, or threatened by their husbands than girls who married later. (International Center for Research on Women, Development Initiative on Supporting Healthy Ado- lescents [2005], analysis of quantitative baseline survey data collected in select sites in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand, India [survey conducted in 2004].) 81% of Ethiopian women believe that being beaten by their husbands for disagreeing with him, buying food or refusing sexual contact is justifiable.
An uneducated girl has very little ability to economically support herself or her children. She becomes subservient to the males in her family.
She is unlikely to have any power in her home, her community or her government. She may not have the right to vote.
An uneducated girl will have little knowledge of health care. Her rate of disease and infection will be higher than her educated sisters. Her children will also suffer.
An uneducated girl has little chance of changing her place in the poverty cycle or that of her children.
But the power of edcation has the ability to change these girls lives. An education can be a generational force to eradicate poverty, hunger, poor health and powerlessness.
This is an enormous problem world-wide and requires significant assistance to eradicate it. This issue encompasses inequalities and ripple effects for women in areas that are affected.
Their world is full of poverty, warfare and abuse.
Their time in this world is short and difficult.
Imagine, by the time a girl is 12-years-old, in the eyes of many, she is considered a "woman." She faces the reality that 1 in 7 girls experience of being married off by the age of 15. 14 million girls aged 15 - 19 fall pregnant, the leading cause of death for girls in that age range. If they do survive childbirth, without a proper education, often, the only way of supporting her family, is by selling her body. This puts her at high risk for contracting and spreading HIV. 75% of 15- to 24-year-olds living with HIV in Africa are female an increase from 62% since 2001. (Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, Keeping the Promise: An Agenda for Action on Women and AIDS, http://data.unaids.org/pub/Booklet/2006/20060530_FS_Keeping_Promise_ en.pdf[2006a].)
This is not the life a 12-year-old girl, or anyone deserves, but this is truth and reality. It is evident that these girls face many road blocks in their lifetime. While at least 80% of humanity live in poverty, life expectancy is very low for, especially women, who live in developing areas.
An uneducated girl does not know her rights. An uneducated girl does not know any different. A survey in India found that girls who married before age 18 were twice as likely to report being beaten, slapped, or threatened by their husbands than girls who married later. (International Center for Research on Women, Development Initiative on Supporting Healthy Ado- lescents [2005], analysis of quantitative baseline survey data collected in select sites in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand, India [survey conducted in 2004].) 81% of Ethiopian women believe that being beaten by their husbands for disagreeing with him, buying food or refusing sexual contact is justifiable.
An uneducated girl has very little ability to economically support herself or her children. She becomes subservient to the males in her family.
She is unlikely to have any power in her home, her community or her government. She may not have the right to vote.
An uneducated girl will have little knowledge of health care. Her rate of disease and infection will be higher than her educated sisters. Her children will also suffer.
An uneducated girl has little chance of changing her place in the poverty cycle or that of her children.
But the power of edcation has the ability to change these girls lives. An education can be a generational force to eradicate poverty, hunger, poor health and powerlessness.
This is an enormous problem world-wide and requires significant assistance to eradicate it. This issue encompasses inequalities and ripple effects for women in areas that are affected.