Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Plan International: girls disadvantaged

"I never ever understand why boys and girls are not equal to each other. In rural areas elders think that girls are born to give birth and to marry and for cleaning the house. Girls who live in rural areas… are not sent to schools. Their parents are not aware of the changing world yet."
Girl, 15. Turkey

"As ‘Because I am a Girl’ will show, discrimination
against girls and young women remains deeply
entrenched and widely tolerated throughout the
world. Many of the challenges girls will face start
from the moment they are born; in fact in some
parts of the world, girls are the target of a social
preference for boys even before birth.
The ‘Real Choices, Real Lives’ cohort study
was set up to follow 135 girls from birth until
their ninth birthday, in 2015. Every year,
researchers will visit the girls and their families
to talk to them about what they eat, how
healthy they are, their education, and over time
will build up a picture of how the fact that they
are girls impacts on their lives. Findings from
the study will be published in each of Plan’s
‘State of the World’s Girls’ annual reports."

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