"Parents must bring up their girls as an asset not a liability. They must give her equal rights, opportunities and privileges as the male child. A girl who has been a victim must be supported and needs tremendous care, rehabilitation and counselling."
Girl, 17, India
Childhood is often portrayed as an idyllic time of innocence, a time to learn and play. But for millions of children, and girls in particular, childhood is marred. Poverty, malnutrition, lack of education, child labour and female genital cutting are just some of the problems that young girls face today.
Under fives, under threat
One out of every four children under five is underweight. Seventy-three per cent of these live in just 10 countries. Many suffer from vitamin A and iodine deficiency. In India, under-nutrition is the underlying cause for about 50 per cent of the 2.1 million deaths of children under five each year. The numbers of girls and boys under five who are underweight is similar in all regions except South Asia, where 47 per cent of girls are underweight compared to 44 per cent of boys.
Seven-year-old Rahera, from Afghanistan, eats her breakfast of bread every morning. The loaf must last three days for her family of five. At school she looks forward to a small pack of 12 biscuits from which she eats six and saves the rest for her two younger brothers. Rahera goes home for lunch, which is bread and a cup of tea. In the evening the family eats dinner, which is usually bread with some oil, and yoghurt with a little salt. Three times a week the family buys two glasses of yoghurt. When they have extra cash, they buy some onions. In summer they twice enjoyed a special treat - watermelon.
"Me and other girls of the community school want to make our future bright. I do not want to see my brothers and sisters experiencing the same hardships that I faced. I have developed confidence in myself. All this has happened due to education. After seeing us, people of our village have become aware about the importance of education. Now those people who were against the education of girls are sending their daughters and sisters to the schools."
Nagina Habib, Community School, Lassan Thakral, Pakistan.
Data shows a striking correlation between under-five mortality rates and the educational level attained by a child's mother, not to mention maternal mortality rates. An educated woman also has a better chance of earning an income herself, which has a positive effect on her family, and therefore on society as a whole. One study in Kenya estimated that crop yields could rise up to 22 per cent if women farmers enjoyed the same education and decision-making authority as men.
"There is a saying that goes: `The youth is the hope of the nation". How can we build a good and progressive nation if our children are forced to stop schooling because of work? How can we build a bright tomorrow if we are not given a bright today?
Analou, 16, Vice President, Barangay Cabayugan Active Children's Association, the Philippines
It is a fact that many thousands of girls under 18 work in order to earn money. Some of them combine work and school to earn a bit extra for themselves and for their families. Others work long hours in mines or in agriculture or as domestic workers from a very early age.
"My husband and I didn¿t want our daughters to be circumcised, but I knew they would be bullied and ostracized if they were not. I felt I had no choice. Everyone would know if they had not had it done, and if they came too near a compound where the circumcision was being performed, they could be brought in and circumcised then and there against their will."
Woman in the Gambia
About 140 million girls have undergone female genital cutting and two million are subjected to it every year. Female genital cutting (FGC), often referred to as female genital mutilation or female circumcision, is an operation to remove part or all of a girl's external genital organs. It is performed on infants and on adult women but mostly on girls between the ages of four and 12. There is a growing tendency to perform female genital cutting on younger and younger girls.
