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Because I am a Girl
Because I am a Girl
symbol of hope for a better life. But in reality, city life can mean exclusion
and increased hardship. This is true for the urban poor, particularly girls and
young women. The opportunities that present themselves are real, but so th e State o f th e Wo r ld ’ s G ir l s 2010
are the risks and multiple deprivations associated with the urban divide. Girls
with nowhere to live, no family support and no job can end up on the street,
in unsafe relationships and unable, through poverty, to take advantage of the Digital and Urban Frontiers:
Girls in a Changing Landscape
education and health facilities that do exist… ‘The State of the World’s Girls
2010’ focuses on the particular arenas of the city and cyberspace, rapidly
growing areas where girls will be at risk but where opportunities abound…
We must make it our responsibility to ensure that both cities and the internet
are safe and girl-friendly.
Anna K. Tibaijuka
Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director
United Nations Human Settlements Programme
(UN-Habitat)
plan-international.org
978-0-9550479-8-5
p h oto g r a p h : S ta n T h e k a e k a r a
Keeping in touch in Bangalore.
p h o t o g r a p h : TAR I Q a n d S t a n T h e k a e k a r a
Because I am a Girl
th e State o f th e Wo r ld ’ s G ir l s 2010
Al e x a n d r e M e n e ghi n i / A P / p a
Meg Greene Consultant
Mima Perisic UNICEF Advisor, Adolescent Development, Adolescent Development and Participation Unit Division of
Policy & Planning
Seodi White National Coordinator of Women and the Law in Southern Africa Research and Education Trust, Malawi Principal writer: Nikki van der Gaag
Simon Heap Head of Research, Plan International Report team: Feyi Rodway – cohort coordinator
Suzanne Williams International Institute for Child Rights and Development Keshet Bachan – project coordinator
Trine Lunde Economist, Gender and Development Group, PREM World Bank Sarah Hendriks – gender advisor
Sharon Goulds – project lead
Input was also received from, among others: Lynn Renken and Nythia Gopu (Nike Foundation), Savina Greenickx (StreetChild Africa), Simone Schneider – picture research
Louise Meincke (Consortium for Street Children), Dr Graham Ritchie, Helen Penn and Gabrielle Shaw (CEOP), Susan Schor (ITU),
Kulsoom Ali and Michael Quesnell (Nokia Corporation), Kreeta Ryodi and Emma Bluck (Cisco), Akhtar Badshah (Microsoft), Kanwal Research: Helen Barley, Jo Holmes, Keren Simons, Laura Margarita Gomez, Rachel McManus
Ahluwalia (Plan UK).
Special thank you to the families taking part in the ‘Real Choices, Real Lives’ cohort study and to the Plan staff involved.
Steering Group – Plan International: Alistair Clay, Alexander Munive, Aimee Suchard, Belinda Portillo, Brad Henderson, Chitra Iyer,
Don McPhee, Fadimata Alainchar, Hellen Tombo, Jeanette McKenna, Jon Martin Forland, Kate Fehlenberg, Lydia M Domingo, Ndungu All maps in Section 3 courtesy of Maplecroft and GirlsDiscover.org.
Kahihu, Patrick van Ahee, Rebecca Lake, Rosanna Viteri, Silje Bundeng, Stuart Coles, Stefanie Conrad, Terence McCaughan.
Printed by Graphicom, Italy on recycled paper. ISBN: 978-0-9565219-0-3
Legal input received from: Kristen Anderson, Ruth Barnes and Erica Hall, Essex Children’s Legal Centre.
Design and production: New Internationalist Publications Ltd
Thank you to: Emily Lundell (Plan USA), Michael Diamond and Lydia Domingo (Plan Philippines), Hellen Tombo (Plan East and South
Africa) and everyone in Plan Egypt, Plan Brazil, Plan Netherlands and Plan Sudan. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this publication is accurate at the time of going to
press, Plan cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies.
Special thank you to: Amos Trust and the Consortium for Street Children for inviting Plan to hold a girl-only session at the Street
Child World Cup (2010), to Savina Greenickx from Street Child Africa for coordinating a comprehensive survey of street girls in The commentary and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the official policy of Plan.
Ghana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, to Suzanne Williams and Michael Montgomery (IICRD) and the Child Protection Partnership for the
research on girls’ online protection from Brazil, and to Justice for Girls for the research on adolescent girls and their experience of Parts of this publication may be copied for use in research, advocacy and education, providing the source is acknowledged. This
detention and rehabilitation in the Philippines. publication may not be reproduced for other purposes without the prior permission of Plan UK.
Unless otherwise indicated, names have been changed in case studies to protect identities.
Unless otherwise indicated, dollar values expressed are US dollars.
Chapter 4 Section 2 –
Adolescent girls and Because We are
communications Girls: ‘Real Choices,
technologies:
opportunity Real Lives’
or exploitation?. . . . . . . . . . . 100 Cohort study update . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Empowered and Lifted
The digital revolution and Out of Poverty? How our
the digital divide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 young girls and their families
measure up to the Millennium
Giving us freedom – why Development Goals. . . . . . . . . . . . 145
communications technologies
are important for Cohort Study Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
adolescent girls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Girls and international standards Section 3 –
on equal access to
information/media. . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Reference
Breaking the silence: girls, Because I am a Girl campaign. . . . 160
the super-communicators? . . . . . . . 110 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Barriers: what is keeping Mapping the MDGs:
adolescent girls from accessing
communications technologies?. . . . 112 MDG1 Proportion of girls
under-5 years that are
TAR I Q AN D S t a n Th e k a e k a r a
The dark side of cyberspace underweight. . . . . . . . . . . 162
– how technology is increasing
sexual exploitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 MDG2 Girls’ gross primary
school graduation rate. . . 164
What laws are there to protect
girls from violence, exploitation MDG3 Proportion of girls
and abuse online?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 aged 15-19 years
married by age 15 . . . . . . 166
Girls on the move in Using the law to prosecute
sexual exploitation, abuse Female transition from
busy Bangalore, India. primary to secondary
Contents and violence online . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Legal responses to young people
education . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
who sexually exploit others Estimated female
Foreword by Anna Tibaijuka, Chapter 2 Chapter 3 The role of the police in
earned income. . . . . . . . . 168
Executive Director of UN-Habitat. . . 8 ‘protecting’ girls on the streets . . . 75 through new technologies. . . . . . . 125
Bright lights and big Hidden in plain view: Feature: Brazilian adolescent MDG4 Infant mortality rates
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 hopes: adolescent adolescent girls on the The rights of girls in conflict with
girls in a digital world . . . . . . . . . . 130 and Proportion of young
girls in the city. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 streets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 the law under international law. . . . 77
women aged 20-24
“We have dreams too” – Unleashing years that have
Section 1 – The global context of Defining disadvantage. . . . . . . . . . . 65
street girls’ resilience. . . . . . . . . . . . 79 girls’ potential: achieved at least
urbanisation and youth . . . . . . . . . . 25
Urban and Digital Hidden in plain view –
Feature: The forgotten few –
Recommendations secondary education. . . . 170
Frontiers Streets of gold? Why adolescent adolescent street girls. . . . . . . . . . . 67
adolescent girls’ experiences of on adolescent girls MDG6 Ratio of young women
girls move to cities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 and ICTs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
“Call me by my own name” – detention and rehabilitation in two to young men living
Chapter 1 Girls’ legal rights in the city. . . . . . . 31 attitudes towards girls cities in the Philippines . . . . . . . . . . 83 with HIV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Setting the scene . . . . . . . . . . 14 The best recipe? The benefits
on the street. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
The daily diary of Sheena . . . . . . . . 89 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Setting the scene: girls in cities and of city life for adolescent girls. . . . . 38 Feature: Trust is a dangerous thing –
girls living on the streets in Egypt. . 70
Adolescent girls’ Girls online. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
new technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The law on girls and the right right to the city – About Plan International. . . . . . . . 197
Outlining the context and the to protection from hazardous or Why do adolescent girls leave a call to action . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
rationale for the 2010 report. . . . . . 15 exploitive work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 home for the street? . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Plan Offices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Feature: My ideal city – “I wish I was a boy” – sexual
girls’ drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 exploitation and abuse of
adolescent girls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
No safe place? Preventing violence
against adolescent girls in the city. 53
Foreword
For the first time, more than 50 per cent and to be part of the solution, and not to As I said at the World Urban Forum earlier
of the world’s population is living in urban be identified, as street children so often this year, the Right to the City is about
areas, a figure that is forecast to rise to are, as the problem. It is unacceptable consultation, inclusion, and empowering
more than 60 per cent in 2030. Cities in the that, according to the research in this people to solve their own problems. It is
developing world are expected to account report, millions of women and girls all over about fighting slums, not slum dwellers, and
for 95 per cent of urban growth over the the world feel unsafe in the cities they live fighting poverty instead of fighting the poor!
next two decades. Plan’s new report, in. It is unacceptable that girls and young Empowering and including girls and young
focusing particularly on girls in cities, is women must constantly be on their guard women is crucial. Their rights and needs
nothing if not timely. We need to prioritise in streets, parks and estates, and that rape have been ignored for too long.
housing and urban development or too statistics are a shameful indication that
many of the world’s population will be their fear is justified. We need to plan for Anna K. Tibaijuka
pushed further into poverty. safer cities that we can all be proud to Under-Secretary-General and Executive
Cities have the potential to make countries live in and where girls can feel safe, stay Director
rich, and for many, cities are a symbol of healthy and take advantage of the real United Nations Human Settlements
hope for a better life; but in reality, city life opportunities that urban environments, at Programme
U N - H A B I TAT
can mean exclusion and increased hardship. their best, can provide. (UN-Habitat)
This is true for the urban poor, particularly The State of the World’s Girls 2010
girls and young women. The opportunities focuses on the particular arenas of the
that present themselves are real, but so of Ghana, for the past two years, is quite city and cyberspace, which are rapidly
are the risks and multiple deprivations revealing. Sala may have arrived in the city growing areas where girls will be at risk
associated with the urban divide. Girls with with high hopes, but she found herself on but where opportunities abound. It also
nowhere to live, no family support and the wrong side of the urban divide. “As soon focuses on adolescent girls – girls who
no job can end up on the street, in unsafe as I moved to the city I fell into a group of are at a particularly vulnerable age and
relationships and unable, through poverty, other schoolchildren who introduced me to who need to be able to develop the skills
to take advantage of the education and sex work. These children are my only friends to protect themselves, to negotiate these
health facilities that do exist. As this year’s here.” City life does not have to be like this: new environments and to distinguish
report from Plan International demonstrates, there are opportunities that we must help opportunity from threat. We must make it
rapid urbanisation means that inequality and these young women to grasp. our responsibility to ensure that both cities
violence against girls in slums and informal All citizens have a right to their city and the internet are safe and girl-friendly.
settlements, public spaces and on the streets and we must make sure that all get equal The evidence in this report demonstrates
is growing. Adolescent street-involved and opportunities to exercise this right. Girls what can and must be done and I am
homeless girls in particular are pushed into and women need to be empowered delighted that Plan and all the many
begging, transactional sex and other forms socially, economically and culturally, and organisations that have contributed to
of exploitation and cruelty. The reality for involved in the planning and governance the 2010 Girls’ Report have called us all
many girls, like 14 year-old Sala, who has of cities. They need the opportunity to to action. We must not condemn another
lived on the streets of Accra, the capital make known the challenges that they face generation to life in urban slums, or worse.
“The first night I was on the street I slept under a 79 per cent of girls did not feel safe online.5
tree. Then the police came and they just fetched The dangers for girls in both cities and online
the girls. We thought maybe they just picked the are rapidly expanding and yet are little regulated
girls to take us somewhere safe. They took us to or researched. As a result, they pose massive
Albert Park and then they just pointed to one of my new threats to girls’ safety. These are particularly
friends. Her name was Nutanka, and then they just serious at adolescence, when girls are becoming
M a n o o ch e r D e gh a t i / I R I N
abused her and when she came out she was naked. sexual beings but have not yet developed the
They were trying to do something to me but I kept skills or the knowledge to protect themselves from
on screaming for other people and they didn’t do harm. It is precisely at this time in their lives that
anything to me. They just put the pepper spray on they need the most support. Yet this is also when
us and hit us with the sjambok [leather whip]. I entrenched gender discrimination – that treats
was 13 or 14, I am not sure. I will never forget what girls as less equal and less important than boys –
the police did to my friend.” exposes them to risk.
Precious, South Africa1 Adolescent girls are neglected by city planners It is not just the world that is changing; it is also group of other schoolchildren who introduced me to
who could make cities safe for them, let down by the way that girls and young women see the world sex work. These children are my only friends here.”8
This year’s ‘Because I am a Girl’ report looks at lives the failure to enact or implement legislation that and their place in it. This includes the kinds of For girls, the new world of ICTs brings old and
of adolescent girls like Precious in two of the fastest- would support and protect them, and exposed by work that they want to do, their ideas about how new, rich and poor, opportunity and danger,
growing arenas in the world today – cities and new a lack of regulation and enforcement of protection women and men should behave, and their dreams up against each other more dramatically, more
communication technologies. In both, girls should online. Girls are also abused by the very people for their future. Girls are pushing at the boundaries immediately and perhaps more damagingly than
have the right to protection, but this report will show and institutions that are meant to keep them safe, that limit their lives, and asking for the same in any other era. Access to new information
that this right is often violated. For example, one such as the police. As we will see, this failure is opportunities as their brothers. technologies and the media has exposed young
study in Lima, Peru’s capital city, found that 41 per particularly acute when it comes to girls like Precious For the first time in history, there are more women to new ideas and ways of thinking that open
cent of girls and young women between the ages of and Nutanka, who live on the streets. people living in cities than in rural areas. And up huge possibilities – but which their families might
10 and 24 had experienced coerced sex.2 This is not And yet cities and ICTs also have the potential the numbers are growing rapidly – each month, also perceive as dangerous. The internet creates new
just true in the developing world; in the Netherlands, to offer girls more opportunities than ever before. five million people are added to the cities of the intimacies that seem safe, magnifying the power
research for this report found that 63 per cent of 17 Increasing numbers of girls are moving, with their developing world.7 We can estimate that by 2030 of the peer group and inviting in the stranger. The
and 18 year-old girls say they do not feel safe walking families, to cities – where they are more likely to be approximately 1.5 billion girls will live in cities. This case of a young woman in the UK who was raped
around their city at night.3 educated, less likely to be married at an early age rapid urbanisation means that violence against and murdered by a man she met through Facebook
The internet and other new communications and more likely to participate in politics and leisure girls in slums and on the streets is growing as well. illustrates the real and present dangers these types
technologies blur the line between public and activities. In 59 countries there are now as many Extreme poverty and homelessness push adolescent of online solicitations can pose to adolescent girls.9
private, and abuse online can turn into real life girls as boys going to school – that’s 20 countries girls in particular into begging, transactional sex One 12 year-old girl from a poor area of São Paulo
encounters that put girls at risk. One study in more than in 1999.6 And millions of girls and and other forms of exploitation in order to survive. said: “What Lan Houses [internet cafés] most offer
the UK found that adolescents, particularly young women now have access to mobile phones Girls like Sala, who is 14 years old and has lived on is risk. Porno sites simply pop up.” Technology can
young girls between 16 and 17 years old, were and global information systems, putting them in the streets of Accra, the capital of Ghana, for the be liberating for girls, but it may also replace the
in serious danger of ‘online seduction’.4 Research touch not only with their friends but with their past two years. She says: “Most nights I spend with influence of the immediate family and community to
commissioned in Brazil for this report found that peers in different countries. clients. As soon as I moved to the city I fell into a both good and ill effect.
Girl
RESILIENCE
Adolescent girls need to be able to develop and women is wrong. You must respect a woman’s
the skills to protect themselves and to distinguish opinion, as we respect a man’s.”10 Or Hasina
opportunity from threat. Authorities and other Hamza, a student from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,
‘duty-bearers’ must make it their responsibility to who says:
make both cities and the internet safe and girl- “In terms of world leaders, I would like them
friendly. As the diagram above shows, in both to know that young people are not simply
cities and online, adolescent girls need access to ‘leaders of tomorrow’. We are already leaders,
information, to education, to safe spaces and to and members of society, today. Our views
networks. matter. We need avenues to express them, and
We ignore the dangers facing adolescent girls for that we need to know that there is guaranteed
at our peril. Girls are half the world’s future: the freedom of expression, as well as solid access to
citizens who will be running our cities and shaping information. When we are treated as full partners
technology in the decades to come. We owe it to in development issues, real change will result.” 11
them to ease their passage from childhood into Time is running out for the 600 million girls who
womanhood so that they have the skills and the are adolescents today. Action needs to be taken
knowledge to build a better and safer future for now. Tomorrow will be too late, because by then
us all. We owe it to ourselves and to the future of the girls in this report will already be women and
our world to listen to what they have to say. Girls the critical moment for positive change lost forever.
themselves are telling us clearly what needs to be
done. As Laura, a street girl from Nicaragua, says:
“We all have rights that cannot be trampled on,
F a bi o D e P a o l a
the opportunities and the dangers that these recommendations to those in authority at
present. international, national and local levels.
14 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 15
Section 1 of the report looks at the who can take an active part in planning of the boys said they had forced a girl
opportunities and threats for girls in cities and running city life – and ensure that to have sex with them; 93 per cent of
and in new technologies. Section 2 examines cities are both safe and girl-friendly. the girls reported having been raped.12
in detail how the cohort of girls in the ‘Real • In developing countries, school • Violence against girls and women may
Choices, Real Lives’ study are faring. Section attendance for girls aged 10 to 14 is 18 be more common in the city than in
3 provides statistical evidence to show how per cent higher in urban than in rural rural areas: in Brazil 24.5 per cent of
girls’ lives are changing. areas, and 37 per cent higher for young female respondents in the city and
women aged 15 to 19. 5 15.9 per cent in the provinces reported
In Chapter Two, we look at one of the major • In Bangladesh, 31 per cent of violence.13
changes that our world is experiencing adolescent girls who had migrated • In Pokara, Nepal, 90 per cent of street
today – the exponential growth of its cities from rural to urban areas for work were girls were sexually abused by hotel and
– and ask: what are the benefits for girls and married by the age of 18, compared to restaurant owners and by people in
young women and what are their particular 71 per cent in rural areas.6 places of work. Junkyard owners, older
needs? What are the coping mechanisms • Overall, 79 per cent of city births have boys in the group, friends, local people
they use to survive when their needs are a skilled attendant compared with 28 and tractor drivers were also among the
ignored by those in power and their rights per cent of births in rural areas.7 perpetrators.14
abused by those who want to exploit their • Skilled birth attendants are present • In Ghana, adolescents in urban areas
sexuality? This chapter looks at the reasons at 78 per cent of deliveries in urban were significantly more likely to have
why young women move to the city, what settings in Bolivia, 60 per cent in experienced coerced sex than those in
S c o t t M a i n s / M e d i a C o c k t a i l , A G ED 2 4 , U K / w w w . s h o o t n a t i o n s . o r g
urban life has to offer them, and the mixture Pakistan, almost 52 per cent in Angola rural areas.15
of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors that drive rural- and 47 per cent in Yemen. Skilled • In the Netherlands, an online survey of
urban migration. For example, a survey in deliveries in rural areas in these girls in cities conducted for this report
slum areas of Addis Ababa found that one in countries are two to four times lower.8 found that 40 per cent of girls between
every four young women migrants between • In urban areas in Benin 25 per cent of the ages of 11 and 18 said they did not
the ages of 10 and 19 came to the city to pregnant adolescent girls receive HIV feel safe walking around their city at
escape early marriage.3 And a study in Egypt counselling and testing, whereas in night. This rose to 63 per cent of 17 and
of street children between the ages of 10 rural areas the figure is only 6 per cent.9 18 year olds.
and 18 found that 82 per cent said they had • In the city of Ceará, Brazil, young
come to the city because of abuse by the people were involved in budget setting In Chapter Three, we focus on one group
family or at work.4 This chapter shows why and in training other youth. As a result who are most vulnerable in the city –
Benno Neeleman
urban life offers adolescent girls both the of their efforts, an additional $750,000 adolescent street girls. Although accurate
greatest opportunities and the greatest risks. was allocated to children and young estimates are difficult to come by, numbers Girls at work
Risks which, for adolescent girls in slums in people in 2005.10 of street children are rising. Girls apparently in Accra,
particular, need addressing urgently. constitute fewer than 30 per cent of street Ghana.
to woman, school to work, dependence Children Where cities are not working well for girls
DEFINING ADOLESCENCE to independence. How she is able to deal at play in Despite the many advantages of living in
The World Health Organisation and with these transitions depends heavily Alexandria, a city, for adolescent girls city living also
other United Nations organisations on her national, social, economic and Egypt. means an increased risk of violence and
define adolescence as being between 10 political context. All girls are different, abuse.
and 19 years old, youth as 15 to 24 and but there are some experiences and • A study of human rights violations
children as 0 to 18. The fact that these vulnerabilities that they share and it is in Dhaka, Bangladesh, found that
categories overlap reflects the fact that these that the report will focus on. adolescent girls were the most
young people’s lives and their physical vulnerable group when it came to
and emotional development vary hugely, ADOLESCENT GIRLS IN CITIES sexual harassment and rape.11
not just according to age but in relation – THE FACTS • Many of the benefits of cities do not
to their sex, where they live, their family Where cities are working well for girls apply to slums or shanty towns, for
and community, their economic status As we demonstrate below, adolescent example. In these, many girls never
and many other factors. This report, girls in cities are more likely than their start school or drop out before finishing
however, focuses in particular on the rural cousins to go to school, marry later, secondary school.
adolescent age group from 10 to 19, give birth more safely and have more of • More than half of the boys interviewed
while not completely excluding girls who a say in their own lives. This not only in a Rwanda study and more than
are slightly older or slightly younger. It benefits the girls themselves as they grow three-quarters of the girls, including 35
also bears in mind that this is a period of into women, but means that cities have per cent of those under 10, admitted
major transitions in a girl’s life – from girl a more articulate and vibrant population they were sexually active; 63 per cent
16 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 17
children, but this may be partly because • A city where all girls can participate in the formation of ICTs and to challenge
they are less visible, which makes them more cultural, political and other activities gender discrimination through these
vulnerable. Of all those living in the city, it • A city which prevents and punishes technologies. We explain how and why
is street girls, particularly adolescents, who violence against girls boys and young men have greater access
are most at risk. A study in India, involving • A city where the state and local to these technologies than girls and young
more than 1,000 street girls aged between government guarantee girls’ access to women and how they use them differently.
5 and 18, found that 68 per cent reported justice. In Indonesia, for example, girls and young
they had been physically abused. Almost women aged 15 to 24 are half as likely to
half the girls told the researchers that they In Chapter Four, we look at how girls are use the internet as boys the same age. 20 We
wished they were boys.16 Adolescent street operating in the fast-moving world of also reveal how ICTs are an arena where
girls face sexual harassment and abuse and communications technologies (ICTs) – the sexual predators can operate with impunity,
often have to rely on street boys or older internet and email, instant messaging, and how adolescent girls and young
men to protect them. A survey by Child social networks and mobile phones. ICTs women have become prime targets for new
Hope found that 95 per cent of girls living are critical for girls’ empowerment. Because methods of abuse, including trafficking,
M a r k Henle y / Pa n o s Pi c t ur e s
on the streets of Ethiopia experienced sexual this arena is growing and changing, girls A rickshaw via the internet and other communications
exploitation.17 Street girls can find no refuge have a unique opportunity to influence ride in India. technologies. In China, for example, 44
with the authorities or the police, who are as per cent of children said they had been
likely to abuse them as protect them. Justice approached online by strangers. 21 We look
systems and prisons also treat them harshly, at the new phenomenon of cyberbullying,
sometimes imprisoning them because they which is most prevalent among adolescents
are girls on the street rather than because and teenagers and where girls are more
they have committed a crime. Research in likely to be the victims – in one study in
the Philippines commissioned for this report the US, 41 per cent of adolescent girls The bad news Travelling
found that girls were arrested simply for between the ages of 15 and 17 said they • 79 per cent of girls said they did not with a mobile
being on the street and breaking curfew.18 had experienced bullying via the internet feel safe online phone in
This chapter examines what happens to or mobile phone, compared with 29 per • Almost half the girls who responded to Singapore.
adolescent street girls in cities. It also looks at cent of boys. 22 This chapter will look at how the survey indicated that their parents
the strategies they use to survive and protect adolescent girls can be both informed and know what they access online
themselves; for being a street girl also means empowered online. • Only about a third of the girls know
being resilient. how to report a danger or something
ONLINE FACTS ABOUT GIRLS IN BRAZIL that makes them feel bad online
An ideal city for girls is…19 The International Institute for Child Rights • Almost 50 per cent of girls say they
• A city where girls’ rights (economic, and Development through the Child would go to meet someone in person
social, political and cultural) are Protection Partnership undertook research who they had met online.
guaranteed in Brazil for this edition of ‘Because I am
• A city where girls have equal access a Girl’ (see Chapter 4). For this research, Finally, the report asks those with power
with boys to all services they interviewed 44 girls and conducted to make decisions about adolescent girls’
• A city where no girl is so poor that she a national online survey. These facts are lives – to confront, challenge and address
has to sell her body to survive extracted from their report, which shows the threats that girls and young women face
• A city where every girl has access to that most girls have a mobile phone and in our fast-changing world. It shows the
decent shelter, education, employment, access to the internet, and that virtually all importance of investment, both public and
transport and health services the respondents think online dangers are private, in order to build girls’ capabilities
• A city where girls are free from violence, greater for girls than for boys. and assets so that they can better protect
at home, at school, and in the street The good news themselves. It argues that the laws that
• A city where girls are not discriminated • 84 per cent of girls have a mobile phone are meant to protect young women must
against or harassed • 60 per cent say they have learned about be enforced. It emphasises the need to
• A city where girls have equal access online dangers protect and promote girls’ rights in cities
with boys to technology • 82 per cent have used the internet, with and online. It makes specific and targeted
• A city which notes that girls’ needs 27 per cent indicating that they are recommendations for those responsible for
are different from boys’ and from each always online our cities and those who provide services,
other • The more awareness and knowledge be they private sector, non-governmental or
• A city which documents and takes about ICT use that girls have, the international organisations. And it calls for
account of adolescent girls’ needs in its greater degree of security they feel support for girls and young women as they
Plan
political and planning processes online claim their place in the new millennium.
18 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 19
‘Real Choices, Real Lives’ –
BUILDING GIRLS’ ASSETS We urge those who have a duty and a
The word ‘assets’ is often used in responsibility to invest in girls, to protect
development. In the context of girls, them, to plan for them and to ensure that
we are talking about social, political,
economic and human assets – for
example, ensuring that a girl has
they are able to participate safely in the
exciting and dynamic developments that
are taking place in cities and in the rapid
The Plan cohort turns four
enough to eat, good healthcare and expansion of new technology. This is an
education, and a strong social support issue that involves us all, from street girls In 2007 we set up a cohort study – ‘Real Gastine, also from Togo, was luckier than
system that enables her to make choices to civil society organisations, from mayors Choices, Real Lives’ – to follow a group of Yassiminatou – access to a trained health
in her life, achieve her goals and build to ministers, from parliamentarians to girls from birth until their ninth birthday. worker saved her life.
the resources she needs to do this. the police. As Tala, a street girl from the Young Their stories help illuminate the decisions
Other assets include a supportive Philippines, said: women in a and choices families worldwide face as their Gastine’s Story
family, a network of friends, role “The government must work together. We street market daughters grow up, and are a vivid reminder Gastine recently turned four. She lives with
models/mentors and access to online must all work together because nothing will in Bangalore, that the facts and figures contained in the her mother, Bella. Gastine’s father lives in
communities and networks. happen if we don’t have unity.” India. report are about real people – real girls and the local town, so Bella is raising her children
their families. largely on her own. Bella says: “Gastine will
This year, because the focus of the be my last child. I have a lot of children
report is on adolescent girls in new and and the problem is to feed them. I grow
changing places – both urban space and maize and yam and three days each week I
the growing world of new technologies walk two hours to the fields and two hours
– we interviewed not only the parents of back, to till my fields. On Monday and
the girls taking part but also older siblings, Wednesday, I make and sell local beer and
cousins and neighbours. The purpose was maize cakes.”
to gain a better understanding of how Gastine has suffered from malaria several
teenage girls experience their place in times in her short life but, crucially, has
today’s world.
We found that although the vast majority
of the girls taking part in Plan’s ‘Real Gastine
Choices, Real Lives’ cohort study live in rural
areas, the dramatic changes described in
this year’s ‘Because I am a Girl’ report are
nevertheless impacting on their families. This
is particularly so in Latin America (Brazil,
Dominican Republic and El Salvador) and
in West Africa (Benin and Togo). As family
members move to cities, the study clearly
shows both the ‘push’ factor of rural poverty
and the ‘pull’ factor of opportunity that
city life represents. It also shows the impact
that the exodus has on family members left
behind.
The death of Yassiminatou, one of
the little girls from Togo, shows us how
overpowering the sheer struggle for
survival is for the very poorest families.
Yassiminatou’s family took her to a local
traditional healer but she died after a short
illness, before they could take her to the
TARI Q AND S t a n Th e k a e k a r a
Plan
poverty and poor nutrition is all too clear.
20 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 21
had access to free treatment provided by a
trained healthcare worker who lives in the Noelia and her Doreen, Thi Kim Khanh,
local community. Gastine’s mother is able grandmother Philippines Vietnam
to look ahead: “When she is older she will
go to school. I want her to be a teacher, not
working on the land like I do.”
The fate of these two little girls
demonstrates how important it is that their
families break out of the trap of poverty, and
how vital it is that we invest in them and their
communities. The cohort families in Togo
spend more than 90 per cent of their income
on food. For them, health and education are
‘luxuries’ they cannot really afford.
Plan
Plan
The experiences of the 20 Togolese
families in the study demonstrate the pull of one member of the family is absent, there is us take a course outside the community…
the city among rural communities desperate a lot of sadness...” they are afraid of sexual harassment.” This
to leave their poverty behind. Twelve of The cohort study also supplies desire to protect girls will hold them back
them have a close family member – mother, revealing information about girls and new from school, from internet cafés, from
sister, brother – who has already moved. technology. A small number of the teenage college and from fulfilling their potential.
Many others talk of moving to their nearest relatives of the girls taking part in the study For the adolescent girls, increased access
city to find work and better educational have access to information technology. to information is in itself contributing to
opportunities for their children. Forty-two Plan Mobile phones feature most prominently increasing urbanisation. Young people are
per cent of Togo’s people already live in an misery they suffered. Abide, aged 15, went in their lives. Access varies from country to keen to move to urban areas, where they
urban area. Massama’s father, for example, to Nigeria: country – in Togo, for example, none of the expect to have better prospects. One of the
would like her to become a teacher, but “I was working as a maid 18 hours a day for families taking part in the study had heard teenage girls from Brazil explained that “on
there is no secondary school in their village 5,000 cprs [$10] per month. I tried to come of the internet and none had regular access television we see the changes, but in our
so he too is thinking about moving to the home every year… on the way to Nigeria to mobile phones. In Brazil, where many own homes the story is very different”.
nearest town. For many of the families the we had to hide from the police as child in our cohort live in urban slums, all of the The parents in the survey may fear for
nearest town is Sekode. Situated by the main trafficking is now illegal.” teenagers, girls and boys alike, have access their girls’ safety but they continue to
north-south road running through Togo, it is In El Salvador, two of the girls taking to the internet, either at school or at an express their hopes and dreams for their
on one of the major child-trafficking routes part in the study are being raised by internet café. However, a larger proportion children. Many desire equality of opportunity
in West Africa – a potential risk to balance their grandmothers, as their parents have of boys interviewed appeared to have regular for their daughters and want them to stay in
against the educational benefits. Many of migrated to the United States and to Italy. access to mobile phones. school “to become a doctor, a lawyer or a
the teenage girls we talked to spoke of the Others are being raised by their mothers Talking to a focus group of Brazilian teacher”. Attitudes are changing, sometimes
pressure to leave their villages and earn alone because their fathers have left to work mothers and daughters, it became clear that ahead of practice, but by the time the
money elsewhere. They also spoke of the in cities abroad. In the Dominican Republic girls are held back by parental fears for their cohort’s four year olds are adolescents we
the mother of Noelia has gone to work in the safety. Girls commented: “We want to take must make sure these dreams are closer to
capital San Domingo and speaks for many a professional course… our mothers don’t let fulfilment.
Massama and mothers when she expresses how much she
her family misses her daughter and how much of her Huguette, Soumeyatou,
childhood she will never see. “My mother Benin Togo
knows her better than I do,” she comments.
The information from our researchers in
the nine cohort countries has again provided
a vivid illustration of the analysis provided
by the report as a whole. It keeps us aware
of the real human costs of poverty and lack
of opportunity. The young women we talked
to in Brazil spoke for their younger siblings
and all the children whose parents had gone
to look for work elsewhere when they told
us: “When any member of the family leaves,
Plan
Plan
Plan
the changes are for the worse...” and “when
22 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 23
Bright lights and big
hopes: adolescent
girls in the city
“I am going to talk about the challenges
that we girls in the ghetto get. First we are
raped and there is no action taken against
the men who raped us. Second, early
pregnancy. Boys say: ‘You are beautiful,
2
them, which are not available or possible in
a village. But we also reveal how violence is
a growing threat for adolescent girls in cities
because of their age and sex. We argue that
they must be supported to develop the skills
can I sleep with you?’ Third, dropping to protect themselves, and to distinguish
out of school. So the challenges girls opportunity from danger. We showcase
face in the ghetto are many. That is why models of good practice; for example, urban
we created Safe Spaces to talk about our planning that takes young women’s views into
challenges.” account and initiatives aimed at building safer
Linda Nyangasi, one of the young cities for girls and women. We look at the
leaders of the Safe Spaces project difference for girls living in poorer and richer
in Kibera, a slum in Nairobi. housing areas. Finally, we call for investment,
not just in young people in cities as a generic
“My mother used to listen to my brothers group, but in adolescent girls specifically. We
and not to me. I used to be afraid and never must listen to what they have to say. They
imagined I could do what I can do now. have a crucial part to play in building the safe
Now they listen to me as well and treat me and sustainable cities that we will need for the
the same as my brothers. I am the secretary 21st century.
of the school parliament. I want to be a
child doctor. I want to distribute all the 1. Introduction: the global context
experience and knowledge I have to other of urbanisation and youth
girls around the world.”
Asalaa, 12, from Alexandria, Egypt. She has “We have achieved things that the
benefited from training programmes that teachers didn’t think we would be able to
she would be unlikely to get in a rural area. achieve as girls. They never had these kind
of opportunities at our age. My parents
Summary too are astonished at the change they see
in me.”
In this chapter, we look at one of the major Rana, 16, on the leadership training
changes that our world is experiencing today – she had from Plan in the city of
the exponential growth of its cities – and ask: Alexandria, Egypt.
what are the particular needs of adolescent
girls in this context? We look at the reasons For the first time in history, we are now
J en n y M at t h e w s
why young women move to the city and what officially an urban planet. More people now
urban life has to offer them. We show the live in cities and towns than in villages.1 Each
many opportunities that the city opens up for week, three million people are added to the
24 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 25
cities of the developing world.2 The urban Projected Growth of Selected Cities by 2025 In response to the growing re-thought and designed or adapted with
population of Africa and Asia will double in concentration of the world’s population the particular needs and experiences
less than a generation.3 Delhi in urban centres and to increasingly of girls in mind. Adolescent girls must
Despite common perceptions, not all cities fragmented cities, a new concept has be actively involved in all stages of this
are expanding due to rural-urban migration. emerged as the backdrop for affirming re-thinking process to ensure that their
In fact, 60 per cent of urban growth, Cairo the entitlement of all city dwellers to voices are included and reflected in how
particularly in mega-cities of over 10 million, its privileges and opportunities, spaces cities are organised and run.12
occurs due to natural population growth.4 Karachi
and services – the idea of the ‘right to
Cities also grow because rural land around the city’. This stems from the premise Young people under 25 already make up
the perimeter gradually becomes urban as that all city dwellers should be able to half the world’s urban population, and
people move in. And in some countries the Dhaka benefit fully from city life in ways that are the numbers living in cities are growing
economic crisis has also brought about a accessible, appropriate, affordable, safe, fast.13 They all should have their needs and
reversal in this trend as people leave cities adapted and equitable for all, regardless rights recognised and live in a city free
Manila
to return to villages.5 While many millions of age, gender, race, religion, sexual from violence, with adequate housing, safe
migrate, most young people living in a city orientation or any other factor. water, transport, and access to healthcare,
today were born there.6 Beijing UNESCO and UN-Habitat state that technology, networks, education and skills
What statistics cannot reveal is the the assertion of one’s right to the city can training.
diversity of experience of living in a city. As serve as a vehicle for social inclusion. The The diagram below shows how the
we will see, life for an adolescent girl in one Mumbai right to the city includes the following: population of young people is projected to
of the world’s growing number of mega- • Liberty, freedom and the benefit of the grow in cities all over the world.
cities of over 10 million is very different from São Paolo city life for all Life in the city has much to offer
living in a small town, let alone in a village. • Transparency, equity and efficiency in adolescent girls. They are more likely to be
And one of the most important factors city administrations educated and find work, and less likely to
0 10,000 20,000 30,000
shaping that experience is whether she is rich • Participation and respect in local marry young in a town than in a village.
or poor. Estimated Population in 2025 (Thousands) democratic decision-making They have more opportunity to interact with
Population in 2007 (Thousands)
The cities’ richest inhabitants are • Recognition of diversity in economic, boys and to work towards equality.
increasingly isolating themselves in gated Sources: Data from UN Population Division, World social and cultural life But millions of adolescent girls are not
communities and using private services. Urbanization Prospects 2007. Figures for 2025 are projections. • Reducing poverty, social exclusion and able to access these positive sides of city
(From UN-Habitat: State of the world’s cities 2008/2009 p. 6)
Then there are the middle classes, who urban violence.11 life. Because they are at the point in their
benefit most from the amenities and These principles are particularly lives where they are maturing sexually, they
services provided in a city, and for whom further shaped and re-shaped by additional important for women and girls, whose are especially vulnerable to violence and
they are generally provided.7 And finally, factors, including age, ethnic background, ability to access the city is more limited. sexual exploitation, in particular if they are
there are the most marginalised – the religion, marital status, sexual orientation Urban environments, governance homeless, live on the streets or live in poorer
urban poor – who constitute up to half the and disability.”9 structures, services and spaces must be parts of the city, especially slums.
urban population, especially in developing This fact has been recognised in many
countries. They have little access to the cities, which have special programmes for Population of Youth (millions)
benefits of a city, and may live in slums or women, children and those with disabilities 450
shanty towns. Father Bruno Sechi, co- or from particularly disadvantaged groups.
400
founder of the National Movement of Street However, there are only a few that recognise
Boys and Girls in Brazil, says: “The first and the particular needs of adolescent girls, 350
greatest violence is the systematic exclusion especially those who are most marginalised, 300
of a great number of people by society. and therefore most deprived of its benefits.
250
From this violence other violence directly And yet we know that investing in girls
and indirectly flows. Where you exclude, can break the cycle of poverty that is 200
you must establish instruments to control often handed down from generation to 150
those who are excluded so that they don’t generation.10 100
invade the peace of those who have access
50
to opportunities and wealth.”8 A GIRL’S RIGHT TO THE CITY
As Women in Cities International have Women and girls should have as much 0
stated: “It is important to recognise that right to the city as men and boys; to South Asia East Asia Sub-Saharan Latin America Europe and Middle East
and Pacific Africa and the Central Asia and North
cities are not homogenous; rather they are freedom of mobility, to use public spaces, Caribbean Africa
experienced in different ways by the diversity to go to school, to engage in politics and 1950 2050
of their residents. Not only is the experience to participate in the benefits of urban life
Source: World Bank: World Development Report 2007: Development and the Next Generation
of the city shaped by one’s gender, but it is without fear.
26 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 27
GIRL HOMELESSNESS IN CANADA – co-educational shelters and group homes Justice for girls
A NATIONAL CONCERN14 which they share with young men and There is little recognition at any level by
Despite a context of economic prosperity adult male staff. Many girls try to survive those who run our cities that adolescent
and relatively progressive social policy in outside of state care as a result. girls have different requirements and
Canada, teenage girls who live in poverty, When Canadian governments fail different vulnerabilities than boys, older
a disproportionate number of whom are to provide safe accessible housing to women and younger girls. We will show
indigenous, are very often denied access Canadian girls, exploitive adult men how, in order to keep safe, they need secure
to the most basic human rights. They are step in to fill the gap. Before long, transport, adequate lighting, and affordable
criminalised for the oppression they face homeless teen girls are ‘trading’ sex and decent housing. To mature into
and encounter additional abuse in state- with older abusive men in exchange for responsible adults, they require education
run facilities, leaving them vulnerable a place to stay. Many of these adult men and health services targeted at their needs
M a n o o c h e r D e g h a t i / IRIN
to becoming homeless. The United subsequently reveal themselves as drug and, when they are the right age, the
Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right dealers and pimps who eventually ‘turn possibility of decent work.
to Adequate Housing recently found: out’ girls, under threat of force, into With cities mostly built, planned
“Homelessness in general and that of selling sex and/or drug dealing. In a 2007 and run by men, the requirements of
young women and girls in particular has survey of 762 homeless youth aged 12 women and girls are often ignored – and
become a national concern in Canada.” 15 to 18 it was found that 57 per cent of the those of adolescent girls particularly so.
Teenage girls constitute between 30 and girls had been sexually abused.17 Adolescent girls have huge energy, ideas
50 per cent of homeless youth in big On the street, teen girls in Canada and enthusiasm, as some of the projects we According to UN-Habitat, a ‘slum household’ Living in a
cities across Canada.16 endure frequent and severe male sexual will showcase reveal. But, as UN-Habitat is a group of individuals living under the Bangladeshi
Many girls leave their homes to escape and physical violence (including rape and points out: “Young women and girls have same roof in an urban area who lack one slum.
sexual and physical abuse by male family murder), commercial sexual exploitation, traditionally had little say in how cities are or more of the following: durable housing,
members, which is not properly dealt with police harassment and brutality, developed, how services are delivered, and sufficient living area, access to safe water,
by the criminal justice or child welfare criminalisation and imprisonment and how governance structures are run.”18 Giving access to sanitation and secure tenure. Not
systems. For indigenous girls, the impact serious, sometimes fatal, health disorders them a say will not just make cities safe for all poor people live in slums, and not all
of historical and current colonial social such as HIV and Hepatitis C. They survive girls: they will make them better places to people who live in areas defined as slums are
policies is also a driving force behind in grossly inadequate and dangerous live for everyone. poor. However, slum dwellers constitute the
girls’ trajectory into homelessness. living environments such as squats or The issues about adolescent girls in cities majority of the world’s urban poor.22
There is virtually no girl-only housing adult rooming houses that are often that this report raises are not going to go Slum dwellers are no longer a few
in Canada for girls who are homeless and infested with bed bugs, cockroaches away; on the contrary, they will become thousand in a few cities of a rapidly
escaping male violence. Instead, girls and rodents, inhabited by violent men, more urgent with each passing day. By the industrialising continent. Vast urban slums
who are often dealing with the emotional or toxic with environmentally hazardous middle of the 21st century the majority of are now the reality of daily life for around
and physical traumas of male sexual and chemicals, building materials and countries in the developing world will be 828 million people: one out of every three
physical violence are expected to go to pesticides. mostly urban.19 The issues must therefore be city dwellers, almost a sixth of the world’s
addressed with the speed that they deserve. population.23 The majority of slum dwellers
Investing in urban girls We owe this, and much more, to the millions live in Asia, and more than 70 per cent
of adolescent girls who live in cities and the of Africa’s urban population live in areas
many more who will live there in the coming that can be defined as slums, 24 although
decades. The United Nations notes that: aggregate statistics hide deep inequalities
“The future of cities depends on the future and gloss over concentrations of harsh
of young people. In particular, it depends on poverty within cities.25 The pace and scale of
what policymakers can do to equip young slum growth is changing rapidly. There are
people to break the cycle of poverty. This in now more than 250,000 – Delhi now has
turn depends on involving young people in ‘slums within slums’ and in Cairo and Phnom
the decisions that affect them.”20 Penh urban squatters on rooftops have built
slum cities in the air.26
Adolescent girls in slums Slums are also vibrant places: “Slums
“Both men and women in slums face are filled with entrepreneurs,” as Judith
problems associated with poverty, poor Hermanson of InterAction points out:27
living conditions and lack of social safety “Slums are creative places, full of people
nets. But research shows that women and who have made a living in very difficult
girls are by far the worst affected.” circumstances.”
Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director However, the majority of the world’s
of UN-Habitat 21 slum dwellers are likely to die younger,
28 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 29
Slum Population as percentage and rape. These issues have been left largely
GIRLS’ LEGAL RIGHTS IN THE CITY
34
Very little research has been done looking which affords adequate educational and work programmes); protective measures (including
specifically at how adolescent girls fare in opportunities and access to services, like medical rehabilitation and support services for girls who
slums. As they enter a phase of their lives facilities; and cultural adequacy. are victims of violence); and monitoring the extent,
where their bodies are maturing, they have Collecting According to Article 27(2) of the UNCRC, causes and effects of violence. The UN Declaration
particular needs for education, support and water in parents have the primary obligation to ensure that on Violence Against Women further entrenches
information. At the same time, they are at Mumbai, children have the conditions that are necessary for and elaborates the international commitment to
increased risk of harassment, sexual violence India. their development, including access to adequate addressing gender-based violence.
30 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 31
the village to the city – one study of 29 something will happen to her, or simply that
developing countries showed that young she will be exposed to influences that they
people are 40 per cent more likely than consider undesirable; while for a boy, leaving
older generations to migrate. Migration home for the city may be seen simply as
rates peak between the ages of 15 and 24, part of growing up. As this young woman
as young people grow up and begin to take from Morocco said: “I am a girl. I can’t go
risks, search for jobs or further education working in other cities. My brothers could
or simply want to earn more money than never tolerate it.”39
they can in their home village. Many are Many young people leave because they
encouraged in this by their families, but feel they have no choice. If the village
others are escaping abuse or the threat of provided as many opportunities as the city,
abuse in the village. Gina Crivello of Young they would not have to leave.
Lives, a 15-year research project into child N’deye Faye, age 19, from Senegal, has
poverty, notes that in Peru: “For poor rural been involved in a savings project. She says:
households, the city was often imagined as “In our village, N’Goundiane, the dream
a place of opportunity where children could of all young girls is to work as a maid in a
do well in life by becoming ‘professionals’. large city, especially Dakar. My aunt, with
The countryside, on the other hand, was whom I lived, was always against this.
often described in terms of suffering, When the Plan project arrived, I was finally
32 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 33
“suffered a lot as we didn’t get support or The reality of city life does not always match fathers because of inheritance laws that
counselling 10 years ago. Today’s lesbians up to adolescent girls’ expectations. As a favour boys, moved to the city as they were
will benefit from the helpline.”47 However, study from Burkina Faso notes: “Comparing unable to support themselves in the village.52
as the laws on sexual orientation become adolescent girls’ situation to that of boys Rukshana, who now lives on the streets of
ever more stringent in some countries, this demonstrates that their opportunities as Mumbai with her 11 year-old sister Deepa,
remains a major challenge even in cities, migrants were very different. Since girls were also left because of inheritance disputes:
particularly in Africa.48 rarely paid on a regular basis, they could “Our village is in Murshidabad, West
not easily save up money. Instead, they Bengal. My two brothers live in the village.
BRIGHT LIGHTS AND ASPIRATIONS – emphasised the status and skills they gained Both are married. My younger brother loves
‘REAL CHOICES, REAL LIVES’ such as clothes, things for their trousseau and, me a lot. But how can I live with them? He
COHORT STUDY in particular, urban cooking skills – things that has five children and no house. When my
More than half of the families taking would help them find a good husband, and father was ill, he asked his brother – my
part in the ‘Real Choices, Real Lives’ preferably one who appreciated their urban uncle – to leave all his land in his children’s
cohort study would like to see their skills: that is, a migrant. Thereby they reiterated names. You know what my uncle did? He
daughters pursue careers that involve adult notions of rural girlhood, namely that put it all in his name. My father died and my
further education and training to become adolescent girls are ready to marry and that uncle removed us from our house. He is the
midwives, nurses and teachers. Post- they in fact do not think about much else.”49 one who threw us into problems. He brought
secondary education is not widely In addition, the risks an adolescent girl us to Kings Circle in Mumbai, made us
available in the rural villages in which faces in trying to realise her aspirations are work and didn’t give us anything to eat. We
most of the families live. Therefore the often disproportionately higher than for almost died of starvation. My mother cried
parents’ aspirations for their daughters an adolescent boy. As we will see later in a lot. She told me: ‘My daughter, do honest
will inform the decisions they make about the chapter, there are many aspects of city work to eat. Don’t go on the wrong path.’
moving to cities. In Brazil, at least half life which are hugely problematic for an Since then I have worked hard and come up.
of the families interviewed already have adolescent girl. There is no question of going astray.” 53
M a r k Henle y / Pa n o s Pi c t ur e s
older daughters who have left home, Her mother later died in the city when
the vast majority to either improve their …and push Rukshana was 13, leaving her to look after
educational prospects or to work. The “I dream, always dream that the city isn’t like her little sister.
sister of one of the girls taking part in it is here, here it’s always suffering… well, as Escaping forced or early marriage is
the study explains: “I want to finish high I see it, there can’t be that much suffering [in another reason many adolescent girls leave
school to work, and maybe go to the the city], because they don’t get wet, they their village. Shimu is one of thousands who
university, and here in Codo there isn’t don’t get sunburned, they have their secure did so. She now lives in Dhaka, the capital
one…” jobs, they have their daily schedule, and in of Bangladesh. She left her village to avoid
In Benin, a third of all the families per cent indicated that their fathers had Advertising contrast, here it’s back-breaking.” marrying a man that her parents had chosen
taking part in the study are separated by left home at various times to work. One mobile A rural mother’s hopes for for her at a very young age. She says that
seasonal or long-term migration to nearby girl related: “My father has left. He spent phones in the her children in Peru50 “living in the city has allowed [her] to make
or capital cities. three years away from home to work. The Philippines. a break from traditional networks”. True, she
The teenage members of an older family was sad; he didn’t even see my For many adolescent girls, the lure of the city sometimes feels lonely and doesn’t know
focus group, neighbours and friends brother when he was born, and then my is matched by the need to escape from the what to do. But she does know that she
of the families in the study, whom we brother died and my father couldn’t even village. One study in Egypt of street children doesn’t have to do what her relatives and
interviewed in Uganda, were clear that come home to see him...” between the ages of 10 and 18 found that elders tell her. She prefers living in Dhaka
they are motivated to move to cities and Teenagers we interviewed were very 82 per cent of children said they had come to because “here I can earn a living, live and
gave the following reasons: clear about the impacts of migration on the city because of abuse by the family or at think my own way”. In her village none of
• To send money back home and support those left behind. In the Philippines, they work; 62 per cent cited parental neglect; and this would have been possible.54
their elderly parents observed that when mothers move away 62 per cent “came from broken families due to Shimu is not alone. A survey in slum areas
• To live a more exciting life than in the for work, their daughters tend to marry divorce, separation, the death of one or more of Addis Ababa found that one in every four
village soon after graduating from secondary parents, imprisonment of a parent or both, or young women migrants between the ages of
• To reduce family expenditure at home school. Despite the potential benefits for extreme sickness of a parent or both”.51 10 and 19 came to the city to escape early
• To raise money in order to build a house the family, as parents or siblings working Violence, abuse, or family breakdown marriage.55 This 17 year-old said:
in their village of origin away send money home, the majority are other ‘push’ factors for young women “My parents were trying to marry me, but
• To pay school fees of their siblings of the Brazilian teenagers also felt that leaving the countryside. I didn’t want to get married. So I ran away
• To ultimately help other family migration to cities had a negative impact Adolescent girls may also be escaping and came here. My mother has said that I’m
members to get jobs in the city/town. on family members who remained: various forms of gender discrimination. For not her daughter any more, but I didn’t want
In Brazil, at least half of the girls’ parents “When any member of the family leaves, example, one study in Accra, Ghana, showed to get married. I wanted to study – that’s
were considering moving to a city, and 75 the changes are for the worse...” that young women, disinherited by their why I came.”
34 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 35
She is now at school.56 In Ghana too, a tell of their determination not to have their they support the practice, compared with The Arabic
study found that younger women migrated daughters cut. The women I met said that 25 per cent in urban areas.61 translation
to the city to run away from the possibility of although it was sometimes their husbands Government television programmes on reads: “Do
being married off by their parents. who insisted on cutting, more often it was the dangers of FGC; contact with those not kill your
“With no hope of continuing their the older generation of women who were in authority, such as doctors and imams children’s
education, families often force their girls to most determined to have it done. who are prepared to speak out against the innocence”.
marry, often at a young age. In defiance, “For our first daughter, my mother- practice; and women themselves who, once
girls sometimes escape with their friends and in-law said that if we did not do this convinced, influence their neighbours, can
join the trek into Accra.”57 to her, she would be a bad girl. At all help. Plan works with local Community
Female genital cutting and other harmful least I managed to have it done by a Development Associations on raising
traditional practices are also generally less nurse instead of the barber, which was communities’ awareness of gender equality,
prevalent in the city than in urban areas, as something. But my daughter kept asking including issues around FGC, to build both
the chart below shows.58 me: ‘Mummy, why did you do this to the knowledge and the confidence that can
There may, however, also be a counter me?’ It was terrible. I told her it was her begin to bring about change.
movement as families try to protect their religious duty. Education is another important reason
daughters in the city by clinging even more “But for my second daughter I do not why fewer girls in the city undergo FGC, as
fervently to the old ways. want to have her cut. I will ask the doctor one of the mothers told me: “We are more
and the imam and if they say no then I educated here in the city, our children are
Nikki va n der G a ag
NEW CHANCES: RESISTING HARMFUL will somehow persuade my husband and part of the internet generation and things
TRADITIONS IN THE CITY my mother-in-law. My sister had such a will change even more for them. My girl
The incidence of female genital mutilation bad time with her cutting that she has talks to me in a way that I would never
or cutting in Egypt is lower in the city than refused to do this to her daughters. But have been able to talk to my mother. When
in rural areas, and is slowly falling. But my youngest daughter is very confident I had my first period I thought I was dying
mothers find it hard to resist pressure from and speaks out a lot and my mother says because my mother never told me about One study in Addis Ababa found that both
older relatives who bring village traditions this is not a good thing and it is because these things.” girls and boys gave a mixture of these
with them when they move to the town. she has not been cut.” The statistics back her up: while 98 push and pull factors as their reasons for
“I have come here on condition that it is This generation gap also reflects the per cent of women with no education moving to the capital. On the pull side,
a secret. I don’t want anyone to know my gap between town and village. Forty- are cut, this drops to 87 per cent of education and work opportunities came
name. If you can promise me no one will eight per cent of women in rural areas say those who have completed secondary or high on the list for both sexes, as did joining
find out then I will tell you my story…” higher education – and is dropping each family members. Boys were more likely to
We are in a slum area in south Cairo Urban/rural prevalence of female genital mutilation or cutting year.62 Government surveys estimate that cite family problems and girls the threat of
and the woman’s nervousness reflects 100 over the next 15 years there will be a marriage.63 The aspirations of both girls and
the continuing difficulty of talking about steady decline. By the time girls who are boys were in fact quite similar – education,
something like female genital cutting now under three are 18, the percentage economic opportunities and security.
(FGC). 59 80 will have dropped to 45 per cent. Slow There are many other reasons why
Even though the government in Egypt progress, but this is still progress. adolescent girls leave their villages. Girls
has banned FGC, 85 per cent of girls and 60 Today’s mothers are the vanguard of may be forced to leave due to wider
women in cities and 96 per cent in the rural protection. But their main hope lies in circumstances, such as war and conflict,
areas60 are still being cut in this way. This the future, with their own daughters. climate change, natural disasters, rural
woman, whom I will call Samar, recalls: 40 Government surveys show that 46 per cent underdevelopment, the collapse of rural
“I was nine years old and I had no idea of young women aged between 15 and 19 economies and the uncertainties of
what was going to happen until I saw the believe that the practice should be stopped,
20
razor. My mother and two other women compared with 28 per cent of older women. Reasons for migration to
held me down while the barber did his These are hopeful signs that fewer young Addis Ababa, by sex64
work. He was very rough. The pain was 0 women from the next generation will have Reason given Boys (n=94) Girls (n=306)
terrible, and the bleeding. I got an infection to suffer as their mothers did. Sahar, aged % %
Gambia
Mali
Burkina Faso
Eritrea
Mauritania
Sierra Leone
Yemen
Central African
Ethiopia
Guinea-Bissau
Tanzania
Liberia
Republic
from the dust they put on the wound, which 13, says: “When I see one of my friends cut Educational opportunities 41.5 43.9
is supposed to stop such infections but in it makes me even more determined not to Work opportunities 25.5 25.5
fact makes them worse. Afterwards I had do it.” And Leila says: “When my girls are Poverty in the rural area 20.2 22.1
urine problems but I never connected them mothers they will be very different from me. Family problems 26.5 18.6
Prevalence of rural female genital mutilation or cutting (%)
to the cutting until much later.” Prevalence of urban female genital mutilation or cutting (%)
I want to give my daughters the chances in Threat of marriage 1.1 18.6
Time after time the women who tell their life that were denied to me.” Joining family members 24.5 24.1
Source: Population Reference Bureau – update 2010 –
stories talk of their suffering during and ‘Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Data and Trends’ Nikki van der Gaag talked to community *Total percentages may be over 100 as more than one
after FGC. And time after time they also http://www.prb.org/pdf10/fgm-wallchart2010.pdf members in a Plan-supported project in Egypt. reason was possible
36 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 37
subsistence farming. This teenage girl from During the first five months food banks South Asia, 50 per cent of young women in who participate in sports tend to be
Bomi Country, Liberia, said: “If the war were my best friends. I don’t think I’ll ever rural areas are married by the time they are healthier – emotionally and physically –
starts again, Monrovia [the capital city] will forget the pain of hunger. 18, which is about twice the rate of young and less likely to smoke or abuse drugs
be the best defended place, so I want to I was feeling guilty for a while after I women in cities.69 or alcohol. There may also be a link
move there so I will feel safer.”65 ran away from home until I spoke with my There are many reasons for this. Some between decreased incidences of breast
It is not just young women from the South stepdad. He was like: ‘Oh, this is what are simply about the different aspirations cancer and osteoporosis in women who
who leave home for the city. Nicole, featured you wanted and now this is what you and understandings of city dwellers – the have been physically active throughout
in the box below, left her small town for the get.’ Once I heard that, I thought: ‘Well, I people girls live with in the cities such as their lives. In addition, adolescent girls
bright lights of Toronto when she was just don’t really care’. I’ll admit, if my stepdad parents, relatives, guardians and boyfriends who take part in sports tend to delay
15 because of abuse by her stepfather. One wasn’t there, I’d still be at home. But I’m have aspirations and expectations that are becoming sexually active until later
study in Canada indicated that more than 70 out here for a reason. I’m not regretting it radically different from their rural peers and in life. 70 This may in part be because
per cent of street youth leave home because any more. this translates into a powerful influence on participation in sports encourages
of physical or sexual abuse. I learn from my mistakes. We all know girls. Some are practical – schools may be adolescent girls to develop a sense of
what we have to do to help ourselves. more plentiful and closer to home, or there ownership of and strength in their own
NICOLE’S STORY 66 And we need to find the strength inside is less work for girls to do in the home in bodies instead of seeing them simply
“I grew up in a small town. My mom to ask for help. Go to anyone you trust. the city, because there is no land to work as a sexual resource for men. “Before
and dad split up when my sister was just Talk about it.” on. Once a girl makes the city her home, playing football I was fearful,” said
a baby. When I was a kid, money was Nicole spoke to Noreen Shanahan. she then faces the same opportunities and one girl. “Now I am not because I am
tight... It was a rough time. But my mom threats as other girls her age. used to mixing with people and I know
and I were close. I remember saying: ‘I 3. The best recipe? The benefits of what is good and what is bad.” Through
don’t want to get old and if I do, I’m not city life for adolescent girls PLAYING SPORTS, BUILDING football, another young Kenyan said,
going to leave you.’ CONFIDENCE “I have learned how to have my own
School was fun till they tried to change “At the beginning of the 21st century, the Sport is good for girls, especially principles and not be blown and tossed
me. I was 13 then and when you’re 13 you best recipe for a life without poverty is still those in cities who are less likely around by the wind.”71
start doing your own thing and finding to grow up urban.” to lead active lives than their rural There are a number of projects working
out who you are. I was dressing in baggy Growing Up Urban, State of World counterparts. UNICEF notes: “Girls with adolescent girls to build their
clothes and getting into trouble at school. Population 2007, Youth Supplement,
My mom had just met my stepdad. He UNFPA
didn’t like me and used to beat me up.
Once he banged my head again and again “I became more of a social person and like
on the table. I told my real dad about it to stay with the group and participate with
but he pretty much said it’s my stepdad’s them positively. I also learned to work with
house and he can do what he wants. It was a team.”
his word against mine. I felt like I was on Sarah, from El Marg, a poor town outside
my own and I had to take care of myself. Cairo, was able to join a jobs training
My stepdad kept saying that all my programme and is now working.67
friends were stealing so I must be stealing
too. Then I went out and did a stupid Girls come to the city full of dreams and
thing. I became a tag-along in an auto aspirations about how their lives will
theft. That was the first and last time I improve. Statistics show that they are right
got into trouble with the police. My mom to dream.
and stepdad came to the police station For example, a girl is much more likely
and said: ‘She can stay in jail and learn a to go to school if she lives in a city – in
lesson.’ After that it was: ‘You’re going developing countries school attendance for
to a foster home. We’re gonna send girls from 10 to 14 is 18 per cent higher in
you away to these places for good.’ My urban than in rural areas, and 37 per cent
stepdad said: ‘They will beat you and higher for young women between 15 and
rape you at a foster home and you won’t 19.68 This gap is also there for boys, but it is
be able to do anything about it.’ less stark.
I ran away in July 2002. My boyfriend An older adolescent girl is also more likely
Mike gave me a ride to Toronto. I was 15 to find employment in the city than in a A girls’
Leo Drumond
when I ran away, and Mike was 23. My village, as the following section shows. She football
parents didn’t know about him. It was is less likely to be married at an early age match in
two years before I saw my mom again. – for example, in sub-Saharan Africa and Brazil.
38 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 39
football skills – for example, the Mathare Young Women in Education accommodation and meals of rice and including asthma and respiratory diseases
Youth Sports Association Football or Employment, Selected Countries (%)76 vegetables. But she says she still prefers this that either plague them while they work,
Programme (MYSA) for Girls. One of the to working in the fields. “Working under a increasing stress and reducing their income,
Tanzania
girls taking part noted: “When I started roof is better than working in the rice field or simply prevent them from working
playing for MYSA my father would say Malawi under the sun or the rain. I don’t feel tired altogether. “Sometimes I can’t work because
that there is no football for girls, and he at all here.”78 of my asthma,” says Charrie-Mayof, a
Rwanda
would beat me up. So whenever I wanted tricycle-driver on the streets of Cebu.
to go and play, my mother would cover Senegal Girls and child labour in the city Some girls helped their families at home
up for me by saying that she had sent me Child labour is an issue for many by assisting their parents in their work. One
somewhere. Then when I went to Norway, Chad adolescent girls in the city. A research study girl reported that after school she helped her
he started liking it.” 72 Guatemala commissioned for this report by Justice for father peel garlic until midnight. Another girl
Plan spoke to some of the girls who Girls found that it was common in the cities reported that she assisted her mother as a
came from seven different countries to the Haiti of the Philippines. Their report noted: “Many laundry woman.
Street Children’s World Cup in South Africa Colombia girls do not make a monetary income; Many girls end up in the illicit street
in March 2010, and found that many of rather, their labour is exploited in dangerous, economy, coerced and trafficked by adults
them felt playing football had given them Nepal labour-intensive jobs simply in exchange for into commercial sexual exploitation, selling
a new approach to their lives. Jessica, aged food. For example, 13 year-old ‘Lisa’ has a drugs or acting as accomplices.
Nicaragua
15, from Nicaragua pointed out: “I think job working at weekends cleaning the public But having paid work also gives older
football has helped me not to think about Mali toilet in exchange for food to feed herself. adolescent girls and young women more
the bad things that have happened to me… Other girls reported doing similar forms of confidence. In one survey of Bangladeshi
Burkina Faso
I have become more involved with football child labour, including selling things at local garment workers, 90 per cent of young
than my past. I’m trying to leave the past Niger malls for up to 10-12 hours per day for food, female respondents had a high opinion of
behind and live a new life.” 73 and no pay. themselves, compared with 57 per cent of
Mozambique
Often, the work that is available to female workers in non-export industries.79
Building capacity: finding jobs 0 50 100
girls exposes them to conditions that are Contributing to the family income gives
in the city hazardous to their health, ranging from young women more say over the decisions
Small Towns
Capital/Large Cities
extreme exhaustion, physical and sexual about their lives, such as when and who they
“I like working [in a restaurant]. The hard violence, exposure to harmful environmental marry. In one study in Bangladesh, young
work only really starts at 4pm, and I have toxins, and psychological stress. Many women’s wages contribute up to 43 per cent
learned a lot. In my spare time I watch TV billion young people between the ages girls report work-related health conditions of household income.80
and text my friends. I don’t want to get of 15 and 24, only 3.8 per cent, or 548
married until I have finished college.” million, are employed. THE LAW ON GIRLS AND THE RIGHT TO PROTECTION FROM HAZARDOUS OR EXPLOITIVE WORK 81
Irene, 17, Masbate, Philippines74 In general, apart from agricultural Governments have an obligation to protect children from economic exploitation and from performing
work, cities offer young women more hazardous work. ‘Hazardous work’, according to Article 32 of the UNCRC, includes work that: interferes
“Over the next 10 years, 1.2 billion young employment opportunities than rural areas. with a child’s education; is harmful to the child’s health; or is harmful to the child’s physical, mental,
women and men will enter the working-age There also appears to be a difference spiritual, moral or social development. In accordance with Article 32, governments must take a range of
population. They will be the best-educated between cities and small towns, as the measures to prevent children from becoming involved in hazardous or exploitive work. These measures
and best-trained generation ever, with chart (above) shows. include providing for minimum ages for admission to employment; providing for appropriate regulation of
great potential for economic and social Many older adolescent girls in cities, hours and conditions of employment; and providing for appropriate penalties and sanctions.
development, if countries can find uses particularly in Asia, find themselves working Various International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions and instruments also prohibit hazardous
for their skills, enthusiasm and creativity. in factories in export-processing zones or child labour. The ILO Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of
Otherwise they will be condemned to in call centres. In Indonesia, for example, the Worst Forms of Child Labour 1999 requires parties to prohibit and eliminate the ‘worst forms’ of child
poverty, like many of their parents are.” export-oriented sectors employ more than labour. This includes:
UNFPA75 twice the national average of young people. • All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery (for example, the sale and trafficking of children, debt
Young women are particularly likely to be bondage and compulsory labour)
It is not surprising that some young women employed in these industries; case studies • The use, procuring or offering of a child in prostitution, or in pornography
come to the city in search of employment. in Bangladesh showed that many young • The use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, including the production or trafficking of
Some are sent by their families, others women preferred working in factories to drugs
come of their own volition. Some will their other choices: agriculture or domestic • All other work that is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
find formal paid work, but this varies service.77 This is true elsewhere too. Cho Governments are obliged to criminalise acts that are involved in the use of children in any of these types
enormously from country to country and Cho Thet is 15 and works in a garments of child labour. A range of non-penal measures aimed at eliminating the worst forms of child labour must
even from city to city. Young people in factory in Rangoon, Burma. She works also be undertaken. In designing and implementing such measures, according to the ILO Convention,
general are more than three times as likely for 14 hours a day, seven days a week governments must pay attention to groups of children who are at a particular risk of becoming involved in
as adults to be unemployed – of the 1.1 and is paid $35 a month. She is given free the worst forms of child labour.
40 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 41
My
ideal
city
The ideal city, in the words and drawings of
Afaf, 13 years old
“Families should take care of
both girls and boys equally.”
young girls from White Nile State in north
Sudan. The girls took part in a session about
girls’ rights and city life organised by Plan
programme staff.
Faiha’a, 12 years old
“I dream of a society that
encourages us to complete our
learning. Without discrimination!”
Amal, 12 years old
“A society that is free of FGM Fareeda, 14 years old
[Female Genital Mutilation] “My dream about an ideal city – there should
and early marriage in which be development and progress, all community
there is self-determination.” services must be complete, such as attractive
schools, nice hospitals and pure water sources.”
42 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 43
Longer-term, the effects of such work are A Forsa
unclear, as this World Bank report notes: 1 2 training
“Once married, young women tended to session in El
Market Curriculum
leave wage employment, and most young Scan Develop-
Marg, Egypt.
women expect to work only three or four 9 Program ment 3
years. Aside from the short tenure, many Review Road
of the jobs were tedious, low-skilled, had Shows
limited upward mobility, and were managed
CAP
in traditional patriarchal ways. Young Place- Employability
women experienced greater autonomy ments Model
8 Induction 4
as they migrated to urban settings but
were sometimes stigmatised for having Work
a more Western, individualistic lifestyle. Readiness
Module Classroom
Nevertheless, what is clear is that these Training
Nikki va n der G a ag
Assign-
young women in Bangladesh and Malaysia 7 ments 5
have broken some new ground and in the
process contributed economically to their 6
families and societies.’82
carries an enormous cabbage, like a huge
JOBS FOR THE GIRLS – TRAINING flower, on her head, and in one corner as I am rather shy. After joining Forsa, I The informal economy: where most
AND EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES goats stare warily from under a makeshift began to overcome my shyness and fear adolescent girls in cities work
IN EGYPTIAN TOWNS shelter. and started to be open to all. I acquired The International Labour Organisation
El Marg is a city of immigrants from rural “It is difficult for young people to a great deal of self-confidence. I made a estimates that approximately 85 per cent
areas; 30 years ago it too was just fields find work here,” says Sameh, one of lot of friends throughout the course, with of all new employment opportunities in
and villages. Now it is a slum town, an the facilitators of the Forsa programme, whom I speak a lot and without any fears developing countries are created in the
outpost of Cairo that houses some half which gives three months’ training to or worries.” informal economy, which is where the
a million people. Many areas are still young people and then finds them work Cultivating the desire to learn and the majority of adolescent girls and young
without electricity or water or sewerage at the end. “This is why Forsa is so useful. confidence to speak out is especially women are likely to find work.85 This is
and rubbish is piled in the streets. A In Arabic it means ‘opportunity’.” important for girls in a society where particularly true in slums. “In fact, slums
market sells the vegetables that the The programme targets three categories women are not valued in the same way tend to form the epicentre or principal
inhabitants can no longer grow; a woman of young people – those who have as men and where only 22.9 per cent of source of informal labour, and within
dropped out of school, those who have women are officially in the labour force. 84 slums most economic activity is informal,”
been to college but can’t find work, and In El Marg, the primary schools are according to the United Nations Settlements
those who are working in jobs which do enormous and there are often 60 or 70 programme.86
not suit their skills. Most come from poor children in a class. Some primary schools In sub-Saharan Africa, 84 per cent of
families. Recruitment is done via posters have to operate a three-shift system, women’s employment in the non-agricultural
and roadshows – but also via Facebook. with children attending for only a third sector is informal. In many countries, more
The programme here is run by Plan, but of each day, in order to accommodate young women work in the informal sector in
the idea is the brainchild of the CAP the numbers. Not surprising, then, that small cities than in the capital. For example,
Foundation, a public-private partnership drop-out, especially for girls, is common. in Kenya, 58 per cent of young women
which aims to alleviate poverty through The only secondary schools are in the employed in Nairobi and the country’s
linking learning and livelihood needs centre of town, so once again this means other large cities work in the informal
of working children and disadvantaged girls who live nearer to the outskirts are sector, compared with 73 per cent of their
youth.83 The courses were first unlikely to finish their education. counterparts in small cities and towns and
successfully trialled in India and because Ola, who is still at school, says: rural areas. In Peru, 50 per cent of young
of their success have now been exported “We are the youth; we are the future women in large cities work in the informal
to Egypt. The diagram (above) shows the of this country, but when I analyse sector, while the figure for smaller cities is
CAP model. the situation I feel there is a lack of 64 per cent.87
Forsa training has already been carried opportunities for jobs for young women. However, what these general statistics
out successfully in East Cairo, where The government must think about fail to reveal is the particular situations of
Nikki va n der G a ag
90 per cent of the graduates found Country young women and give us the same adolescent girls who are poor, or from a
jobs. Marwa, aged 19, was part of this meets city on opportunities as boys.” minority group, or live in a slum. Having a
programme. She says: “Before joining the outskirts Nikki van der Gaag talked to participants in the health centre in the next street is of no use
Forsa, I was afraid to deal with people of Cairo. Forsa programme in El Marg, Egypt if you cannot afford to pay the fees, and
44 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 45
having a school within walking distance is ‘A difficult life’ – domestic service because it carries with it the moral weight of
only useful if you have money for books and Raky and her Many adolescent girls from slum areas end an assumed ‘trust’ relationship.”
uniforms. The picture for these groups is very mother up doing domestic work for richer families. In another study, Themba, aged 16, from
different, as we will see in the next section. This is where the urban divide shows itself Zambia, explains how she came to be working
most clearly. The employer is often an as a maid: “My mum left us with Dad and
MAKING A LIFE IN THE CITY – RAKY, educated, middle-class woman who thinks went to live in Lusaka after a quarrel. Dad
WATER SELLER she is helping a girl by taking her off the got sick and I started looking after him until
Raky is 15 but looks younger. She has a streets or out of poverty. Once employed he died. Mum came back and took us to
ready smile and a quick wit. Along with in a household, the girl becomes invisible, Lusaka. While in Lusaka, life became difficult
her older sister, Daba, she sells plastic swallowed up in the wider household, and and I started working as a maid to support
bottles of iced water to passengers on therefore at risk of all kinds of abuse, from my mum and my siblings. One day, when I
the buses that stop along the side of the long hours with no breaks to sexual abuse by came back home, I found my young brothers
busy highway on the outskirts of Dakar, a male member of the family. She also misses alone; they told me that Mum had been gone
Senegal. out on education. One nationwide study in for a long time.”89 Themba and her brothers
“I take two bottles at a time and walk India showed that 81 per cent of domestic are now in a centre for street children where,
the 15 minutes from my house to the workers were girls, and in fact the figure was she says, “life is good because they give us
road,” says Raky. “I sell them for 100 highest for the youngest age group, between support as parents and teach us how to live
CFA francs each [about 20 US cents]. five and 12 years old. and work with people”. Themba was lucky;
On a good day I sell 50 and make 5,000 The research for this report by Justice for often domestic work not only takes girls out
CFA [$10]. My sister does the same. Girls in cities in the Philippines88 (see page of school, but places them in situations where
Someone brings the empty bottles to 83) also found that: “Girls are trafficked they have very little time off and very little
Nikki va n der G a ag
our home from a factory in Dakar and from rural to urban areas to work as social support, which puts them at risk of
we pay 25 CFA [five cents] for each.” domestic ‘house helpers’ where, if they are sexual harassment and trafficking (see section
With the cost of ice and water, she paid, the wage is grossly disproportionate page 73).
probably makes just a few pence per to the slavery-type working conditions
bottle. But this helps the family income. to which they are subjected. ‘Jendy’, in “Your own place in the world” –
“I give my money to my mum but I can woman as well as a man needs some kind a rehabilitation centre for stealing a cell housing and homelessness
also use it for things I need like clothes of economic activity to survive.” phone from her employer, reported he
and transport. I have enough for my Raky has been lucky: she was made her work from 5am to 10pm, seven “If the time comes that I have my own
needs.” introduced to the African Movement for days a week and that she earned less than family, I will have a house by then. I will
Raky lives in a compound with her Working Children and Youth by a local $100 per month.” do everything so that my children will not
mother, Mbengue, her father, her older volunteer who came to her house and The report also notes that: “Violence by experience how it is not to have a home.”
sister Daba, and her three younger suggested that she learn to make clothes employers in domestic settings is common. Lean Joy, 17, Manila, Philippines90
siblings, Ndaye, Fallou and three year-old and at the same time attend classes to Vangie and Sancia, both in a rehabilitation
Yacine. The family moved here four years improve her reading and writing. So now centre for false accusations of qualified theft “On the street, no one respects you. Here,
ago and Raky has been a water seller for Raky sells water from 10am to 2pm. After from their employers, discuss the abuse they you have your own house, it’s yours and
two years. lunch and a rest, she then walks the 30 experienced as house helpers: ‘I was made they have to respect you. Here, even if you
Mbengue says she doesn’t approve minutes to a centre where, along with to do everything. I wanted to leave. I did not don’t have a thing to eat, you have your
of children working too young, but 32 other young women, she studies and like my employers. When his wife was drunk own place in the world.”
some work can help to link childhood learns the art of dressmaking. On some she would slap me. He would verbally assault Woman from Mahila Milan,
to adolescence. It teaches them respect, days, she also has lessons at a tailor’s me. Calling me names like ‘devil worshipper’ Mumbai, India 91
which Mbengue thinks is very important. shop. Although she doesn’t yet dare to and cursing me to be dead’ (Vangie). ‘He got
She also believes it is just as important speak it, she understands French and angry with me, held me down and slapped Living in the city will often mean living in
for girls as for boys to learn independence has been elected to represent the Dakar me’ (Sancia).” a slum area, desperately trying to put a
and to have the ability to make their own branch of the Movement and travels Justice for Girls notes: “Domestic roof over your head. However basic and
living. For this they need education and regularly to Dakar and elsewhere for child labour, in addition to being a inadequate the roof, “your own place” is of
training, but also the ability to make meetings. human rights violation in and of itself, prime importance.
their own decisions in life. “I don’t tell Asked how she sees her future, sets up girls’ vulnerability to abuse by Young women living on their own find it
my children what to do,” she says. “It is she says she wants to be a famous employers, organised crime syndicates very difficult to pay for adequate housing.
up to them. I don’t impose my ideas on dressmaker. Her mother agrees. Smiling or other employees and false accusations In Ghana, research revealed that groups
my daughters. But I don’t believe in girls proudly, she says: “I want her to make a from exploitive employers that see them of young women pooled their resources to
staying at home and doing nothing. That name for herself as a dressmaker, but also criminalised for the crime of ‘qualified theft’. rent a shack on a weekly or monthly basis,
is the worst thing. I came from a poor to be able to travel and meet people and Qualified theft is treated more severely than living 10 to 30 in a small room.92 The same
family and learned at a young age that a make a life for herself.” simple or petty theft (snatching, shoplifting) is true in many cities around the world: in
46 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 47
the Philippines, such accommodation is out on opportunities to share experiences overcrowded housing, poor sanitation HIV Prevalence Rates
known as a ‘bedspacer’.93 They know that and develop coping mechanisms – leaving and unsafe water supplies which reduce Urban Rural
any accommodation, however poor, is safer them more isolated and vulnerable to slum dwellers’ life expectancy.101 Studies Male Female Male Female
than living on the streets. Secondary school exploitation.”97 have shown that children living in slums Cameroon 1.4 5.7 1.5 3.5
girls who come to the cities may rent a room are more likely to die from pneumonia, Ethiopia 0.3 3.3 0.2 0.6
and find a ‘boyfriend’ who will protect them, Adolescent girls have different needs: diarrhoea, malaria or measles than those Kenya 2.6 7.6 0.3 5.3
exchanging accommodation for sex.94 access to healthcare living in non-slum areas, because many Lesotho 4.6 21.3 6.2 13.9
Even if girls manage to gain housing of these diseases are linked to poor living Liberia 0.9 2.5 0.3 0.9
within cities, their housing tenure is often “We need to show [girls’] potential to conditions. In addition, as Rutti Goldberger, Zambia 3.7 15.2 2.6 8.2
insecure, and girls, along with their mothers, contribute to good sexual health in their Asia Programme Manager for Interact Zimbabwe 4.4 11.2 4.1 10.9
may be forcefully evicted from their homes. environment – for example, through Worldwide, points out: “An adolescent Cambodia 0 0.4 0.1 0.3
Forced evictions are often characterised by informing peers or other people around girl may not want to visit a centre that is India 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1
violence, particularly against women and them.” easily identified as providing sexual and Vietnam 1.3 0 0.6 0
children.95 The rapid expansion of urban Sophie, young woman from Benin98 reproductive health services if she thinks her Dominican Rep 0.1 0.4 0.3 0.5
slums has led governments around the whole neighbourhood will know/think that Haiti 0.8 1.9 0.3 1
world to use callous methods to ‘clean up’ Once they come to the city, adolescent she is sexually active, and will not want to Source: Country Demographic and health surveys
cities and erase the urban poor from the girls often find they have access to better discuss confidential and sensitive issues with
sight of city centres. The most vulnerable services and better healthcare, including a counsellor that knows her family.”102 nationwide social marketing programme.
in slums, including women and girls, are sexual and reproductive health services – Adolescent girls in poor parts of the city It also encourages providers to serve
often susceptible to forced evictions by provided that they can pay for it. They are may also find it more difficult to negotiate unmarried young women, often denied
governments and other actors, and too often also more able to access information about safer sex. They face specific health threats services by reproductive health providers.
face gender-based violence before, during, health. For example, young people in cities because of their age and sex – in sub- An evaluation of the programme106
and after eviction.96 generally know more about contraception Saharan Africa, for example, HIV prevalence showed that it had positive effects on
We know that overcrowding in slums is and use it more than their rural peers. In is significantly higher for young women both young women and young men. The
a major issue for adolescent girls. Aoife Nic one study, over 37 per cent of women in aged 15 to 24 than young men. In Zambia, proportion of females who ever used
Charthaigh of Interact Worldwide points urban areas said they used condoms to 15.2 per cent of urban young women aged condoms rose from 58 per cent to 76 per
out: “The very fact of living in confined avoid AIDS, compared with only 17 per cent 15 to 24 are affected, compared with 3.7 cent in the treatment group, compared
conditions exacerbates the lack of safe of rural women. And 87 per cent of urban per cent of urban young men.103 It is also with a decline from 53 per cent to 50 per
spaces for girls: places to access peer girls and women said they had ‘ever used’ a significantly higher in slums than in non- cent in the control group in another town.
support away from prying eyes and ears. condom as opposed to 57 per cent of rural slums and in most countries with data it The evaluation also found that young
When land is scarce there tend to be few girls and women.99 appears to be higher in urban than rural people had delayed initiation of sexual
designated spaces for young people, and Adolescent girls in slums, however, face areas.104 As one report notes: “In slums, risky intercourse; that those who did have sex
girls are often crowded out of this space. a number of health hazards common to sexual behaviour among women and girls, or had reduced the number of partners. Both
Without this peer support network, girls lose all slum dwellers – lack of opportunity, trading sex for food or cash, is a widespread young men and young women increased
strategy to make ends meet.”105 their knowledge about condom use and
Knowledge of a formal source of condoms among young women, urban/rural100 other contraceptives – the proportion of
100 Horizon Jeunes (Youth young women who knew about condoms
90 Horizons) in Cameroon rose from 39 to 74 per cent and of oral
80
Horizon Jeunes is a reproductive health contraceptives from 23 to 60 per cent. The
programme which targets urban youth programme also raised awareness amongst
70 aged 12 to 22 both in and out of school. It young men of the risks of STIs and HIV,
60 aims to delay the age of sexual initiation and amongst young women of their own
50 and reduce risk-taking behaviour among responsibility to use protection during sex.
those who do have sex. It does so by
40
using campaign messages developed But while living in the city means that in
30 by the young people themselves, which theory health clinics and doctors are closer
20 are then disseminated at live events, on and more available, this does not necessarily
10
radio, in printed material and by peer mean that all adolescent girls have better
educators. It distributes condoms and access to healthcare. Services may be too
0 contraceptives, trains healthcare providers expensive, or clinics not seen as friendly to
Ukraine
Ethiopia
Benin
Chad
Congo
Namibia
Tanzania
Uganda
Cambodia
Nepal
Vietnam
Liberia
Azerbaijan
Armenia
India
in making services youth-friendly; involves young women or offering them the care and
parents and community leaders, including support that they need to protect themselves
Urban local health and education officials, and and their health. Migrants in slums may have
Rural advertises in the mass media as part of a better health services than they had in their
48 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 49
Attendance by skilled birth attendant, rural and urban, selected countries educated, she is more likely to be healthy and early loss of virginity. Students who get
100
her children are more likely to go to school. A pregnant are expelled from schools.
90 study in Bangladesh by the London School of School violence reflects violence in
80 Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that for society as a whole, and therefore an
70 women with eight or more years of education, appropriate response needs to be gender-
60 maternal mortality was three times lower and balanced, holistic, participatory and
50
abortion-related mortality was eleven times measurable. Accordingly, in the first year
lower than in women with no education. of Learn Without Fear we have been able
40
to track the following changes:
30
LEARN WITHOUT FEAR114 • Due to improved laws in Ecuador,
Percentage
20 Learn Without Fear is Plan International’s Nicaragua and the Philippines more
10 global campaign against violence in than 27 million school students have
0 school. Fear of bullying and sexual better legal protection from violence
harassment is one of the reasons why • In Bolivia, Nepal, Pakistan, the
Brazil
Indonesia
Bangladesh
Burkina Faso
Cambodia
Egypt
Haiti
Nepal
Pakistan
South Africa
Yemen
Philippines
Nigeria
girls drop out of school. Philippines and Tanzania, campaigners
are leading efforts to pass bills on
“Our teachers should be there to teach us school violence-related issues
Proportion of rural births attended by skilled health personnel
Proportion of urban births attended by skilled health personnel and not to touch us.” • The governments of 30 countries have
Girl, 15, Uganda invited Plan to work with them to stop
villages, but they may not be able to afford off overall than their rural counterparts.”109 school violence
them. Adolescent girls are less likely than This is clear when an adolescent girl in Each year, 150 million girls and 73 million • In total, 286,216 children have been
most to have the extra cash for healthcare.107 a city has a baby. She is more likely to be boys across the world are subjected to involved in Learn Without Fear
Their low status may also mean that they attended by a skilled birth attendant in a city sexual violence and between 20 and campaign initiatives
are attended to last. One study of urban than in a village. 65 per cent of schoolchildren report • 8,289 teachers across 26 countries have
populations in Bangladesh looked at access being verbally or physically bullied. The been trained on ‘positive discipline’
to healthcare within poor households. Taking advantage of urban life – access Learn Without Fear campaign was set • 11,813 public servants have undergone
They found that because women and girls to education up in 2008 to address the fact that training on school violence-related
had lower status than men and boys in the cruel and humiliating forms of physical issues.
family, their health needs were neglected, “Education is definitely more important for punishment, gender-based violence and This initial success demonstrates that
sometimes fatally. For example, during a girls than for boys. If girls don’t have the bullying are a daily reality for millions of a concerted effort by schools, parents,
cholera epidemic, three times more women opportunities that education gives them children. At present, 89 countries have pupils and law enforcement agencies
died than men simply because they were then they are not qualified for a good life.” not yet prohibited corporal punishment could largely eliminate fear as a reason
taken to hospital too late in order to avoid Sabah, mother of three daughters, in schools. Girls in cities may have more for school drop-out.
paying hospital fees.108 In many countries, the Alexandria, Egypt110 access to education but access itself is
mothers of girls with disabilities find that there never enough, as the campaign clearly “There would be a lot less violence in
are more programmes to help integrate them The Millennium Development Goals, in demonstrates. schools if there were a stronger sense of
into normal life than there are in villages. recognising the importance of girls’ education, community in the classrooms.”
UN-Habitat notes that: “Youth and, by acknowledge that access to education has “If they hit me, I learn to hit.” Girl, 15, Germany
extension, children born to families in highly been shown to be the one thing that will Girl, 12, Spain
deprived areas like slums have far less access protect a young woman in future life, giving Female school drop-out rate due to
to health services, such as immunisation her the possibility of work, self-confidence Plan researchers made a number of pregnancy and early marriage, slums
and, in some cases, antenatal and delivery and knowledge. We know that education findings that are directly related to girls: and non-slums, selected countries115
care. For instance, in countries where a high has a significant impact on girls’ futures. • In Africa, some male teachers offer Slum % Non-slum %
proportion of poor youth and children are According to the World Bank, an extra year good grades in exchange for sexual Philippines 21 13
without immunisation, national coverage of schooling can increase a girl’s potential intercourse. Such abuse is commonly Kyrgyzstan 32 20
can still be as high as 40 per cent, because wages by 10 to 20 per cent.111 Girls who attend seen as an inevitable part of school life. Indonesia 24 33
immunisation is much more widespread secondary school may make $2,000 more • In Asia, boys are more likely to use Peru 22 17
among the richest. In some countries, per year than girls who only attend primary physical intimidation and violence, Dominican Republic 35 29
access to antenatal and delivery care is very school.112 As Maria Eitel, President of the Nike while girls tend towards verbal and Colombia 20 16
unequal among slum and non-slum areas, Foundation – which has a major programme social bullying. Reports note a rise in Bolivia 28 20
but generally speaking the divide emerges supporting adolescent girls – notes: “Multiply sexual abuse via the internet. Zambia 19 23
most clearly in post-neonatal mortality rates. that by 1.6 million out-of-school girls in Kenya • In Latin America, violence against girls Uganda 14 14
However, regardless of parents’ economic and there’s a potential $3.2 billion increase in school tends to remain a silent crime Nigeria 27 16
status, urban children are still much better in national income.”113 In addition, if a girl is because of the stigma attached to the Mozambique 39 14
50 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 51
figures were 59 per cent of young women structures include the European Youth
and 70 per cent of young men.122 Among Forum, the Latin American Youth Forum, and
urban slum dwellers in Rio de Janeiro, girls the African Youth Parliament. Assemblies
scored significantly lower than boys on every also operate in many locales, including the
dimension of citizenship, “including political Youth Council of Catalunya and the Youth
participation, membership in community Parliament of Ryazan, Russia.”
or civic organisations (excluding churches), In the municipality of Barra Mansa, in
seeking out government agencies, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, children aged nine
having official legal documents”.123 to 15 help set expenditure priorities. In the
UN-Habitat recognised that participation Philippines, the councils are open to youths
was still an issue for many girls in cities. aged 15 to 21.125 In Ceará, Brazil, young
Lucia Kiwala, the Chief of the Gender people were also involved in budget setting
Mainstreaming Unit at UN-Habitat, and in training other youth. The council says
explained: “We found that girls were not that as a result of their efforts, an additional
participating as much as boys in our One $750,000 was allocated to children and
Stop Youth Centres which provide a meeting young people in 2005.126
place for young people to come together These initiatives are to be welcomed but
to access information and resources. So we they need to make the necessary efforts to
started up Girls’ Clubs to encourage girls ensure that the ‘youth’ consulted are girls
to attend.”124 Girls and young women need as well as boys. Girls are, after all, experts
P L AN
time, information, knowledge and confidence on their own experiences – they know when
There are big differences between rich and be lower than in rural areas, is higher than in Children at to help them participate in city life, and they do not feel safe in the city.127
poor areas when it comes to education non-slum areas (see table on page 51).119 a “Learning there also needs to be a willingness on the
in cities. UN-Habitat notes that globally: to Protect part of governments and municipalities to 4. No safe place? Preventing
“While children from the wealthiest 20 per Participation and governance Ourselves” involve adolescent girls. Some countries are violence against adolescent
cent of households have already achieved summer beginning to recognise the importance of girls in the city
universal primary school attendance in most “No one is born a good citizen; no nation camp in the involving youth in such debates. The World
countries, those from the poorest 20 per is born a democracy. Rather, both are Dominican Bank notes that: “Many countries promote “Safety and security don’t just happen: they
cent have not.”116 It continues: “The urban processes that continue to evolve over a Republic. advisory youth assemblies, councils, or are the result of collective consensus and
advantage of better access to education lifetime. Young people must be included parliaments. Some, such as those in Slovenia public investment. We owe our children –
remains a myth for the majority of slum from birth. A society that cuts off from its and Zimbabwe, bring together local youth the most vulnerable citizens in any society
dwellers. Even if schooling is available, slum youth severs its lifeline.” representatives at the national level. Regional – a life free from violence and fear.”
families sacrifice the education of their Kofi Annan, former United Nations Nelson Mandela128
children, particularly girls, so that they can Secretary-General120 Habiba’s father tried to kill her when he found
meet the costs of food, rent and transport. out that she was disabled. If she lived in a “It’s not beautiful in our area. There are
Often, there simply are not enough schools “When it comes to ‘youth making a village she would probably just stay at home. many snatchers [people who snatch bags
within easy reach of slum settlements.”117 difference in communities’ I think the Now, though she lives in a poor area of Cairo, and valuables and make a run for it] and
Slums vary as much as any other areas value of youth has been underestimated she attends a local community centre where people shooting guns.”
of the city, and are sometimes categorised everywhere. Youth are excellent in she enjoys the company of other children. Lean Joy, 17, Manila, Philippines129
according to what are known as ‘shelter delivering grassroots-level development
deprivations’ – lack of access to improved projects at minimal budgets and very As we have seen in the previous section,
water, lack of access to sanitation, non- effectively. Due to the fact that they are cities offer many opportunities for
durable housing, insufficient living area, involved at the grassroots level, they can adolescent girls that they could not find in
and security of tenure.118 Research has easily implement a project without the rural settings. But living in a city may also
shown that the more of these a girl suffers, bureaucracy of organisations… they often mean that girls face a number of risks and
the more likely she is to grow up illiterate. have a lower cost base too.” dangers, some of which are the same as
For example, in Benin, the literacy rate Shasheen, 20, Australia121 those they might face in a rural area, and
varied from 43 per cent to only six per cent some of which are different. Violence, for
according to whether a woman suffered one, It is not easy for adolescent girls to take part example, is not confined to the city any
two or three or more such deprivations. in discussions about how their cities should more than it is just in the home or just on
Nikki va n der G a ag
In slum areas, many girls never start be run. World Bank research revealed that the street. This section looks at the risks
school, or drop out before finishing young women between the ages of 18 and adolescent girls in the city face, in particular
secondary school. This may be because of 29 were less likely to discuss politics with Habiba in relation to violence. It showcases
teenage pregnancy which, although it may their friends than young men. The overall examples of good practice and outlines
52 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 53
how cities can be made safe places of • In Ghana, adolescents in urban areas
opportunity for all adolescent girls. were significantly more likely to have
Violence against women and girls130 is a experienced coerced sex than those in
global phenomenon that has no respect for rural areas.136
class, age, income, religion, culture or place • A study of human rights violations in
of residence. Sexual violence, and the threat Dhaka, Bangladesh, found that adolescent
of such violence, haunts many adolescent girls were the most vulnerable group when
girls as they go about their daily lives in the it came to sexual harassment and rape.
city, whether in school, on public transport, The research was based on 3,000 incidents
or in the street. of human rights violations in 61 districts
Globally, six out of every ten women from 2006 to 2009. It found that rape
experience physical and/or sexual violence in was the most frequent crime (31 per cent
their lifetime.131 The United Nations Report of incidents) followed by murder (25 per
on Violence Against Children identifies cent), acid throwing (15 per cent), suicide
four main forms of violence – physical, (12 per cent), physical torture (eight per
psychological, sexual and neglect. Some cent) and attempt to rape (seven per cent).
P L AN
kinds of violence are more common in Half the rape victims were aged below 15
“NOT EVEN WITH THE PETAL OF A ROSE” be poor, four will live in extreme poverty, six Rag dolls rural areas, such as forced marriage and and 59 per cent of the girls under 15 had
– BOGOTÁ CITY CAMPAIGN AGAINST are likely to be victims of sexual abuse, five from the harmful traditional practices. Others are been victims of attempted rape.137
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS will get pregnant before reaching the age of “Not even more common in cities and towns, such as
19 and only eight will complete their studies. with the sexual harassment in public places, forced In slums, levels of violence against girls
“She was a little girl of 13 years old and her The project made 350 dolls in all, some petal of commercial sex and trafficking. and women are higher than in other parts
mother left her father and got involved with a made by displaced women and girls, some by a rose” of the city. The combination of poverty,
man who haunted the girl. He offered her bad well-known artists. It was called “Not even campaign. • A World Health Organisation study in unemployment, inadequate wages, social
proposals. He wanted to sexually abuse her with the petal of a rose” after a traditional a number of countries found that in exclusion and racism can lead to frustration
and offered her money to let him touch her.” saying about violence against women. It Bangladesh twice as many young women among men and boys and vulnerability for
helped many girls and women come to terms over 15 in urban (as opposed to rural) areas women and girls, particularly if they are
“This doll is crying because her husband hit with what they, and others, had suffered. had experienced physical or sexual violence on the street.138 “I like being a girl, but I
her and now she has a black eye.” Along with the making and exhibiting by someone other than their partner.132 want to know my rights,” said a girl who
of the dolls, the project provided training • In Brazil 24.5 per cent of female is a secondary school student in Kibera, a
“As you can see, she doesn’t have a face; to strengthen the capacity of different respondents in the city and 15.9 per cent huge slum area in Nairobi, Kenya. She said
she only shows parts of her body, because groups to protect women and girls against in the provinces reported violence.133 that she felt she could hardly step out of her
that is all anyone looks at… men talk to her violence. It also produced posters, banners, • Another study in Cape Town, South Africa home at night without being assaulted.139
breasts rather than her face.” songs, stickers and campaigns on radio showed that 72 per cent of young women One study in the cities of Bangladesh
and television to raise awareness among who were pregnant and 60 per cent of found that girls under 15 were the most
These young women were describing the civil society about violence against women those who had never been pregnant had likely to be raped, while girls and young
rag dolls, both beautiful and terrible, and girls, and to promote commitment to reported experiencing coerced sex.134 women between 15 and 25 were most
that they had made as part of a project change. A petition with 15,000 signatures • A similar study in Lima, Peru, found 41 per likely to be the victims of acid attacks and
supported by Plan International and Casa was collected. Each individual who signed cent of girls and young women between physical torture.140 It found no difference
Ensamble, a local arts organisation, to made a promise not to be violent. Finally, the ages of 10 and 24 had experienced according to economic status – among the
combat violence against women and girls there was an institutional strengthening coerced sex.135 rape perpetrators, 35 per cent were rich,
in the city of Bogotá, Colombia. Gabriela component: institutions responsible for
Bucher, Plan’s director in Colombia, said: the protection and care of girls and women Female victims of physical
“People connected strongly with these (hospitals, family, police and others) will torture by age Female acid victims by age Female rape victims by age
dolls, which were direct reminders of all be supported to improve the attention 60 60 60
50
that most of us do not want to see.” provided to victims of abuse. 50 50 50
42
The project was supported by the mayor “For some of us,” said one young woman, 40 40 40 38
33
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
and the municipality as part of Bogotá’s “our healer was the doll. Singing, dancing 32
30 27 30 27 30
initiative to become a ‘safe city’. Levels and dramatising our stories became our
20 18 20 20
of violence against women and girls in healer... and there comes a time when the
Colombia are high. Every day 92 women are wound closes and the scar doesn’t hurt or 10 14 10 8 10 9
3
killed, and 100 more are beaten, by their bleed any more. When we take a look at it, it
0 0 0
partners. And the story for girls is no better. just reminds us that we had an accident but <15 15-25 26-35 36+ <15 15-25 26-35 36+ <15 15-25 26-35 36+
Every hour, 24 girls are born: 12 of these will it doesn’t hurt any more.” Age (years) Age (years) Age (years)
54 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 55
area. Since then the women are very pregnancies are then placed at further risk they take a girl from a nice family, she will
The Old Fadama cautious with their young girls and do not through unsafe and illegal ‘backstreet’ probably be more naïve, not as streetwise as
slum area. allow them to use the open fields or usually abortions. kids who have been in care. And because you
accompany them to the fields. It is not only at night time that Kayayei are naïve, you are more trusting, easier to
girls are vulnerable to violence and abuse: impress. They like that. It makes you easier
A report on Azni Nagar, a slum area in “In the community and during the course to control. They’ll have anybody – doctors’
Mumbai, India, noted: “There are three pay- of their work, Kayayei women and girls children, lawyers’ children – anybody.”
and-use or public toilet facilities available, also risk open attack by thieves who Today, Emma is 20 and is planning to
where residents must pay 1 rupee for each threaten them at knifepoint and take their become a lawyer. She has written a book
use. Most of the residents find this too money. This happens especially very early about her experiences. She also works with
expensive, however, and they use a nearby in the morning as the Kayayei women set Crop – the Coalition for the Removal of
open area instead. As the area is also rife out to work.”146 Pimping – in Leeds, which was set up by
with prostitution, women, and especially The women in Old Fadama said they the families of those affected by the sexual
J u s t i n M o r e s c o / IRIN
young girls, find it very difficult to go to the were afraid to report cases for fear of exploitation of youngsters. Emma gives talks
bathroom at night without being harassed, provoking the government into evicting to parents facing the same horror that hers
and they felt it to be entirely insecure for them. Even in those cases where rape once did, and she is pushing for more police
them. Some reported attempts of rape and was reported, the police had little interest resources to be directed to tackling gangs
sexual assault as they made the precarious in pursuing these cases and holding like the one that groomed her.149
journey.”143 perpetrators accountable. Girls like Emma who have been sexually
36 per cent middle class and 28 per cent exploited are at high risk of HIV and sexually
poor – which backs up the assertion that KAYAYEI GIRLS IN THE SLUMS OF Violence against adolescent girls in cities is transmitted diseases, particularly if they are
violence against women cuts across all social ACCRA, GHANA144 not confined to poor areas of a city or to involved in commercial sexual exploitation
boundaries. Young women and adolescent girls poor countries. It occurs in the developed or sex for money. They are less likely than
In slum areas, adolescent girls can be in who live in and around the Old Fadama as well as the developing world. Emma was older women to be able to negotiate safer
danger while undertaking the most mundane slum in Accra, Ghana, work as Kayayei: 13 when she was introduced to an older sex and are often threatened with violence.
of tasks, as Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director temporary migrants residing in a city to man by the boys she was friends with in In South Africa, it is estimated that for those
of UN-Habitat, points out: “Girls in slums earn money as porters and return home Yorkshire, England. He made friends with under the age of 15, cases of sexual abuse
have to choose between defecating in a plastic either for marriage or other labour. These her and then raped her and forced her into are beginning to overtake mother-to-child Kayayei girls
bag or risking rape should they dare venture girls often pool together with other commercial sex work. transmission as the main reason for HIV at work in
outside to a dirty public toilet at night.”141 Kayayei to group-rent a room in a slum. “I never thought of myself as a prevalence.150 the city.
Focus groups with women and girls for However, the slums are very congested prostitute,” she reflects, her down-to-earth
an action research project on Women’s and the rental rates are often exorbitant. voice strangely disengaged as she describes
Rights and Access to Water and Sanitation Consequently, violence and insecurity her own suffering, “because, in my child’s
in the Resettlement Colonies of New Delhi are often pervasive for girls and young view of the world, prostitutes walked the
found that:142 women in this slum: streets, wore short skirts and high heels and
“Inability to raise rent money is one I wasn’t doing any of that. It is only now that
• Sexual harassment is rampant when girls of the main reasons why some women, I can see that, much as I wanted to believe
go out in the open for defecation. Men especially the young girls, are forced Tarik had feelings for me, he didn’t have any
disguise themselves as women and hide to sleep outside. When this happens, at all, except to make money out of me.”147
themselves in the fields. The situation is women and girls risk their personal Studies have also shown that socially
worse during winters when men wrap security and their property. Many isolated girls (with family being a key aspect
themselves up in shawls and it becomes reported that Kayayei women and girls of connectedness) are six times more likely
extremely difficult to differentiate were routinely raped, sexually assaulted, to have been forced to have sex than socially
between men and women. There have or robbed when they slept outside. Rape connected girls.148 This leaves girls in street
been instances when girls were abducted and sexual assault were major concerns situations who are socially isolated much
from the fields and men were caught for for Kayayei women and girls, and attacks more vulnerable to HIV transmission than
sexually harassing them. After 11pm, did not only happen at night. Too often, boys. But Emma is keen to dispel the myth
girls are usually forbidden from going to women and girls reported having to suffer that these things only happen to girls from
the fields unless they are accompanied silently when this happened to them.”145 dysfunctional families:
by elders. Being raped brings more than “Yes, there probably are a lot of girls who
• There was one story where a teenage girl emotional damage to Kayayei women and get involved because they come from broken
was abducted in the morning while she had girls; they are also placed at an increased homes, or are in care, but when you look
Jane Hahn
gone in the fields for defecation. Three days risk of HIV transmission and unwanted at the whole situation, as I have, there are
later, her dead body was found in a nearby pregnancy. Those with unwanted plenty who don’t. The gangs know that if
56 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 57
Nighttime While boys and young men make up the Adolescent fears and experience of crime, by sex (%), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia157
streets, Codo, majority of the militarised structures within Boys Girls
Brazil. the gangs, some young women rise up Feelings of well-being and comfort in the neighbourhood
the ranks to take leadership roles. Others You don’t feel comfortable walking in your neighbourhood after dark 50.0 76.6
may play roles in the drugs trade and the You know of girls in your neighbourhood who have been raped 9.0 14.0
violence that is integral to its functioning. You are scared of being beaten by someone in your neighbourhood 15.8 31.8
Increasingly, girls and young women are You are scared of some people in your neighbourhood 42.0 62.1
being imprisoned for drug-related offences At times you are scared that you will be raped in your neighbourhood 9.8 54.4
– rising in Rio de Janeiro State from 32.6 per There is a lot of crime in your neighbourhood 51.3 43.9
cent of female convictions in 1988 to 56 per
cent in 2000, with 31 per cent involved in Experience of harassment and crime
violent crimes.154 You have been groped by someone of the opposite sex in your neighbourhood 4.3 32.2
Most women who get involved in gangs People tease you as you go about your business 19.0 46.9
are confined to supportive roles. They are You have been robbed in the last year 5.8 7.3
less likely to carry arms, and their activities
may never be acknowledged as gang work Fear of violence When girls perceive that their environment
at all. The younger they are the more likely is threatening, they start to avoid the places
it is that they are to be found carrying out “The streets [in the ghetto] are not safe that make them feel unsafe. As a result,
Leo Drumond
low status tasks. Nevertheless, activities spaces for girls because there are bad things streets, squares, parks, internet cafés and
such as storing and carrying arms, passing happening. Like, for example, rape. You neighbourhoods are often used more by men
messages and smuggling goods into can be beaten, you can be killed… So we and boys than by women and girls.161
GIRLS AND GANGS IN RIO151 prisons and across gang territories all play think that Safe Spaces has created a safe This survey in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
In the context of lack of job and education a key contributory role in the continuation environment for us.” (above), showed that girls are more afraid
opportunities and social marginalisation in of violence and criminality, as well as Girl from Safe Spaces project, than boys to go out after dark; more afraid
many cities, organised youth gangs may offer constituting a risk for the young women Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya158 of certain people in the neighbourhood, and
a means to make money, gain social status involved. Moreover, in their relationships also afraid of being raped. They are also more
and provide a sense of belonging. ‘Gangs’ with gang members, young women, and Violence and the fear of violence can also likely to be teased or harassed than boys.
cover a wide range of social groupings, and frequently adolescent girls, may either lead to a culture in which an adolescent In the Netherlands, an online survey
while some get involved in petty crime or perpetuate or reduce levels of violence, as girl is afraid to go out of her home – and conducted for this report162 of girls in cities
drug dealing, others are primarily social they strive to protect or implicate others; sometimes afraid to stay in it for fear of found that while most girls and young women
networks which come together to give a violence that they themselves are not violence at home. UN-Habitat notes that: felt safe walking around their neighbourhood
feeling of protection for young people who immune to. For example, young women “A causal link also exists between domestic in the day, at night 40 per cent of those
themselves feel under threat.152 may incite the punishment of rivals, as violence and urban violence.”159 This may between the ages of 11 and 18 said they did
In Latin American cities, it is often young well as suffer punishment for the acts of be partly to do with shifting male and not feel safe. This rose to 46 per cent when 19
black men who attract the majority of media boyfriends and brothers.155 female roles – research in the Philippines to 22 year-olds were included. Sixty-three per
and policy attention. However, studies in Women who live in gang-controlled areas found that being poor and living in cent of 17 and 18 year-olds said they did not
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have highlighted cannot access formal routes to justice, as an urban area was linked to a higher feel safe travelling around their city at night.
the various roles that young women and contact with the police is forbidden: “If likelihood of intimate-partner violence.160
girls play in these structures, as well as the something serious happened in my family, Overcrowded environments at home and
Proportion of girls in Netherlands survey who do not feel
multiple effects on their lives. The impact a really serious fight, we couldn’t go to the in the street can also contribute to violence safe walking around their neighbourhood at night
of gang violence on girls and young women police to report it, because when we came against girls. 70
is not restricted by age but forms part of a back here, we would die,” says Marilia, Outside her home, a girl knows that there
continuum, in terms of their relationships aged 13. And although the threat of gang are many places which may be unsafe for 60
and the consequences of violence, which punishment may have the potential to her to venture – unlit streets, bus stops,
50
evolves over time. Gang members are known protect victims of violence in the home, public toilets. Perpetrators are more likely to
for having young girlfriends – with girls as in reality it is just as likely to silence the be able to remain anonymous in an urban 40
young as 13 involved in sexual relations victim further, as 16 year-old Rosária environment – and to go unpunished. Girls
– with the risk of teenage pregnancy and states: “The traffickers come straight away are hidden – and so are the crimes against 30
sexually transmitted diseases that this when they hear about something. Perhaps them. This is why it is so difficult to find 20
Percentage
entails. Involvement tends to last until their I wouldn’t tell anyone because I can’t make data on violence against this age group.
mid- to late-twenties, when both men and a complaint to the police and I would be Girls may be afraid to speak out against a 10
women, if they have survived, leave the scared that the traffickers would kill the stranger, brother or teacher, fearing public
gang, or ‘mature out’.153 This may come person that had done me wrong. They killed stigma and shame and doubting that they 0
8 - 10 11 - 13 14 - 16 17 - 18 19 -22 22 years
about as a result of having children. one guy who raped girls.”156 will find justice. years old years old years old years old years old or older
58 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 59
• When asked what would make their city putting them at risk of unwanted pregnancy Getting around the city safely: transport In response to this problem, the female
safer for girls, better street lighting was and sexually transmitted infections, If adolescent girls are to prosper in the head of the Rail Ministry, Mamata
most important including HIV”.164 Many girls may blame city, they need to be and to feel safe. This Bannerjee, announced that in the 2010
• 35 per cent of girls between 14 and themselves. Studies in cities in Peru and means having adequate street lighting so budget there would be provision for female
16 said they know someone who had South Africa found that both girls and boys that they do not have to walk down dark security officers on the trains. “It is a very
been assaulted – this rises to 55 per cent thought the victim of a sexual assault was alleys if they go out at night, and ensuring good proposal,” said Ananya Chatterjee-
amongst girls who are 22 or older to blame for what had happened to her.165 that public transport is safe and that they Chakrabarty, a filmmaker and professor of
• 55 per cent of 17 to 18 year-olds Interestingly, in urban areas they are less will be free from sexual harassment. If buses film studies and journalism. “Women have
have witnessed violence in their likely to feel that they are at fault if they are are infrequent, or taxi-drivers are known long felt insecure... With the increased threat
neighbourhood. assaulted – in a study by the World Health to assault young women, then they cannot of terrorism and crime on trains, women will
Organisation, more than 75 per cent of travel safely to work or to school. feel reassured if the security personnel are
These dangers and perceived dangers are not women living in urban areas in Brazil, Japan, In many cities, neither lighting nor safe women.”170
only for adolescent girls, or those who are Namibia, and Serbia and Montenegro said transport is available. One study in Western A survey in urban Tanzania (see page 62)
poor, but are faced by young professional that no reason justified violence; while in Joubert Park in inner-city Johannesburg, found that problems with transport were a
women as well, as the following testimony provincial areas of Bangladesh, Ethiopia, South Africa, asked boys and girls what the major factor preventing girls from going to
shows. Peru and Samoa, this dropped to only 25 issues were for them in terms of keeping school.
per cent.166 safe. Both groups recognised that transport In this chapter, we have outlined the
NO RESPITE; LIVING ALONE IN THE CITY was key. Girls wanted the council to: global context of urbanisation and youth in
“I live alone in an apartment as a single SOU DA PAZ – I AM OF PEACE167 “Prevent/control child harassment in taxis”; relation to adolescent girls. We have looked
professional young woman. Life in the Founded in 2000, Sou da Paz (I am of for the “bus service to be faster; more routes at the push and pull factors in terms of why
city is a mix of all kinds of absurdities. Peace) seeks to address violence in and stops”; and suggested having “bigger, girls move to the city. We have looked at the
Though I am secure economically and Brazil through a range of community safer taxis for long-distance travel”168 many benefits of city life for adolescent girls,
live in a decent neighbourhood, my programmes in São Paulo and through Safe public transport is an essential but also shown that cities are often unsafe
sense of independence exposes me to national and international advocacy, part of ensuring that cities are safe places places, particularly for those girls who live
multiple disadvantages, especially in policy work, media and public for adolescent girls. In some cities, local in poor areas. City life could be so much
the developing world where a woman awareness raising. However, one of its councils have instituted women-only buses better for girls and young women. Planning
is expected to live with parents or a signature programmes, Polos de Paz, or compartments on trains. In Cairo, the with girls in mind and including them in the
husband. I change taxi-driver every which was designed to create public first two cars of each train of the Cairo process, decent housing, safe transport and
now and then so that they do not recreation spaces in blighted urban Metro are reserved for women.169 In girl-friendly spaces and places would all
get to know that I live alone. This is areas, was almost exclusively reaching Mumbai, two compartments on every train help. As we will see very clearly in the next
despite my desire to have a regular males only. Through research with 86 are earmarked as ‘women-only’. Chitra chapter, where we look at a specific group of Looking out
one to avoid the danger of bumping young people, Sou da Paz uncovered Iyer, from Plan, says: “This is a blessing girls who are the most marginalised in cities over the city
into strangers everyday. Though I am a variety of factors inhibiting young for women during rush hour as at least – those who live on the street – the situation in Santiago,
not very social, I make sure people women from participating in activities the obvious issue of sexual harassment is urgent. Chile.
visit my house to send a signal to the in parks and playgrounds – notably stops. However, in non-peak hours, these
silent observer outside that I have domestic chores, caring for siblings and compartments are often empty or thinly
people and am not alone. I am forced parental worries about the girls’ safety populated. Often men who are drunk
to lie to some people, saying I am and reputation. or street vendors climb in and threaten
G i u l i a n e B e r t a g l i a C o r r e i a , AGE D 1 5 , B r a z i l / w w w . s h o o t n a t i o n s . o r g
‘engaged’ or ‘my marriage is fixed’… In response, Sou da Paz has the women or harass them. There have
The negative preconceived notion of an implemented a variety of innovative been cases of knife-wielding drug addicts
independent young woman who lives strategies to bring gender to the getting into these compartments late at
alone cuts along all economic, social forefront of its work and to create an night and taking money, cell phones and
and professional circles and you do not environment where young women use jewellery from the few women in them.
get respite anywhere.” community spaces, enjoy leisure time, The poor security at railway platforms
Selam, young woman living learn new skills, build self-confidence, and the lack of security within the
in Khartoum, Sudan163 and enjoy time with peers. Such compartments themselves are the cause for
strategies include using graffiti and this harassment. Thus, a woman or young
If an adolescent girl is raped or assaulted, hiphop to discuss gender issues with girl must make a choice: risk travelling in
there are psychological as well as physical youth, and promoting soccer teams the women’s compartment where there
consequences. One report notes that for girls. To create more enabling are not enough of us, and risk an attack
violence against girls undermined their environments, Sou da Paz is also training by a thief or a drunk; travel in the regular
development “by making it difficult for stakeholders such as police, school compartment and risk getting molested,
them to remain in school, destroying their personnel and municipal officials in touched or otherwise leered at; or finally,
confidence in adults and in peers, and charge of recreation. don’t travel late at all.”
60 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 61
“I DON’T LIKE BEING HIT” – A SURVEY of government secondary schools almost In 2008, the Academy of Educational attempted to force them to accept rides
OF THE PROBLEMS GIRLS IN TANZANIA doubled between 2005 and 2007 and girls’ Development (AED) decided to undertake to school, but most said they had been
FACE IN GETTING TO SECONDARY enrolment increased by more than 50 per a study of the issues related to gender- able to escape. “Once, a driver forced me
SCHOOL SAFELY cent in just one year from 2006 to 2007. based violence and transport in the Dar es to get into his car. He wanted to have sex
However, despite this, girls’ attendance, Salaam area. Staff knew that there were with me but I refused and jumped from
“I have been harassed by a bus driver. performance and retention is low problems about the cost and demand for his car. He tried to follow me, but I ran so
I quarrelled with the driver to get on the bus compared with boys’ – for example, only buses because many students had to travel he left and I went back to the main road
and he grabbed my breast. I cried out from 68.9 per cent of girls passed Form II a long way to get to a secondary school and to wait for the next bus to come.”
pain because he pinched my breast so hard.” national exams compared with 83.3 per students pay lower fares than adults. AED
cent of boys; and the retention rate from presumed that, as in other situations, this This study shows that gender-based
This secondary school girl was one of 659 Form I to Form IV was 64 per cent for girls gap between supply and demand could be violence is a crucial issue for girls going
surveyed by the Academy for Educational and 78 per cent for boys. more problematic for girls. to secondary school. It revealed just how
Development (AED) as part of a study There are multiple reasons for this: girls The study came up with some startling determined they are to go to school, many
on gender-based violence against female have to do chores at home that leave them findings: of them getting up early and travelling long
students in the Dar es Salaam region of little time for study; society and families Another distances each day. But there can be no
Tanzania. think it is more important to educate a boy; hazard of the • Fifty-nine per cent of girls said they doubt from this survey that the challenges
Tanzania has made great efforts in recent girls become pregnant or are forced into city streets: missed school because they didn’t have they face have an impact on their
years to increase the number of female marriage at an early age; girls experience walking bus money. At least 18 per cent said they attendance, and likely their performance as
students attending secondary school and gender-based violence; and problems with through piles had missed five days or more a month. well. The study recommends that “NGOs
to improve their performance. The number transport to and from school. of rubbish. • A significant number of girls reported and governments… consider the issue of
that it takes two or more hours to get to transportation to and from school when
school and the same amount of time to developing and implementing mechanisms
return home. More than 20 per cent of to improve girls’ education.”171
the girls reported waking up before 5am
to get to school. Sixty-eight per cent of
students reported needing to use two or
more buses.
• Almost half reported that they were
sometimes unable to attend school
because bus drivers refused them entry.
• More than two-thirds said they had
been abused or mistreated by a bus
driver. This included physical and verbal
harassment and assault. Forty-seven
per cent reported being physically
harassed – either hit and/or pushed.
One girl described this abuse: “One day
I boarded a bus and the bus conductor
pushed me down out of the seat. I fell
out of the bus and was really hurt.”
Others described being hit or having
encountered other forms of physical
abuse. “I have been mistreated plenty
of times. I have been pushed and pulled
so that I can’t get on to a bus which has
J a c o b S i lb e r b e r g / P a n o s P i c t u r e s
stopped, and I have been hit by drivers
and called names. It hurts my feelings
and I don’t like being hit.”
• If the bus driver refuses them entry, 75
per cent of the girls try alternative means
of getting school, ranging from walking
to asking for assistance to hitch-hiking.
This is often dangerous. Twenty-two per
cent of girls reported that drivers had
62 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 63
Hidden in plain
view: adolescent
girls on the streets
“I can say that for girls it’s very, very bad to
be on the streets, because someone can just
come and sleep with you by force. If he is
older than you, you can’t just say anything.
3
girls like Trina and Precious and Tanya.
That they should have to live like this is an
outrage that should not be tolerated in the
21st century. There is an urgent need for
I have a boyfriend. He was born in 1990 and those responsible for cities to protect these
I was born in 1991. His name is Freedom. girls and improve their lives – and to give
I also have a son who is nine months them the basic rights that all children are
old. Because I was living on the streets I entitled to.
couldn’t stay with my son. And one of the
ladies from the church, she takes care of my 1. Defining disadvantage
son until I have a better place to stay and
then I will take my son back. I ask God that “If you see a girl on the street, looking
my son doesn’t know that his mother is like dirty, don’t think badly of them – because
this on the streets.” they could be a member of your family.”
Precious, 18, Durban, South Africa Laura, 16, Nicaragua1
64 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 65
some of the time and spend the rest of the disadvantaged and marginalised groups 2. Hidden in plain view – one really knows the numbers. An estimated
time on the streets: some are working and in the city: adolescent girls on the street. adolescent street girls 18 million of these live in India, which has
some are not. According to the UN Committee on the the largest numbers of street children of any
So who is a marginalised girl? The United Rights of the Child, “[s]treet children are “Being poor is in itself a health hazard; country in the world.7 And numbers appear
Nations Department of Economic and Social among the most vulnerable victims of the worse, however, is being urban and poor. to be increasing – for example, in Jakarta,
Affairs has 11 categories of what it calls most extreme forms of violence… Such Much worse is being poor, urban, and a Indonesia, there were 98,113 street children
‘disadvantaged youth’3 These are: violence too often takes place at the hands child. But worst of all is being a street child in 2004 but this had risen to 114,889 by
of agents of the State, or at least with their in an urban environment.” 2006.8 Another study noted: “A recent
1 Those without adequate access to encouragement or tolerance.”4 Ximena de la Barra, senior head-count of street children in Accra shows
education and health services; urban advisor, UNICEF6 a consistent increase.”9
2 Adolescents who have dropped out of My name is TRINA5 Street and homeless girls are not just in
school; “My name is Trina and I am 17 years The success of the film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ the developing world. In the US, according
3 Pregnant adolescents, whether married old and I live on the streets of Kitwe in highlighted the plight of children living on to the National Coalition for the Homeless
or not; Zambia. I stopped attending school in the street. Like Lalita, the young heroine, (NCH), an estimated 1.2 million children are
4 Married adolescents; 2007. I have a girl of two and a half. My it is often street girls who are the most homeless on any given night.10 In the UK,
5 Young single parents; mother takes care of her now. We came vulnerable of all. As the film showed clearly, around 100,000 young people under the
6 Young people who are HIV-positive, or at from a rural area in 2009. adolescent street girls like Lalita face sexual age of 16 run away from home or care each
particular risk of HIV/AIDS; Both my parents live on the street. It is harassment and abuse and often have to rely year.11
7 Young refugees or displaced persons; not easy because my mother and father on street boys or older men to protect them.
8 Racial, linguistic and ethnic minorities; are blind. I sell brushes on the streets. They can find no refuge with the authorities STREET CHILDREN12
9 Homeless youth; I make at least K20,000 to K50,000 or the police, who are as likely to abuse them The term ‘street children’ can mean many
10 Young people with disabilities; a day ($4 to $10) depending on the as protect them, sometimes locking them up different things. UNICEF’s definition
11 Girls and young women in any of these business of the day and the willingness because they are girls on the street rather includes three different categories:
groups that are affected by gender of the customers to buy our brushes. than because they have committed a crime. 1 Children ‘of’ the street (street-living
inequalities. Competition is high, as all the street Overall numbers of street children are children), who sleep in public spaces,
girls and the blind women sell the same almost impossible to estimate, partly because without their families;
What is interesting about this list is how commodities. I like talking to customers many do not live on the street all the time. 2 Children ‘on’ the street (street-working
many of the categories are either exclusively while I sell my brushes. Often they live some of the time on the children), who work on the streets
adolescent girls, or else largely girls. It is girls I sleep between shop corridors with street and some with families or relatives. during the day and return to their
who are most likely to have dropped out of the blind beggars for safety. I belong to UNICEF believes that there are at least 100 family home to sleep;
school and married. They may then become a choir because I enjoy singing. My best million street children globally, although 3 ‘Street-family children’ who live with
pregnant and have a child. The list recognises and closest friend is Charles. We are many other studies have pointed out that no their family on the street.13
implicitly that gender and disadvantage planning to get married in future and he
go together when it comes to adolescent is very nice to me. If I am in trouble, I can Slum
youth and that these disadvantages, once ask Charles to help me. conditions
established, are likely to continue into I never feel safe [on the streets], I feel in Dhaka,
adulthood. very uncomfortable because there is a Bangladesh.
UN-Habitat, in its 2010 report on the state lot of violence… and a lot of crime in our
of urban youth, notes that young people area. Violence is rampant on the streets
considered to be ‘at risk’ in urban settings and in every corner there are people
include: all those girls and boys whose ready to harm us. Thank God, we survive
living or health conditions, circumstances every single day. I have been beaten in
or behaviour patterns place them at risk the past by strangers, the street boys
of falling victim to, or being involved in, punched me. I am not happy living here –
crime. They include, but are not limited to, there is no privacy, everything is an open
youth already at odds with the law, those space.
living in urban slums, street children, youth I am intelligent but sometimes I feel
gangs, school drop-outs, unemployed youth, very bad about myself because I stopped
M a n o o c h e r D e g h a t i / IRIN
substance-abusing youth, those who are school at an early age, and although I can
sexually exploited, war-affected children, read my own language I struggle to read
and those affected by the AIDS pandemic, English, which makes me feel worthless. I
including orphans. hope that one day, given the chance, I can
This section of our report looks at go back to school.”
the issues faced by one of the most
66 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 67
Many girls on the streets live with their because they are hidden from sight. Many myself. I had to be tougher and meaner am sure they have happened elsewhere. This
families; many girls caught up in commercial may be working in brothels. Some disguise than anyone else, or befriend someone who makes it hard for those trying to work with
sex work are key breadwinners: “If I die themselves as boys “to protect themselves was meaner.”20 Laura, a street girl from street children because they are always on
doing sex work, then I die for my family,” from sexual harassment and abuse by other Nicaragua, said: “It’s a bit like a horse – if the move.”22
said a young Zimbabwean sex worker, aged street children, employers, welfare workers you keep hitting it, after a while it won’t take Because girls on the street are regarded
15, working in the coastal resort of Beira in and the police. Others tend to appear on the it any more and kicks back.”21 by many people as sex workers, and
Mozambique.14 She charges 50 meticas an streets only at night.”17 The other consequence of this widespread because they have no one to protect them,
hour: approximately $1. She tries to send public view – which is often also shared by they are in danger of sexual exploitation
home approximately $20 a week. 3. “Call me by my own name” – the police and the authorities, as we shall and rape. Their futures are also bleak –
attitudes towards girls on the see in the next section – is that it makes many are rejected by their families, whose
“IT IS BETTER TO KEEP QUIET”15 street it harder to protect street children, and in abuse may have been the cause of the girl
“My name’s Sala, I’m 14 years old and I particular girls. leaving home in the first place, and they
moved to Accra two years ago. As soon “You have no one to take care of you. Cynthia Steele, Chief Executive of have little possibility of marriage or any
as I moved to the city I fell into a group of Nobody in the society respects you or wants Empower, which works with young people in kind of stable life. They are likely to become
other schoolchildren who introduced me to see you… People don’t care whether you many different countries, says: “Street youth involved in drugs to stem the pain of living
to sex work. I spend most of my days with die, whether you live.” are often caught in cleansing campaigns by on the street. They have no documentation,
these friends. These children are my only Street girl in Kenya18 police who have government instructions and so no right to education or healthcare
friends here in Accra. We work together to have them off the street, often especially or a vote; and no place to store money
and help each other make contacts and In addition to all the other problems they in capital cities, where governments want safely, so there is no incentive to save. The Children
find clients. Most nights I spend with face, children on the street are often viewed to show a different face to tourists and following feature on street girls in Egypt eating a
clients, but I usually spend two nights a with fear and suspicion, sometimes to such delegations from other countries. Our illustrates just how difficult it is to work with snack on a
week with my friends. I really admire our an extent that their lives are at risk – often grantees have told us of such campaigns in these girls, and how vulnerable they are to bridge over a
group leader; I feel I can always go to her from those who are supposed to protect Mexico City, St Petersburg and Hanoi, and I mistreatment and abuse. Dhaka slum.
if I needed help or advice. them. As one street child in Bangladesh
Even though I have my friends, I don’t said: “Everyone calls us ‘toakis’ (scavengers)
feel very safe during the day. There are or beggars. Hardly anyone calls us by our
gangs in our area who often fight and at own names.”19
times the leaders harass us girls. I’ve also Research for this report (see page 83) in
had to experience violence myself. I’ve the Philippines by Justice for Girls found
gotten into a fight with another street that “adolescent street girls are called
girl over a client and at times have had ‘buntog’, a Cebuano term for the quail.
clients punch me. Even things like using It is a derogatory term equated to mean
the public toilet are scary as you can be girl sex workers, girls with loose morals/
attacked there. I know I could go to the promiscuous, or girls allegedly engaging in
police if needed but there are times when ‘free sex or sex for fun’.”
it is better to keep quiet; like when a pimp The research also notes that “sexist slurs
demands sex, it is easier to submit than to and curse words are used to verbally abuse
face violence. Plus, sometimes the police girls by family members, peers and the
are just as violent as the gangs; once when police. Comments such as ‘your mother
K a m r u l , a g e D 13 , s t r e e t c h i l d p h o t o g r a p h y p r o j e c t, B a n g l a d e s h
I was arrested a police officer hit me on is a prostitute’ or simply calling a girl a
the head with the butt of his gun. ‘prostitute’ demonstrate that ‘promiscuity’
I’ve never been able to go to school and is viewed as a serious social transgression.
because of this I don’t feel as smart as Attitudes about appropriate behaviour by
those around me. I would like to be able to girls translate into the view that ‘bad’ girls
learn dressmaking and earn a decent living. are undeserving of protection from the
Even though it is difficult on the street, I community or police. ‘Normal’ girls, for them
still look forward to a better future.” [referring to police], normal and proper girls
will not be staying out late. They will be at
It is generally assumed that there are more home by 6pm. But if you are alone with your
boys on the street than girls. The UK’s friends they have the wrong notion.”
Consortium for Street Children notes that up This can have an effect on girls’ behaviour.
to 30 per cent of street children are likely to One girl who ended up working on the
be girls, depending on the country.16 But it is streets said: “I realised that to survive I had
also possible that street girls are not counted to become cold and hard and turned in on
68 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 69
Trust is a dangerous thing
“They send police Ghada, Iman’s sister, dressed all in black with
vehicles to gather only her round face peeping out, says: “The
children the way they police pick us up because they don’t want us
they have counselling out that girls get harassed more and are in the police officers because they are harming
and health check-ups.” danger of sexual abuse. They also agree, people.” When we protest politely, she says:
In one corner on a shelf however, that boys are more likely to get hit “All except one who was nice and gave me
is what looks like a very by other boys or by the police. food at the police station. But I would burn
large pair of dentures, In Egypt, street girls are generally all the others.” Her black eyes burn too.
complete with pink considered to be sex workers, socially Samar, aged 14, in white, has still not said a
gums. Across it lies an beyond the pale, and even a security threat. word but nods agreement.
70 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 71
4. Why do adolescent girls leave you. It happened to one girl I know. A across Karachi city, most of whom were
home for the street? gang of boys picked her up and took her adolescents between 12 and 17. They found
to Dadar Tilak bridge and did bad things that the numbers of young and adolescent
“My name is Malaika and I am 15 years to her. She had to have stitches. The boys girl beggars was on the rise.29
old. Now let me tell you my story. My life were taken to the police station. She cried • 78 per cent of the girls were between one
on the streets began when my mother for many days. Everyone said to her: ‘You and 15 years old. Only nine per cent were
died in 1997. My grandmother took me in are disgraced!’ She thought: ‘Whatever I between six and eight years old.
G . M . B . Ak a s h / P a n o s P i c t u r e s
after my mother’s death, but again disaster do I am shamed, so why should I live like • 34 per cent said they had migrated to
struck when she also passed on in 2000. I this?’ That’s why she chose to go into Karachi and had been there for at least six
remained with my aunt, who didn’t send me wrong work as a sex worker. years.
to school and did not care about my well- At one o’clock, we go for lunch at • 17 per cent said they had sexual
being. That’s when my friend introduced Bandra Platform 7, Hotel Bismillah [a experience, with 15 per cent saying it was
me to street life, which I found to be better café; eating places are often called consensual and two per cent saying it was
than being at home where I was not loved.” ‘hotels’ in India]. It’s my favourite place. in order to get work.
From ‘Testimonies from The boy I was supposed to marry worked • Three per cent said they had been raped,
Zambia: Streetchild’ from children who feel they need help Village girls in there. That’s why I go there. He left long some by relatives. One girl was sent to
and cannot get it at home. The majority Bangladesh. back, but still I go. Now he works with a customers by her father.
There are many reasons why adolescent girls of callers (65 per cent) are girls between caterer. Sometimes he comes to meet me.
live on the street. As we have seen, some still the ages of 12 and 15. The main reasons He cries and says: ‘If only we had gotten 5. “I wish I was a boy” – sexual
spend part of their time with their families. they give for running away are conflict in married.’ My mother used to love him a exploitation and abuse of
The reasons why girls leave bear some the family, including abuse; and problems lot. But I didn’t marry him. I was forced to adolescent girls
similarity with the reasons that rural girls such as pregnancy, getting into trouble and marry someone else.
leave for the city and why girls generally say emotional health issues. Seventy-four per After lunch, we rest for an hour. Then “A lot of men from the general public or
they run away from home – divorce, abuse cent of girls calling about running away were we are in the trains till 9pm. After that, from nearby offices come to the river. These
at home, abandonment, poverty. When between 12 and 15 years old.26 it’s back to a café to eat and drink tea. then solicit sex from girls… A man comes
poverty compels families to send their girls Then to sleep at Mahim or, if I feel and picks whoever they want to have sex
on to the street, particularly in conservative RUKSHANA’S STORY 27 like it, Virar station [Mumbai’s most with. If I am picked, I leave my child with
cultures, this is often the last resort, and Rukshana’s life is full of movement. She distant suburb]. We just put down some the other girls and take the client down to
the girls are often forced into high-risk zips through Mumbai’s suburbs working newspaper sheets and sleep. At Virar the river.”
behaviours because they have no other wherever she can. At 15, she is her 11 station it’s great – no tension of boys or Tanya, 14, Harare, Zimbabwe30
option. Don McPhee from Plan Sudan notes year-old sister Deepa’s sole carer. police. Here in Mahim, boys come and
that: “The presence of such girls readily “First thing when we wake up, we wrap harass us.” We have seen that violence affects all
available in societies with suppressed sexual up all our bedding and hide it in a tree. adolescent girls in the city, whether they
expressions puts these girls at high risk, It’s a 10-minute walk from the bridge Begging are rich or poor. But living on the streets,
often completely beyond their control and where we sleep, over the railway tracks Some street girls become beggars. Begging whether they are there all the time or not,
comprehension.”24 near Mahim station. Then I take my sister is usually believed to involve very young puts them particularly at risk.31 Once on
One survey in the Philippines showed that Deepa to the toilets near the station. We children, but increasingly adolescent girls are the street, girls experience staggering levels Begging on
problems at home, particularly violence, wash our faces, brush our teeth and then forced into poverty and resort to begging, of violence, from assaults by passers-by, the streets
were the main reason that street children go to Uncle’s tea stall at Platform 1. After where they often face both violence and abuse through sex work, rape and assault of Harare.
had left:25 that we go to Bandra for breakfast, and insecurity. They may be captured by
• because they are physically abused by then start work. organised begging cartels who break their
their parents or older siblings (21%) We go to the shelter outside Dadar limbs or mutilate them in some other way
• because they do not like their own homes station [Mahim, Bandra and Dadar – and in order to gain more sympathy from the
(21%) the names that follow below – are all public. Many beggars are in fact migrants – a
• because they were abandoned by their areas in Mumbai or suburbs], take our study of beggars in Delhi, India, found that
parents or do not know where they are goods from the locker and go into the only five per cent originally came from the
Ro b in H a mm o nd / Pa n o s Pi c t ur e s
(15%) local trains to sell them. I sell trinkets, city. Almost half were migrants from Uttar
• because their parents were separated or clips, cookery and henna pattern books Pradesh and Bihar. The survey also found
because of their step-parent (6%) in the trains. Before we had the locker that a third of all beggars suffered some sort
• because they have to earn money (3%) we used to keep all our stuff under our of disability, while 30 per cent were below
• because their basic needs were not met or heads and sleep. Even when you sleep, the age of 18.28
poor conditions at home (2%) you have to be alert. If you are deep in In Pakistan, The University of Karachi’s
These reasons are not so different in the sleep, not only will someone take your Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies
rich world – the UK’s Childline takes calls goods, they can also pick you up and take interviewed beggar girls from 17 districts
72 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 73
by boyfriends and male street ‘brothers’, International Labour Organisation “IT IS BETTER TO DIE OF AIDS THAN them. Sometimes they give us food... with
extreme mental and physical cruelty statistics reveal that most sexually HUNGER.”40 luck some money as well. We are not doing
by pimps and drug dealers, to sexual exploited girls on the street are aged Tanya is 14. Her parents died of AIDS when this because we enjoy it. We know the risks
harassment, assault and brutality by police, between 11 and 17. Their first sexual she was 10 and since then she has made her involved, but we are poor and hungry and
private security and prison guards.32 experience is often rape, between the ages living on the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe. there is not much else we can do.
One study in India with more than 1,000 of 10 and 14. 38 Sexually exploited street “Life is not easy on the streets. How can “Some sugar daddies [older men involved
street girls aged between five and 18 across girls are at an increased risk of becoming you talk to people who are hungry?” in relationships with young girls, sexually
13 Indian states found that 68 per cent pregnant (9.6 per cent), being physically This is Tanya’s indirect way of asking for abusing them for money] are our clients
reported they had been physically abused. attacked (29.8 per cent), experiencing money: “I have not eaten anything since because they have the money to give us.
Almost half the girls told the researchers that police abuse (21.3 per cent), receiving yesterday morning... and I want money to I know it sounds scary, but just think of
they wished they were boys.33 insults (50 per cent), and having access take my ‘sister’ to the hospital.” yourself in the same situation: what would
As one report noted: “Street children are to drugs (42.6 per cent) and alcohol (37.2 Her ‘sister’ is another street child – Joyce you do if you were a street kid with the
generally subjected to physical abuse by per cent). 39 In one study of street children – who sits beside her and listens to her every chance to make Z$20,000 [$3] just for
family members, caregivers, police and other in Cairo, almost two-thirds of children word. “She has not been well for some time. having sex with someone?
adults.”34 If you are an adolescent girl living regularly took drugs or solvents, with She has ‘njovera’ [a Shona word for sexually “Even if they don’t use a condom, it’s not
on the street you are likely to need protection glue sniffing being the most common transmitted infections (STI)].” like I was ever going to make much out of my
from a male, be that another street child substance. The children said they took Joyce puts her finger on Tanya’s mouth to life anyway. I don’t see myself ever leaving
or an older male – which is also potentially the drugs “because of peer pressure, to get her to shut up. Then Joyce says accusingly: these streets and having a better life, so I
exploitative. Older men and ‘street brothers’ relieve the pressures of the street, to help “She is also suffering from njovera... Tanya, might as well do something that will help
often claim to be ‘protectors’ for young them sleep, and to help them endure pain, tell the truth!” The girls accuse each other of me to survive for the moment as tomorrow is
women who are homeless. These men and violence, and hunger”. having an STI. It finally emerges that Joyce another day.
older boys continue exploitation and violence Adolescent girls on the street are in has the infection. Tanya explains how she got “I’m afraid to visit the hospital for HIV
against girls. danger not just from adult men, but from it. “The streets are full of people who want to tests. But if I cannot have sex with these
Zerihun Mammo, founding member of older street boys – there are reports of girls hurt and use other people, especially those of men, eventually I’ll die of hunger. It is better
the Ethiopian Teenagers’ Forum, which is having to undergo a sort of sexual initiation us who are younger. So you have to be ready to die of AIDS than hunger.”
dedicated to working for and with children rite – and from police and those in authority. The red light and you must always watch out for yourself. As she speaks, her eyes show the telltale
and youth, is a boy who seeks to protect girls Increasing numbers of girls are giving birth district on Men pick us up here – not just common signs of a person who has had no decent
and young women from this fate. He talks on the street, leading to an increase in the the outskirts men. Joyce was picked up by a man who was sleep in a long time. Her eyelids look heavy
of a particular girl whose situation “really number of babies, a ‘second generation’ of of Bharatpur, driving a Pajero.” and she explains that she spends most of
touched my heart”.35 street children. India. Joyce interjects: “The old business guy her nights half-awake, warding off potential
“Ten years ago she came to Addis asked me to take a bath before he slept with bullies and rapists, while the days are spent
Ababa from Gondar. She started working me the entire night. The man did not use a rummaging through bins and rubbish heaps
in someone’s home, and when she was 15 condom, because he said that if he did he in search of edible scraps.
the man who heads the household raped would only give me a few dollars.” “I have a dream,” she says, “to go back to
her. When she got pregnant he chased her Tanya nods to show that Joyce is telling school and learn how to speak English – good
out of the house and she started living on the truth and continues: “The guys usually English. I can already speak a little bit of
the street. She gave birth to his child. Three ask us to bathe before we have sex with English, just to beg from white people.”
months after she had his child, she was
raped again. She is 16 years old and when
we saw her it was only four days since she 6. The role of the police in meant to protect them.
had given birth [again], and she had a one ‘protecting’ girls on the streets This section of the report will look at the
year and two months old baby. I was very reasons why street girls are detained by the
sad when I saw her.” “We hate cops. We’re not best of friends police. It will profile and analyse the ways that
One survey by Child Hope found that because they sometimes beat us up, accusing violence and police brutality function as a
95 per cent of girls living on the streets of us of loitering and littering the city. My life form of ‘policing’ young women’s behaviour
Abb i e T r a y l e r - S m i t h / P a n o s P i c t u r e s
Ethiopia experienced sexual exploitation. 36 is one of constant fear of being caught by the on the streets. The nature of police brutality
This 18 year old from Zimbabwe was clear police.” against adolescent street-involved or homeless
about the trade-off that she had to make to Tanya, 14, Harare, Zimbabwe41 girls will be outlined.
keep safe. “My boyfriend… He takes care Sometimes girls are detained because they
of me, caters for my daily needs like clothes Negative attitudes towards adolescent girls have committed a crime, but more often it
and food, protects me from other street guys on the streets, as we have seen, mean that is because they are seen to have offended
who might want to take me.”37 Such girls they are at risk of violence and abuse, not only some kind of moral code by being on the
often have no option but to sell their bodies from street children and adults but also from street. High media coverage, especially of
in order to eat. the police and those authorities which are female youth crimes, has resulted in negative
74 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 75
portrayals of girls in conflict with the law and
the criminalisation of ‘offences’ for which
as governments treat them as a blight to be
eradicated – rather than as children to be THE RIGHTS OF GIRLS IN
an adult could not be charged – such as just
being out on the street or having a tattoo.42
nurtured and protected. They are tortured
or beaten by police and often held for CONFLICT WITH THE LAW UNDER
A UNICEF report noted: “The risks for
children who are perceived as ‘criminal’
long periods in poor conditions. Girls are
sometimes sexually abused, coerced into INTERNATIONAL LAW 49
begin even before arrest… Sexually exploited sexual acts, or raped by police.”47
girls, including those who report rape, are For example in Bangladesh, Amnesty Girls living on the street may be more likely A/61/299; and the World Report on
at particular risk of being criminalised and International has documented how young to come into contact with the law than Violence against Children, Paulo Sérgio
experiencing further sexual violence in homeless girls taken into ‘safe custody’ other groups of children. According to the Pinheiro, published by the United Nations
detention. In many countries, children who during police investigations into rape UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Secretary-General’s Study on Violence
have committed no offence are taken into allegations are reportedly exposed to “It is particularly a matter of concern that against Children, Geneva, 2006.
police custody for ‘their own protection’.”43 further sexual abuse at the hands of ‘law girls and street children are often victims of The UNCRC and other international
The Consortium for Street Children notes enforcement’ authorities.48 criminalisation.” commitments require a response to
that: “In some countries the criminal justice Yet there are well-elaborated children in conflict with the law which
system is used to warehouse homeless Born as girls: violence and abuse international standards governing juvenile promotes a child’s sense of dignity and
children.”44 Street children are arrested by police justice systems and children’s rights. The worth, respect for human rights and the
“for being victims of commercial sexual UN Convention on the Rights of the Child desirability of reintegrating and assuming
exploitation, for begging, ‘vagrancy’ and for “I have been on the streets for nine years (UNCRC) contains several provisions which a constructive role in society. Governments
‘status offences’ such as truancy, ‘running and it was very, very hard for me because relate specifically to children in conflict should set a minimum age for criminal
away from home’, and being ‘beyond my mother passed away in 1996 and I got with the law. Article 37 protects the rights responsibility, and this age should not
parental control’.” It notes that: “In these my stepdad because I didn’t know my father of children who are arrested and detained be lower than 12 years. ‘Status’ offences
cases, although technically in conflict with at all. My stepdad used to take alcohol. My and prohibits torture or cruel, inhuman or should be abolished and behaviour such
the law, children in this category are actually sister wanted to go away because he was degrading treatment or punishment and as truanting or vagrancy should be dealt
victims of legislation that needs urgently to drunk. My sister left to be with her friends. illegal and arbitrary detention of children. with through a country’s child protection
be reformed.” My stepfather once sexually abused me. Article 40 sets out principles for a child system. Governments must create a
A study in Dhaka, Bangladesh, involved That’s when I ran away from my house. I rights-compliant juvenile justice system and separate system for children in conflict
researchers who were street children told the neighbours and they just said to me rights of children who are being processed with the law, which takes account of their
themselves. They found that nearly all the I must tell the police. So I told the police. through the criminal justice system. age and unique vulnerabilities. Alternative,
street children they spoke to were involved My stepfather paid the police and after that A number of other international or diversionary, measures for dealing
in hazardous and low-paid activities in order they stopped bothering him.” instruments apply to children in conflict with child offenders should be developed
to ensure at least one meal a day. They Precious, 18, Durban, South Africa with the law. These include the UN and used heavily: rather than passing
reported: “As we don’t have any relatives Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile children through formal criminal justice
in Dhaka City, we have to live under the So how does this violence affect adolescent Delinquency (Riyadh Guidelines) 1990, systems, they should be offered support
open sky at night, after working hard for girls differently from boys and young men? the UN Standard Minimum Rules on and services to address the root causes of
the whole day. We never get involved in We have seen that there is inevitably a the Administration of Juvenile Justice their offending. Imprisonment should be a
any ‘bad’ activities. Actually, we do not (Beijing Rules) 1985, the UN Rules for the last resort and used only for the shortest
have enough time to do anything else but Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their appropriate period of time.
work. The police pick us up every now and Liberty (Havana Rules) 1990, and the Other international instruments that
then without any specific reason. According Vienna Guidelines for Action on Children in apply to all persons in the criminal justice
to our research, police caught 20 children the Criminal Justice System 1997. While, in system when they are arrested, tried,
out of 30 without having any specific case contrast to the UNCRC, these instruments sentenced and detained, will also apply to
against them. These children were accused are not binding on governments, they do children. The International Covenant on
of ‘sleeping on the street’. If children have no evidence an international commitment Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) contains
other option but to sleep on the street, is it to abide by their provisions; and they rights to fair trial, prohibitions on illegal
their fault?”45 elaborate the obligations of governments and arbitrary detention, provisions on
Girls who live or work on the street are set out in the UNCRC to create a child treatment in detention and a prohibition
easy targets for police violence because they rights-compliant juvenile justice system, on torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading
Amos Trust
are young, poor, unaware of their rights and and ensure that the rights of children treatment or punishment. While these
lack the consistent protection of adults.46 in conflict with the law are protected. standards are not specifically tailored to the
According to Human Rights Watch: “Street Additional sources include the Report of unique needs and conditions of children,
/
children [and homeless children] throughout the independent expert for the United they nonetheless provide fundamental
Wilf Whitty
the world are subjected to physical abuse Nations study on violence against children, safeguards and rights for children who are
by police or have been murdered outright, Precious 61st Session UN General Assembly, 2006, in conflict with the law.
76 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 77
sexual dimension to the abuse of girls and They were forced to go with the officers 7. “We have dreams too” – street
young women. There are different ways that to the police detective college. They were girls’ resilience
street-involved or homeless young women subsequently taken to the home of one of
S uj A n , a g e D 16 , s t r e e t c h i l d p h o to g r a p h y p r oj e c t, B a n g l a d e s h
are ‘policed’, from isolating a girl for not the men, having been told that they would “We have dreams too, and no dreams are
conforming to social norms, to using violence be safer there than in custody. They were, too small.”
to keep a girl ‘in line’, to using the formal however, repeatedly raped: “A detective Cynthia, 15, Philippines58
justice system to ‘police’ a girl’s behaviour.50 colleague came into the house, he smelled
The Bangaldesh study on children in of alcohol… He shouted ‘shut up’ and Young women themselves use a number of
conflict with the law in Dhaka showed said we should take off our clothes. He strategies to cope with life on the street.
that it is common for girls to be punished took out a gun and showed us the bullets, They may band together with other girls, or
by police for activities in which they are and pulled off his clothes. He raped me with mixed groups of girls and boys, or older
not the criminal but the victim (sex work three times. Afterwards I was crying and women. Catherine, aged 11, sells vegetables
and rape) and also for offences labelled by he looked for fuel to take us back. It was and fruit in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.
the police as ‘sexual deviance’. Adolescent around midnight we were brought to other Her mother left her father when he beat her
street girls are much more affected by the men who raped us too as payment for the up, but is not a well woman. Catherine says
police because they are often treated as petrol.”55 that her mother’s friends help to look after
commercial sex workers, regardless of the The report contains many similar her: “These women are like mother hens to
context. Police target street-involved girls as testimonies by young women and states me. I am grateful for their support. If it were
being sexually ‘deviant’, and make judgments that: “Women and girls who are raped not for them, my mother would have died
and assumptions about their behaviour, is better to keep to yourself. I befriend girls, A girl works by state actors in Nigeria have little hope and my sister would have been out of school.
although they have no evidence upon which but only girls. And any girl who does those on the Dhaka of obtaining justice and reparation... They contributed a great deal towards my
to convict girls of committing a crime. filthy things, I stay away from.” 52 railway line. Prosecutions for rape are brought in only mother’s medication.”59
Pakhi, aged 15, is one such girl. She was Magistrates often order ‘deviant’ girls into a small number of cases. Victims are One study notes that: “Street children
sleeping at a railway station with her friend ‘safe’ custody in a police or detention centre sometimes pressured into withdrawing the are often involved in mutually supportive
Jostna when the police came at midnight where they are subjected to further abuse. case or parents of victims prefer financial relationships, with solidarity and self-support
and asked them to go with them to the In Pakhi’s case, the magistrate sent her to settlement out of court to a criminal amongst children’s groups more prominent
police station. “Pakhi wanted to know why. Dhaka Central Jail. According to Pakhi, the prosecution… In the few cases where a than violence.”60 Another report on street
The policemen replied that they suspected magistrate did not ask any question relating conviction is secured, judges seldom impose children in Kenya noted: “Life on the streets
them of being involved in commercial sex to her alleged involvement with sex work. the maximum sentence.” is not all about violence and abuse. The
work. Pakhi tried to convince them that “Pakhi was in Dhaka Central Jail for two In Bulgaria, Antonia, who begs in a children develop strong friendships and
she was not involved in such activity. The months, where she was regularly beaten by market in the city of Varna, told of her a spirit of mutual support and assistance.
policemen refused to believe them, saying the adult women prisoners. Whenever she detention by police for five days. She is They play, sing, watch videos, tell each other
that they very well knew what street girls would cry out loudly, the other girls would eight years old. “I’ve been taken to the stories and sometimes go to church together,
did and forced them to go to the local police say: ‘Don’t cry. You will not get any benefit police station many times. Once I stayed for among other activities.”61 As this street
station.”51 from crying. All of us are here to expiate for five days. There was a jar in the cell in which child in the Philippines pointed out: “Our
Other young women agree to have sex our sins, as we were born as girls.’”53 we could go to the bathroom. There were lives are sometimes at the top, sometimes Struggling to
with the police in return for protection. In Nigeria too, police and security three other girls in the cell with me. There at the bottom, but we can still surmount earn a living
“We make friends with the police, so that forces commit rape in many different was only one big bed, so we all shared it. problems.”62 in Zambia.
they will treat us well and watch out for circumstances, both on and off duty. The There were no blankets. While I was there,
us while we sleep in the park, and release Director for Women’s Affairs within the the police handcuffed me and put a hat
us quickly if we are detained,” said Nawal, Ministry for Women’s Affairs told Amnesty over my head so I couldn’t see anything,
aged 19, from Egypt. Ilham, a 15 year-old International in February 2006: “Around and started beating me with a chain.”56
runaway, told Human Rights Watch that she 60 per cent of violence against women Because young women are rarely charged,
would rather work as a housemaid despite is committed in army barracks or police tried or sentenced, their interaction with the
the abuse of her employers than live on the stations.”54 police often remains hidden and without
street and be forced to sell sex in return for This is despite the fact that rape is a formal recognition. They are often detained
protection: crime under Nigerian national law and until officials decide they may be released.
“I don’t want to be like the other girls, who is an internationally recognised human A report on Papua New Guinea by Human
M a n o o c h e r D e g h a t i / IRIN
befriend police or boys, because they might rights violation. Very few perpetrators are Rights Watch showed how homeless girls
force me to do something I don’t want to do. prosecuted. The Amnesty report tells what and those forced into sex work are routinely
Something sexual. And then later, when I happened to two young women students, placed in detention, where they are assaulted
marry, I might be walking with my husband aged 17 and 18, who were abducted by by police. Such instances were described
and the police officer might stop me, or the two men with Nigerian Police Force badges as “cases involving opportunistic abuses of
boy greet me, and then what would I say? It when returning home from the market. power”.57
78 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 79
Adolescent street girls need an internal 1 The right to training to learn a trade
sense of self-belief – something which is 2 The right to stay in your home village
hard to retain when all those in the adult (rather than being forced to leave your
world seem to despise you. They also family and work in a town)
need to develop skills such as leadership 3 The right to carry out our activities in
and empathy with other street children. safety
They need a sense of something outside 4 The right to work which is limited in hours
themselves, be it religious or other moral and not too heavy
codes. They need positive relationships 5 The right to rest when sick
with others, including adults, and ideally 6 The right to respect
Chr is S tow er s / Pa n o s Pi c t ur e s
80 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 81
The forgotten few
Projects with adolescent street girls need enough.” Andrea, the eldest of five girls
above all to listen to what the girls themselves and three boys in her family, fended for
have to say, and to use existing legislation herself for a month until an uncle tracked
82 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 83
Q. How long would you work? representing the frontline rather than a been in jail for months awaiting trial for the
A. 8am to 7.30pm. source of refuge. The threat of violence death of her abusive male partner:
Q. For how much? puts them at much greater risk of becoming “I couldn’t speak...he threw me and pushed
A. 100 pesos [$4.30] per day. But I had to criminalised as they try to survive, later me against the wall face first and punched
spend seven pesos to travel by Jeepney serving as the justification for depriving them me in the neck... I grabbed the first thing I
because it was too far to walk. It was too of their liberty in order to ‘protect’ them. could, a knife...”
dangerous to walk late at night. Statistics in the Philippines demonstrate
that girls in trouble with the law have Policing gender and regulating
Others receive pennies per day working experienced very high rates of male violence morality
in toxic environments scavenging, selling and child abuse in their homes, with one One reason girls are under-represented
goods, working as food vendors or tricycle study reporting that at least 20 per cent among street children is largely connected
drivers. ‘Nicole-May’ recounts her experience of girls in detention had been victims to family expectations that they remain
grilling chestnuts as a street vendor. “I got of child abuse. Every child in this study in the home to help with domestic chores
sick from the smoke, there was so much heat had witnessed and experienced violence and family care.78 This was evident among
M i kk e l O s t e r g a a r d / P a n o s P i c t u r e s
and so much smoke.” from multiple sources in their homes the girls we interviewed, who frequently
Girls may find themselves in a position and communities. Many girls reported helped their mothers by cleaning, caring
where petty theft provides the only option witnessing their fathers abuse their mothers for siblings and other domestic work. Girls’
to find money for food and subsistence. The or siblings and engage in extreme forms of morality is heavily regulated both formally
most common crime committed by children violence. and informally. At home, girls may be
is theft. ‘Hannah’ was in a rehabilitation punished violently by male family members
centre for almost five years for snatching “When Sara’s father gets drunk he for violating curfew, leaving the house
money from a woman in a shopping mall quarrels with her mother. He got a gun and or for perceptions that they are ‘flirting’.
so she could pay for transport to get home. attempted to shoot her mother. She just Speaking of her friends, ‘Kyla’ says “their
Most commonly, girls are arrested for stealing cried.” Homeless Public space is just as violent for girls fathers scold them and physically abuse
things like cell phones and other items to help ‘Sara’, via interpreter young running away from home. Girls who flee them because their fathers see them flirting”.
their families or feed themselves. woman living violence at home may be swept up by She continues, referring to the way girls are
‘Ana Maria’ stole “because that was the Girls described physical abuse at the hands on a beach in recruiters and trafficked to urban areas to treated in the streets, “sometimes when girls
time her father did not have a job and the of their fathers, brothers, cousins and Manila. become domestic workers or turned out to pass by they are called flirts or prostitutes”.
income of her mother as a laundry woman grandparents. be abused in the commercial sex trade. The The father of ‘Nicole-May’ physically assaults
was not enough. Her mother actually knew commercial sex trade is violent by definition, her when she tries to leave her house.
that she had stolen something because she “The sins of my siblings are all on me. My and violence by employers in domestic Stereotypes are also used in the
gave her part of the proceeds. Her mother brother kicks me and hits me on the back of settings is common. community and social groups to police
just told her not to say anything.” my head.” Some girls also cope by engaging in girls’ sexuality. Sexist slurs and curse words
Many girls also end up in the illicit street ‘Nicole-May’ violence themselves, in an effort to prevent are used to verbally abuse girls by family
economy, coerced and trafficked by adults violence perpetrated against them, almost a members, peers and the police.
into commercial sexual exploitation, selling Additionally, girls reported regular beatings form of pre-emptive self-defence. Angelica
drugs or acting as accomplices. Parents and from parents and siblings. says she fights because the other girls provoke Police violence
family members are complicit in getting her:“They say like ‘who are you?’ ‘Are you Girls report that they are intimidated by
the girls to steal. One girl reported that her “If [I]commit a mistake, father spanks [me]. strong?’... And that provokes [me]...” the police and all children report extreme
neighbours got her involved in selling drugs, He hits [me] with a belt.” violence used by the police, especially
an offer she could not turn down in the face ‘Sara’ Q. “What was the fight over?” towards boys. But police engage in punching
of hunger and family pressure. A. “I was a transfer. I was new. They whipping, slapping, and cuffing children of
“Grandma hits me, when I don’t bring were kind of sizing [me] up and... so either sex and putting them in cells with
Q. What did you sell? anything home from begging.” [I] offered that we have a one-on-one adult offenders, thus deliberately exposing
A. Shabu. A white powder smoked through ‘Marialene’ fight because I was afraid they would them to violence and humiliation.79
a metal container. hurt me... They were bullying [me]…
Q. Where did you get it? Sexual abuse by male family members is they slapped [me], pulled my hair and “The police hit [me] on the back of the head
A. The neighbours... friends of the family. common, with girls more vulnerable to child four girls brought me to a place... so [I] and told [me] I was a liar... They held a gun
sexual abuse than boys. offered to fight with the leader of the at [my] hand. They threatened to shoot [my]
Daily violence in the lives of girls in Girls also run away from home to escape group... The neck of the other girl was hand because I am a liar.”
trouble with the law violence. In one study, children reported broken.” ‘Mischa’
Girls constantly navigate the threat of male 73 per cent of the time that child abuse by Finally, some girls are criminalised for violence Girls know that police officers and other
violence and child abuse in every corner of a family member was the reason they left they commit in direct self-defence of male officials sexually exploit girls and women as
their communities, with home frequently home.77 violence perpetrated against them. ‘Nyca’ has both sex traffickers and clients.
84 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 85
Q. What do you think of the police? Do you theft or substance abuse violations. They run by the DSWD. The policy assumes that
like them? are usually held overnight and released in children who violate the law are “children
A. No, because the police are womanisers. the morning. Some are detained but never in need of special protection”. It is aimed
Q. Can you give me an example? charged.81 at recognising the social and economic
A. They get girls from the bars, sometimes Girls have been deprived of basic disadvantage of most children who are
they get them pregnant and then they necessities, forced to sleep on the floor while criminalised. Informed by principles of
live with them. They keep them on the adult women sleep on cardboard cartons. restorative justice, the Juvenile Justice and
side. As the most vulnerable, they are bullied and Welfare Act views rehabilitation centres
‘Kyla’ threatened with violence from other inmates. as a more humane and safer way of
Not allowed to eat until the women are detaining children who are deemed unfit
The girls experienced police violence simply finished, they often go hungry, surviving on for diversion programmes. Progressive
by bearing witness to the brutality enacted the leftovers the women provide. on paper, this policy should mean that
on other children and adults upon arrest. no children will set foot inside prison
‘Angel’ was so afraid of the police that she Q. Did you have food? walls. However, as demonstrated by the
refused to talk about them in the interview. A. Just the leftovers of the older women. children’s experiences above, there are
Crying and putting her head in her hands, Leftover fried rice and dried fish. many hurdles to overcome before this
she continued to express concern that if she Q. Did you get enough to make you feel dream is realised.
N i kk i v a n d e r G a a g
said anything about them the police might full? The young women in rehabilitation were
retaliate by apprehending her brother. A. I had no choice because I only eat what being held for a range of minor offences.
is given to me. One girl, however, was awaiting trial
Discipline and punishment – Q. Did you get full? for defending herself against an abusive
diversion and jail A. No. husband which ended in his death. The
In response to international pressure there Philippine Rehabilitation centres girls’ sentences varied, two have an ongoing
has been a strong push in the Philippines Girls are vulnerable to sexual violence from street life. Girls held in rehabilitation centres fall into trial, while three had been on suspended
to minimise the criminalisation and other inmates as well as police officers. three categories: Children in Conflict with sentence in the rehabilitation centre for four
incarceration of children. Major strides were ‘Nikalena’ was sexually assaulted. Explicitly the Law (CICL), ‘Sexually Abused’ (SA) by and five years respectively, with no clear
made when the progressive Juvenile Justice connected to gender, sexual violence is used families and communities, and ‘Sexually idea of when they will be released. This,
and Welfare Act was enacted in 2006. as a tactic of humiliation and degradation Exploited’(SE) in the sex trade. They are according to the social workers, is due to
This legislation raised the age of criminal on both boys and girls. In one report, a child segregated into respective dorms based the conditions of the discharge, which are
liability from nine to 15 years old, and called was quoted as stating: “boys become girls on commonality of experience for, as the based on the situation of a girl’s family.
for the release of all children incarcerated inside police detention cells”.82 social workers explain, more appropriate The availability of family care and support
for crimes they committed before then. intervention planning and development. need to be established before the girls are
However, there has been much resistance Youth detention centres Yet the distinction between the three released.
to this law and a bill is now pending which and pre-trial custody categories is blurred, and the usefulness One girl in custody for theft of a cell
would lower the age of criminal liability While the law states that children of distinguishing between them unclear. phone reveals her vague understanding of
once more. who are to be detained can be held in There is strong evidence that young the factors that could play into her sentence:
youth detention facilities, these may be CICL girls have experienced an array of Q. Do you know when you will leave here?
Jails and police cells comparable to or worse than the adult violence or sexual violence, and have been A. Don’t know.
Despite the new legislation, which explicitly jails. Children are frequently taken to subsequently criminalised for survival Q. Have they told you what you need to do
states that “children shall not be locked up these centres by the police or DSWD social strategies. What is the difference between a in order to leave?
in a detention cell”, children are still being workers after they have spent some time in child who is caught stealing to feed herself A. I still have to attend the hearings. If my
placed into jails with adults, in squalid police or barangay jails. after running away from an abusive parent, behaviour has improved.
overcrowded conditions with inadequate Here, children may spend months in pre- and a child who runs away from home and Q. What do you need to show your
basic necessities, where they risk violence trial detention, as the authorities determine is apprehended in another context and behaviour has improved?
and environmental hazards. As of May 2008 how they are to be processed. Some children referred to the DSWD? At the end of the A. Be nice. Ignore the accusations and bad
only 208 of 1,076 of jails reported they had are released to their families, while others day they are all abused.83 words from other residents.
separate cells for minors.80 are moved to other youth facilities and We had conversations with seven girls, The girls we spoke to did not have a clear
Arrested for minor infractions, children are rehabilitation centres. All of the girls we currently in rehabilitation centres, who idea of when they would be able to return
hauled into police stations or tiny barangay spoke to who were held in these centres were defined as Children in Conflict home. Eighteen year-old ‘Marialene’ has
jail cells. With no universal standards or were detained awaiting trial. with the Law (CICL). Under the new been living in the rehabilitation centre since
oversight, conditions depend upon the ‘Nyca’ did not see a judge for over a legislation, children who are sentenced to she was 12 years old and now has doubts
resources, politics and integrity of the month after she was incarcerated. She has spend time in custody are to be held in over her ability to leave the institution.
community. Isolated and vulnerable, most been in custody for approximately nine rehabilitation centres under a suspended The young women express an inability
girls are picked up for curfew violations, months and her trial is still ongoing. sentence. These rehabilitation centres are to establish healthy and warm relationships
86 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 87
The Daily Diary of Sheena, 12 years old,
with the other girls in the centre. While they programmes, and sometimes recreation.
report having friends, they characterise these Productivity classes consist of baking,
living in a slum in Mumbai*
friendships as precarious and superficial. cosmetology, sewing, computer activities, I wake up every morning at 4.30 and go fetch water for my family.
Many girls express concern that they can’t daily prayer and weekly bible study. They
I gaze at the rusty tin of
our one-room shack which is leaning precariously against the wall
trust the others. also hold special activities, including film of our neighbour ,s tin wall.
I think one of these days all these houses will collapse in a row.
showings, television nights and other I run through the
alley towards the main road. The smell of excrement is so strong
“I only have a few close friends because recreational events. While some institutions baking in the Girls like
morning sun I have to cover my nose with my shirt. Some folks have Sheena have
the others are telling me they want to be offer regular sports, some only offer sports made holes
in the water pipe that we live near, they want 5 rupees (10 US cents) per cent ch a 50
friends, but behind my back they are saying recreation programmes for one month, for a ance of
bucket of water but I can ,t afford that. So I go to the train station
be ing anaemic
by the
bad things.” with little to no opportunity for vigorous . The police time they reach 15
‘Jendy’ outdoor activities to be structured into the almost catch me this time with their sticks and their booted feet. of age. In In years
The water in dia 50 per
programme for the rest of the year. Although the pipes here is bad. My brother has jaundice but the doctor is very ce nt of girls unde
expensive. We are malnour r five
“There is no one here I can tell my problems the programmes and education do offer all get TB in the winter, and we take care of it at home. ished.
to. There is one girl I am close to but I don’t prospects for future employment, there is an
When I get back I see that the entire area around our tin shack
feel she is sincere. There is no unity... We obvious focus in the rehabilitation curriculum is flooded. The drain
must have been blocked by rubbish again. As I wade through the
don’t share problems.” on feminising the girls and reincarnating their , , sewage I think about my mother.
‘Marialene’ virtuousness. She s pregnant again, but she s not getting enough to eat and she
, works hard cleaning rich
If the aim of recent changes in legislation people s houses. My father is out of work again and he gets angry
sometimes when he
Programmes and ‘therapy’ at the centres in the Philippines is to ‘protect’ children, girls ely drinks and hurts her. My mother makes rice for breakfast. My brother
Unfortunat her gets more
involve a number of psycho-social included, and improve their rights under the a,
for Sheen aying food than I do.
interventions. They focus on trauma law, we must be clear about the definition of f st
chances o im. Only ,
associated with sexual violence, through ‘protection’. ‘Protection’ (or to be protected/ in school
are sl Then it s time to go to school. I want to use the toilets, but ,
n t o f g ir ls in I m worried.
cognitive behavioural therapy, gestalt safe) must be conceptualised as a positive 10.9 per ce Mumbai will They are dirty, there are only six toilets for over 200 families so there
t of
and reality behaviour therapy. More state, where it means living free from the distric rtiary school; are long queues, and they will ask for 10 rupees
te
make it to of them will
(20 US cents) to use them.
prominent, however, are the programmes violence and coercion and with adequate t
50 per cen efore high
So I decide to find an open space and risk being molested by the
passersby,
and institutional focus on ‘character access to basic necessities of life, healthy drop out b l. especially the older boys.
sc h o o
development’. environments and healthy relationships. It Overall,
The facilities feature a range of activities means giving girls equal access to education I catch a bus to get to school. The bus is full of men and they girls in In
stare at me as I board. On the way one of the boys pinches me have a 50 dia
to prepare the girls for their release, and meaningful opportunities to achieve and chance of per cent
including education programmes, ‘character their goals. It means ensuring that they have I flinch. I wish I was a boy; then I wouldn ,t have to put up with b
by the tim eing married
this. e
development’, social programming and control over their bodies and reproductive Sheena an they turn 15.
I like to study, and I hope to be able to go to high school. I probabl , d
Mumbai d other girls in
Begging in spiritual development. The girls are woken health. Addressing criminalisation and y won t be istr
able to, though. The tuition is so expensive. 18.5 per ce ic t stand an
the busy at 4am and engage in a variety of daily institutionalisation of girls, and all the nt
giving bir chance of
streets of activities that consist of a mixture of chores, subsequent abuses and violations of their And I should marry soon, maybe in a year or two when I ,m 14. th before
age 15.
Manila. ‘productivity’ programming and educational rights that come with it, must begin by
a genuine commitment by all parties to After school I go home quickly. I ,m worried it won ,t be there anymor
e. Because of a
tackle the underlying causes of poverty and court order it was demolished once, but we came back after a
couple weeks and
discrimination. In 20 04, ther
e rebuilt it. It scared me. On the way I see some boys in a cyber
ated cafe playing
were an estim on the computers. I look at the screens with all the colours; they
50 00 ‘c yb er ca fé s’ in seem to
sa fe to assume be having a good time. Then one of them spots me and yells at me
Mum ba i. It is
ubled. to get
have since do out. I move on quickly.
the numbers ably w on’t
na prob
However, Shee to a computer.
ev er ha ve ac ce ss When I get home my mother asks me to help her with my
nt of women
Only 38 per ce cess to the baby brother, clean and fetch more water. I want to finish M a ny
a ha ve ac , adolescen
in Indi my homework, but I don t have time. On the way to the
percentage w
ill like Sheen t girls
internet . This er for the , a – at lea st
M i kk e l O s t e r g a a r d / P a n o s P i c t u r e s
be much lo w train station I see one of my friends from school. I don t 2 0 .7 per cen
t
very poor. distric t alo in Mumbai
have time to play with her. upwards o ne – spen
d
f2
on househ 0 hours a week
But even if I did, where would I go? Sometimes, we meet on o
leaves the ld chores. This
the railroad tracks. And sometimes the train comes too fast and , mw
we don t for homew ith little time
ork ,
have time to escape. My friend Sameena was killed last summer and simply playing
by a train. bein
children. g
88 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 89
Adolescent girls’ right to Plan International’s 8-Point Call to Action
on Girls’ Rights in the City
the city – a call to action 1 All girls should have the right to access safe
education in the city
“We know that girls are the most must be part of strategies at all levels to
inspirational, the most transformational, the combat poverty, challenge inequality and 2 All girls should have the right to be free from violence in the city
most untapped currency in our world today. promote opportunities for adolescent girls in
What will it take to unleash this potential?” the city – who are the most vulnerable, but 3 All girls should have the right to secure and decent housing
Queen Rania of Jordan84 potentially, the most vibrant, group in town.
“Young people will always have dreams; “In my neighbourhood there is no security
4 All girls should have the right to move safely in the city
we hardly ever lose hope. For this, the role and it has too much violence. This is very
of the State must be as a guide to shore up dangerous and the violence is especially
5 All girls should have the right to affordable
democratic practices, and to grant young dangerous at night.” and accessible services in the city
people more areas of political and business Girl, 12, São Paulo, Brazil86
participation.” 6 All girls should have the right to age-appropriate
Flor de Maria, young woman85 “We have two types of children’s rights. and decent work in a healthy urban environment
One is beautifully formulated on paper and
Last year’s report showed how investing the other is what happens in real life.” 7 All girls should have the right to safe spaces in the city
in girls leads to income growth at both Alexei Petrushevski, Bishkek Centre for
household and national level. This year, our Street Children, Kyrgystan87 8 All girls should have the right to participate in making
research has shown just how important it is
to include adolescent girls when building and The future of cities depends on what cities safer, more inclusive and more accessible.
running cities. Investing in girls as part of this governments do now to help adolescent girls
process will not only benefit girls themselves, to realise their rights as enshrined in a number 1 CRC Article 28: Education. Children have the right to education. Primary education should be free and compulsory.
keeping them safe and building their assets of international and regional human rights Secondary education should be accessible to every child. Higher education should be available to all on the basis of
and skills, but will ensure their contribution instruments, including the Convention on the capacity. School discipline shall be consistent with the child’s rights and dignity.
to building a better world for us all. Rights of the Child and the Convention on
2 Article 19: Protection from abuse and neglect. Children shall be protected from abuse and neglect. States shall provide
This call to action draws on the primary the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
programmes for the prevention of abuse and treatment of those who have suffered abuse. Article 40: Administration
and secondary research carried out for Against Women (CEDAW). Therefore, Plan
of juvenile justice. Children in conflict with the law are entitled to legal guarantees and assistance, and treatment that
this report, including the many girls we has developed an 8 Point Call to Action on
promotes their sense of dignity and aims to help them take a constructive role in society.
have spoken to about cities. They are also Girls’ Rights in the city as a way to create
based on the good practice which already a new normative framework of rights for 3 Article 27: Standard of living. States Parties recognise the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the
exists, examples of which are highlighted girls in urban spaces. This builds on the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. States Parties, in accordance with national conditions and
both here and throughout the report. The United Nations’ articulation of the Right to within their means, shall take appropriate measures to assist parents and others responsible for the child to implement this
recommendations are aimed at duty bearers the City88 which emphasizes the goals of right and shall provide assistance and support programmes, particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing.
at different levels of society – municipalities, liberty, freedom, participation and diversity 4 Article 34: Sexual exploitation. Children shall be protected from sexual exploitation and abuse, including prostitution and
urban planners, non-governmental and and also upon the voices and perspectives involvement in pornography.
civil society organisations and international of adolescent girls themselves. This builds on 5 Article 24: Health and health services. Children have the right to the highest possible standard of health and access to
organisations. All actors have a responsibility the United Nations’ articulation of the Right health and medical services.
towards adolescent girls and a duty to to the City which emphasises the goals of
6 Article 32: Child labour. Children have the right to be protected from economic exploitation, from having to participate
see that they are included in policy and liberty, freedom, participation and diversity
in work that threatens their health, education or development. The State shall set minimum ages for employment and
programming in order to ensure that they and also upon the voices and perspectives of
regulate working conditions.
play their full part in developing cities. adolescent girls themselves.
Girls and women are over-represented This Call to Action makes concrete 7 Article 31: Leisure, recreation and cultural activities. Children have the right to rest, leisure, play and participation in
amongst the urban poor, and therefore recommendations that will maximise the cultural and artistic activities. Article 15: Freedom of association. Children have a right to meet with others, and to join or
strategic and targeted investments are opportunities and minimise the risks for form associations.
required to make urban conditions more all girls in cities, but especially the most 8 Article 12: The child’s opinion. Children have the right to express their opinions freely, and have their opinions taken into
responsive to the needs and concerns of vulnerable – those living in slums or on the account in matters that affect them.
adolescent girls. Therefore, this call to action streets. Time and again, urban-dwelling
90 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 91
adolescent girls have demonstrated their • Ensure the United Nations Special the non-governmental organisation
strength and resilience: we need to ensure that Representative on Violence against JAGORI and UN-Habitat. At the launch
adolescent girls are given the support to live Children has a specific mandate on street in November 2009, it was noted that:
to their full potential in the expanding urban girls in their regular country visits, reports “Violence against women and girls in
world of today and tomorrow. Plan’s charter is and research. public places is widespread in Delhi and
supported by Women in Cities International. • Include an explicit focus on adolescent usually tolerated as a feature of city
girls within the 2011 Human Rights life. When women complain, they are
1 All girls should have the right to access Council discussion day, which is on street often ignored or blamed for the abuse
safe education in the city children. – accused of acting provocatively or
P LAN
• Systematic, sex-disaggregated data being inappropriately dressed. The Safe
Education is one of the reasons why girls • Recognise the transitional nature of Going to should be collected and form the basis Delhi initiative works towards creating
move to cities, and is the foundation upon adolescent girls’ lives in cities, especially school in for appropriate anti-violence campaigns a city that is safe and accessible to
which opportunities for girls in cities can be girls who work in the informal economy, the city in for girls. women, by mobilising local authorities
harnessed. But for the most vulnerable girls and girls who live on the streets. Ensure Monrovia, and community duty bearers and
in cities – those living in slums and on the that the education system accommodates Liberia. Municipalities should: implementing practical measures: for
streets – going to school often remains a all girls’ needs, including teen mothers • Take concrete action to prevent and example, in urban planning, policing and
distant dream. And for many girls, wherever and girls who have missed out on years of punish urban violence against women and transportation. UNIFEM and UN-Habitat
they live in the city, school is still not a safe education, with flexible school hours and girls. This will require gender-sensitive have joined efforts on a new global Safe
place. Cities have a responsibility to ensure non-formal learning opportunities, at an social policies in crime prevention and Cities Free of Violence against Women
that all children – girls and boys – enjoy the age-appropriate level. community safety. and Girls programme that will support
right to a quality education, no matter where • Enforce a ‘zero tolerance’ policy on the similar initiatives in several cities around
they live. Therefore, Plan calls for strategic 2 All girls should have the right to be free use of violence by police against girls who the world.
investments in a minimum quality education from violence in the city are homeless, girls in slums, and especially
package so that all girls have access to safe street girls. Increase the number of female Police training in Pakistan
and girl-friendly education in the city. Adolescent girls experience living and working police officers, especially in units working In March 2010, Plan Pakistan launched a
in the city differently from their brothers, in poor and slum urban neighbourhoods. three-year project of police training and
National governments and donors should: and because of this, they face increased Provide appropriate gender and child capacity building in Islamabad.
• Guarantee that schools in cities are safe risks, safety challenges and vulnerability rights training for police, law enforcement The project, Police Capacity Building
places for girls. Every country must have to violence. In spite of the many policies, and the judiciary who deal with street on Democracy and Human Rights, is
laws to protect girls from all forms of protocols and awareness campaigns, the scale girls. Police and local government units funded by the European Commission and
violence in schools. These laws must be and severity of violence against girls on the should be empowered with the skills, will train 5,000 police personnel from
enforced.89 streets, in cities across the globe, remains commitment and mandate to address the the Islamabad Capital Territory Police
• Recognise the scale and severity of violence underestimated by governments, donors and needs of marginalised girls. and representatives from the Ministry of
that happens to girls in and around schools, civil society. Also, municipal programmes and • Stop criminalising girls’ survival Social Welfare & Special Education and
and provide appropriate care and support. policies designed to eradicate urban violence strategies on the streets. Ensure that all the National Child Protection Centre in Child rights
Develop a national strategy on school- do not usually take violence against women children in conflict with the law, including child rights, gender-based violence and training in
based violence, with gender-sensitive and girls into consideration. Therefore, we call girls, are only detained as a last resort. human rights tools and their applications, Islamabad.
regulations that enable girls to safely report on all actors with a duty towards girls’ safety • Provide safe residential spaces, outreach
offences when they do occur. and well-being to take urgent and strategic programmes, legal services and helplines
• Ensure that the national school curriculum actions to eliminate violence against girls for street girls, where they can receive
is gender-sensitive: Adolescent girls in cities. In particular, we call on municipal information, support, counselling and
should see positive female role models governments to protect street girls, and training. Street girls should know their
in the books they read and the career ensure they have the same basic rights to rights, and know which structures they
guidance they receive. which all children are entitled. can turn to for help.
• Ensure that the school environment is girl-
friendly: female and male teachers should International Organisations should: MUNICIPAL POLICIES AND TRAINING
receive training on positive discipline and • Introduce a target on violence against FOR SAFE CITIES
how to eliminate gender stereotypes and women and girls within Millennium
discrimination in the classroom. Development Goal (MDG) 3 and ensure The Safe Delhi for Women Initiative
• Allocate the budget required for the adequate resources for this through in India.90
construction and improvement of school multi-donor funding. Eliminating violence The project is supported by UNIFEM
infrastructure in urban centres, especially against women and girls must also be and implemented in collaboration with
in slum areas, which meet the needs of identified as a priority target in the post- the Department of Women and Child
P LAN
adolescent girls. MDG agenda. Development of the Delhi government,
92 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 93
especially the use of nonviolent methods, National governments and donors should: • Provide training to transport staff to raise
police ethics and democracy. • Develop a national strategy on children’s awareness on the barriers girls face when
Inspector General of Police Syed housing rights which reflects the needs using public transportation, and on the
Kaleem Imam said: “We look forward and priorities of adolescent girls. This scale and severity of sexual harassment
to a new face of Islamabad Police and should be consistent with the standards and violence.
hope that we are able to set an example outlined in the Convention on the Rights • Guarantee that there is adequate street
for the rest of the country… There is a of the Child. lighting to make streets safer for all,
dire need to create awareness about the • Incorporate a girl-friendly perspective into including adolescent girls.
rights of children, and to root out those national policies on housing and urban
reasons which push them to get involved development, in consultation with girls Civil society organisations should:
in criminal activities.” 91 themselves. • Launch public education strategies to
The project will help the Islamabad raise awareness of the prevalence of sexual
S ta n T h ek a e k a r a
police force, children, families living Municipal authorities should: harassment in urban public transportation
in Islamabad and the law enforcement • Immediately halt the practice of forced spaces as an issue of concern for
agencies, to be aware of and to apply evictions and ensure secure housing everybody, not just girls and women.
demonstrably international human and tenure to girls, boys and their families. This should include information on safety
child rights standards in their day-to-day • Establish a dedicated budget stream to strategies for girls and women when using as a place for advertising. The project was Public
work. ensure those threatened by eviction are public transportation. initiated through relations with South transport in
afforded alternative decent housing. African organisations that have been Bangalore,
3 All girls should have the right to secure SAFE TRANSPORT IN CITIES working successfully in partnership with India.
and decent housing 4 All girls should have the right to move A safe city for girls is a city which has the local councils in nearly all the major
safely in the city secure transportation, not only on public cities in South Africa for over six years.93
Not having stable or decent housing can transit systems, but also on footpaths,
push girls to work on the street or to The threat of gender-based violence and pedestrian streets, sidewalks and 5 All girls should have the right to affordable
exchange sex for somewhere to live. For urban crime mean that girls’ perceptions of bicycle lanes. Here are some ways that and accessible services in the city
millions of girls, urban housing insecurity their personal safety can restrict their ability municipalities can design safe public
lies at the heart of their vulnerability and to move freely throughout a city. Lack of transportation: Urban environments often mean poor girls
exposure to violence and exploitation. Girls urban lighting, water and sanitation services, • Bus routes that cater to girls’ schedules; have inadequate sanitation facilities, unsafe
in slums face unique challenges related to and safe transportation leaves adolescent • ‘Request stop’ bus programmes that water supplies, and insufficient health
lack of privacy and exposure to violence. And girls more vulnerable to gender-based allow girls to get off buses closer to services or support. Cities must ensure
women and girls suffer disproportionately violence. Because adolescent girls often have their destinations late at night and early all public services are not only available
from forced evictions, and find themselves less access to economic resources, they are in the morning; but accessible to girls who require them.
displaced to the periphery of the city. The more likely to depend on public transport. As • Designated waiting areas for bus or This means cities must become places
right to secure and decent housing must be shown in Chapter 2, adolescent girls’ feelings subway services, which are well-lit where girls’ needs are taken into account
safeguarded for the most vulnerable girls in of insecurity are due to their experiences and monitored, so that girls can wait in municipal service provision, and where
the city, especially girls who live in slums, of sexual harassment and violence while comfortably and safely; every girl has access to decent, affordable,
girls who live and work on the streets, and waiting for, using, and walking to and from • Subways designed in ways that safe, equitable and girl-friendly services.
girls who are forcibly evicted. Therefore: public transportation. In order for adolescent prioritise the prevention of violence; Therefore:
girls to maximise the opportunities of living • Women and girl-only buses and subway
in an urban centre, they must be safe, and cars in cities where overcrowding Municipal authorities should:
feel safe, in cities. Adolescent girls should has led to sexual, physical or verbal • Ensure that adolescent girls have equal
be able to use public spaces, go to school harassment or abuse; access to all urban public services, including
and participate in urban life without fear. • Affordable public transit; girls who live in slums and street girls.
Therefore: • Well-lit and clearly visible pathways so • Ensure that slum-upgrading projects are
that girls can be safe when they walk to developed with the needs of adolescent
Municipalities should: and from public transit.92 girls in mind: water, sanitation, energy and
• Ensure that public transportation is safe, The Adopt-a-Light programme in Nairobi, road infrastructure in urban slums must be
efficient, reliable, and flexible to girls’ Kenya, steers commercial advertising built in a way that addresses the unique
needs, and accommodates their daily revenues into community development. barriers girls face in accessing services.
travel patterns. It is inspired by the need to achieve safer • Target municipal budgets to equip and
• Commission a strategy with broad- cities through the provision of adequate staff girl-friendly health clinics in urban
Benno Neeleman
based transportation solutions that Living in a street lighting. Various private companies slum areas.
address the safety needs and concerns of slum in Cairo, were asked to ‘adopt a streetlight’ and in • Conduct systematic reviews of basic
adolescent girls. Egypt. return, the business utilises the streetlight service needs for adolescent girls.
94 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 95
6 All girls should have the right to age- budgets for adolescent girls’ sports and designed public toilets for girls and women
appropriate and decent work in a healthy recreation opportunities in urban centres. in schools, health facilities, car-parks,
urban environment • Adopt and enforce guidelines for urban markets and other public places. As a result,
planning professionals to ensure girls’ gender-sensitive public toilets in cities are
This means that no girl would be so poor safety is fully integrated in all municipal meeting the cultural needs and societal
that she would have to trade her body to planning processes. obligations of Nigerian girls and women.
survive on the street. Too often, adolescent
girls are drawn to the city in search of Urban planners should: 8 All girls should have the right to
employment, but become subject to insecure • Design cities in ways that reflect participate in making cities safer, more
and hazardous labour in the informal adolescent girls’ actual safety concerns, inclusive and more accessible
economy or on the street. Cities must as well as their perceived sense of
become places where girls’ economic rights dangers. To do so, urban planners must Cities should support girls’ active and
and futures are guaranteed, and where girls pay constant attention to the ways that meaningful involvement in all parts of
can use their skills and access these economic adolescent girls use public spaces in cities urban design and management, including
opportunities in order to emerge into young – which spaces they are left out of, when public transportation. Girls are experts of
adulthood as successful economic citizens. and why. Planning professionals should their own experiences in cities and they are
Therefore: identify all public spaces that are unsafe or able to identify what can make cities safer
risky for adolescent girls.94 for themselves, and everyone. It is more
Governments should: cost-effective to design urban spaces and
• Ensure girls have access to quality Civil society organisations should: services together with women and girls,
education that prepares them to • Integrate girls-only spaces in urban than to change the infrastructure once it
take advantage of future economic programmes where adolescent girls can has been put into place. Encouraging girls’
opportunities offered by cities. Adolescent gain confidence, build self-esteem and participation and contribution to municipal
Dina Torrans
girls need business know-how, life skills mobilise together. decision-making processes will not only
and technology-based education tied to • Develop public education campaigns to ensure cities are more inclusive and better
real market opportunities. engage more adolescent girls in sports able to provide services for girls, they will
and recreation opportunities. also help foster a new generation of active
Municipalities should: 7 All girls should have the right to safe Safe spaces: a citizens and future municipal leaders.
• Strengthen opportunities for decent spaces in the city youth centre KEEPING GIRLS SAFE IN CITIES
employment in the city. Design and in Udaipur, Safe Spaces is a very young organisation, Governments should:
enforce quotas to increase adolescent girls’ Adolescent girls can face obstacles to building India. founded in early 2008 by Peninah • Listen to adolescent girls, and include
participation in urban work placement friendships and developing safe social Nthenya Musyimi. Now aged 32, she their perspectives in municipal policy
programmes and municipal IT training networks. Even in cities, girls often have less was the first girl from Nairobi’s Mathare and planning. For example, the Growing
courses. time, and face restrictions on their ability to slum to graduate from university, which Up in Cities programme supports children
• Monitor guidelines for police and engage in social interactions, recreation and she attended through a basketball in low-income urban neighbourhoods
municipal representatives to ensure they organised sports. This is partly because cities scholarship. Safe Spaces is dedicated to all over the world to assess their local
do not discourage petty trading or street lack safe spaces where adolescent girls can go creating safe spaces for adolescent and environments and to work with local
vending – frequently the only way girls can and be together with peers. Safe spaces build teenage girls in the Mathare slum and officials to improve them.95
support themselves. self-esteem and leadership skills, and provide to empower them to create a legacy of • Learn from and adapt good practice
important opportunities for girls to exchange female-driven development, community to ensure that both girls and boys
The business sector should: information, make friends and learn about leaders and role models for girls in the meaningfully participate in city design
• Encourage community engagement critical issues affecting their lives. Girls have slums. The aim is also to provide a safe and management. For example, the Child
and outreach –skilled female staff could a right to laugh, play and make friends in an space for young females to voice and Friendly Cities Movement is a network of
routinely visit schools and youth centres to urban environment. Planning and designing discuss their issues. city governments committed to involving
provide positive role models for girls. public spaces is an important part of creating Gender–Sensitive Public Toilets is a children in the process of making cities
• Expand access to financial instruments cities that are safe for adolescent girls. And new initiative which began in Nigeria better places for all children.96
for credit and savings, including a city that is safe for girls is also safe for during 2008, the International Year of
microfinance, and to business support everyone. Sanitation. In north-east Nigeria, many Municipal authorities should:
services for adolescent girls. Mobile girls and women are constrained by • Conduct an audit of women and girls’
banking units in slum areas should have Municipalities should: cultural and social norms which restrict safety in cities to identify the places
a specific remit to reach adolescent girls • Ensure that every municipality has them from participating in public activities. where adolescent girls feel they are the
and young women. dedicated girl-only spaces. This can Consequently, girls and women do not most vulnerable to violence.
include working with community make use of public facilities that lack • Create city youth advisory councils with
organisations and identifying targeted privacy. In response, urban planners equal numbers of girls and boys and allow
96 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 97
The street girls’
them to meaningfully contribute in local tool was first developed in Canada and
council meetings. Youth advisory councils has been adapted in many cities all over
must be inclusive of the diversity of girls in the world.98 Safety audits help to identify
manifesto
cities, including girls who live in slums and urban security issues and local solutions,
street girls. together with municipal governments.
• Collect statistical evidence regarding the Adolescent girls, including girls who
experiences of adolescent girls in cities. live in slums and street girls, should be
This means using ‘girls’ as a specific lens of included as key participants in urban
analysis, instead of focusing generally on safety audits. The results of Women’s
‘youth’. Safety Audits have included changes to This report has shown that adolescent girls are the best source of information on their needs. All too often their
the physical environments of cities to voices are not heard in crucial decisions about how our cities are planned, designed and governed. The following
Civil society organisations should: become safer for women and girls; local manifesto comes from street girls and former street girls from seven different countries, who had gathered
• Provide leadership and life skills training programmes and policies which better together in March 2010, in Durban, South Africa, to compete in the first ever Street Child World Cup.
to build the capacity and confidence of promote girls’ and women’s safety;
adolescent girls so that they can take an increased partnerships between women, “We, the girls living and [who] have lived on the streets and those of us in shelters from seven countries [The
active role in city life. girls and their local government, and UK, Tanzania, South Africa, the Philippines, Ukraine, Brazil, and Nicaragua] met during the Deloitte Street
• Establish the production of an annual increased public awareness of gender- World Cup Conference event which took place on 20-22 March 2010, in Durban, South Africa.”
‘State of the City’s Children Report’ based safety issues in cities.99 The campaign aimed to raise awareness of the rights of street children and ensure that their voices were heard
which ensures a monitoring and data-
in the media. A conference was held to gather the opinions and thoughts of the street children themselves.
collection system on the state of children All children and young people should benefit
and their rights. All data should be from the opportunities and possibilities
disaggregated by age and sex.97 available in cities. Adolescent girls should not We the street girls have the We identified the following
be disadvantaged because of their age and following rights and we want them factors that make us safe at
WOMEN’S SAFETY AUDITS gender but be able to benefit fully from city respected: national level:
The Women’s Safety Audit is a tool that life, in ways that are accessible, affordable, • The Right to live in a shelter and home • Training for police to keep children safe
enables a critical evaluation of the urban safe, adapted to their needs and equitable
• The Right to have a family • Tough laws on child abuse
environment. The Women’s Safety Audit for all.
• The Right to be safe • Good relations between government and
• The Right to be protected from sexual abuse children
• The Right to go to school and get free education • Put money into support workers who can pay
• The Right to good health and access to free detailed attention to children
health services • Governments should build homeless shelters for
• The Right to be heard street girls to feel safe in
• The Right to belong • Give us access to education – there should be
• The Right to be treated with respectand decency better security in schools
• The Right to be treated as equal to boys • There should be more social projects
• The Right to be allowed to grow normally • Get rid of corruption
Cup.
98 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s 99
Adolescent girls and
communications
technologies –
opportunity or
exploitation?
4
empowerment – and the abuse – of adolescent
girls reveal themselves through technology,
as they do in other areas of their lives. Using
case studies, girls’ voices, expert opinion and
original research, we highlight the positive and
negative consequences of communications
technologies – and in particular mobile phones
and the internet – for adolescent girls all over
the world. We show how information and
communications technologies (ICTs) have
exposed adolescent girls and young women
to new ideas and ways of thinking that open
1 Introduction up huge possibilities for learning, networking,
campaigning and personal development.
“I’m interested in technology, multimedia We then explain the darker side of these
– the business. I love entertainment, music, technologies: how cyberspace is an arena
I’m meeting new people. [In school] I was where sexual predators can operate with
exposed to media, the web, the internet… impunity. The internet creates new intimacies
I loved it, that’s where I could connect with that seem safe, magnifying the power of
my friends.” the peer group and inviting in the stranger.
Tibusiso Msibi, student, 18, Swaziland1 Adolescent girls and young women are prime
targets for new methods of abuse, including
Summary trafficking, via the internet, mobile phones and
In this chapter, we look at one of the most other communications technologies. They are
dynamic and fast-changing arenas of the 21st also sometimes the perpetrators themselves.
century – communication technology – and And this danger is expanding exponentially
how it affects adolescent girls in particular. We as ever more sophisticated new technologies
will show how online patterns of behaviour arrive on the scene. Greater knowledge about
J EN N Y M AT T H E W S
and who has access to technologies are a ICT-related sexual exploitation and violence
reflection of the way that society operates against girls is needed, and more emphasis on
offline. We examine how attitudes towards the prevention and stronger international standards
P l an
transmit, and present information in the Bank report notes that 10 per cent more poorest sector.10
form of voice, data, text, and images.”2 broadband use means an extra 1.3 per cent All over the world, women generally have occupation, education levels and whether Children on
This technology is changing all the time. on GDP.5 Young people in particular are less access to communications technologies they live in a rural or an urban area. An the computer
In recent years or even months, there has spending more and more time using these than men, and less training in how to use additional $100 of monthly income increases in China.
been increasing convergence of computer- technologies to communicate with their them. In most countries, women have less the likelihood of mobile phone ownership by
based, multimedia and communications peers, both in the next town or village and access than men to the internet and to 13 per cent. And 80 per cent of women in
technologies – for example, the ability worldwide. The spread of such technologies mobile phones. In Asia, women make up richer households own a phone compared to
of mobile phones to be used much like globally has been phenomenal. There are 22 per cent of all internet users, in Latin 40 per cent in poor households. When age,
a computer. In this report we will be now more mobile phones than clean toilets.6 America it is 38 per cent, but in the Middle income, occupation and education are taken
mainly looking at computers and mobile But both internet and mobile phone use East it is only six per cent.11 As the statistics into account, urban women are 23 per cent
phones, which, as we will see, are the vary enormously from country to country. in the table below show, in almost all cases, more likely to own a mobile phone than their
technologies most used by adolescent Millions of people are still missing out on the men outnumber women when it comes to rural counterparts.
girls around the world. technological revolution and all the benefits internet use. So what about adolescent girls? We
this brings. know that they are more likely to be using
Percentage of internet users by sex, these technologies than their mothers
Mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants7 selected countries, 200812 and grandmothers. In the Cherie Blair
2002 2007 Women Men Foundation survey, girls and young women
Africa 4 28 Iceland 90 93 between 14 and 27 had the highest rates
Americas 30 72 Belgium 70 75 of mobile phone ownership among women,
Asia 12 38 Japan 70 82 and where they didn’t own a phone, were
Europe 51 111 Hong Kong, China 63 70 prepared to borrow one from someone
Oceania 49 79 Latvia 62 65 who did.
World total 19 50 Brazil 31 34
Turkey 25 45 Ownership and usage of mobile phones
Internet users, per 100 inhabitants8 Thailand 18 17 by age, women in low- and middle-income
2002 2007 Egypt 10 5 countries14
2 The digital revolution and the Africa 1 5 Nicaragua 10 9 Yet to make
digital divide Americas 28 43 Age Own% Borrow% use%
Asia 6 14 Research by the Cherie Blair Foundation 14 – 20 61 29 10
“Mobile phones and wireless internet… Europe 26 44 showed that there are similar disparities 21 – 27 65 27 8
will prove to be the most transformative Oceania 44 53 among women and men when it comes 28 – 36 65 20 15
technology of economic development of World total 11 21 to mobile phone ownership – women are 37 – 49 60 20 20
our time.” 37 per cent less likely than men to own a 50 – 74 50 25 25
Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth The adoption of these technologies has mobile phone if they live in South Asia, 24
Institute at Columbia University, US3 varied hugely, not only from continent per cent in the Middle East and 23 per cent Adolescent girls and young women
to continent and country to country but in Africa.13 themselves are keen to use technology. A
“The so-called digital divide is actually between rural and urban areas, from The Foundation’s research, in low and recent survey in Kenya predicts that the
several gaps in one. There is a technological the richest to the poorest sector of the middle-income countries, outlines five largest growth in ICT take-up in the coming
divide – great gaps in infrastructure. There population, between young and old and factors that influence women’s mobile years will be among young women between
is a content divide. There is a gender divide, between the sexes. This is often known phone ownership – household income, age, the ages of 18 and 35. Interestingly, the
N i k k i v an d e r G aag
our advantage or lose out completely.”19 But
in some countries, girls still lag behind their communications technologies
brothers when it comes to accessing and using are important for
communications technologies – as we will see adolescent girls
later in the report. In Indonesia, for example,
“WE NEED A COMPUTER MORE THAN her home town of Alexandria and also Noura girls and young women aged 15 to 24 were “Fortunately for us, the internet gives
HOT FOOD” worldwide. Many young people say they and her half as likely to use the internet as boys the us freedom since it takes us out to other
Nikki van der Gaag finds out that technology have a Facebook and email account. Rana’s friends take same age.20 people, places and other realities. No one
is seen as a priority in urban Egypt, and how friend Noura, aged 15, won a computer in a advantage This digital divide will have serious controls where we go with the internet. It
it also helps keep girls safe. school competition and says: “Most of our of the ICT consequences for those girls and women is for us a way of escaping from our closed
“We badly needed a new oven, but when friends have computers and mobiles.” opportunities who are left out. Even in the rich world, society. It is vital to us, it gives us liberty.”
I talked to my children, they said that These are girls whose parents came from in urban not being part of an online social network Young woman in Mauritania 22
we could manage, and that we needed a the village to the town in search of a better Egypt. can mean missing out not only on what
computer more than hot food!” life and whose mothers were illiterate. Now is happening in your peer group, but on As many technologies become cheaper and
Mrs Faysa smiles wryly. Aliya, her their mothers, encouraged by their daughters, opportunities for taking part in a wide range easier to access, even in the most remote
daughter, says that her brother is better are learning to read and write and recognising of activities. Clover Reshad, aged 12, who rural areas, it is crucial that adolescent
on the computer than she is, but that she the power of education and the importance of lives in the UK, notes: “There are a few girls girls and young women, as well as young
is learning fast. Even in poor areas of the technology. Leila, Noura’s mother, who has at school who don’t use Bebo and Facebook men, are able to benefit from their use.
city like this one, young women recognise two other girls, says: “I am joining literacy but it’s not because they don’t want to – it’s This means not only having access to the
the importance of information and classes so that I can read and write like my because their parents won’t let them. I feel technologies, but the skills and expertise to
communications technologies. They usually daughters. I never went to school, so I hope sorry for them.”21 Being left out online is be able to use them to full effect – and to
have mobile phones and can find access to that my daughters will have a high level of being left out of something that has become know how to keep themselves safe when
computers, perhaps in the house of a friend education. Education is important for girls central, indeed, essential, to many adolescent doing so.
or a relative. Although a woman is 26 per so that they can understand the world. My girls’ lives. Overall, access to technologies can help
cent less likely to own a phone than a man daughters will be better than me because I The next section will show why it is towards the achievement of the Millennium
in Egypt, this gap seems to be closing for was not educated, and I suffer from not being crucially important that we invest in young Development Goals (MDGs), counter
the younger generation.16 able to read and write.” women in all parts of the world so that they gender inequality and build adolescent girls’
Internet penetration in Egypt rose from She is delighted that Noura now has access these technologies – for education, assets. There are seven specific reasons
seven to 14 per cent between 2006 and a computer in the house and immensely for work, for networking and to build the why these technologies are important to
2008, by which time 40 per cent of the proud of her daughter for winning a prize. skills, knowledge and expertise that they adolescent girls:
population had a mobile phone.17 Recent This would not have been possible back need to participate fully in the 21st century.
figures put mobile phone penetration at 55 in the village, as another mother points They have the capability and the appetite; 1 To keep in touch with others, which
per cent.18 out: “In the village I couldn’t even work. the adults who run the world at the reduces their isolation in countries where
“They used to be very expensive,” says Women in rural areas still suffer a lot from moment need to provide the mechanisms this is an issue;
Azza Shalaby, Plan’s Gender Adviser in discrimination, though this is beginning and the money. 2 In order to further their education and
Egypt. “I remember that my father gave me to change. There is more freedom for girls acquire new skills;
one as a wedding present. But now they are and women in the city now because of 3 In order to take an active part in their
very cheap, and even poor people see them technology and more awareness.” communities and countries;
as a necessity.” For girls like Noura, technology remains 4 In order to have the skills to find work;
Rana says she has used the internet a route to discovering new ways of looking 5 To build specific skills and knowledge on
to share experiences and even to create at the world. “I couldn’t live without my subjects they might otherwise not know
a magazine with other young people in mobile or my computer now,” she says. about, such as HIV and AIDS;
P ea r s o n F o u n d ati o n
Girls are increasingly using new media than 12 languages, campaigners used
outlets such as Twitter to communicate, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, although not technology to get their messages
share and engage with others. Girls are all have a gender perspective. Recognising this across – violence against women is
not only tweeting at their peers, they fact, SchoolNet Uganda has targeted girls-only not acceptable. In Pakistan, Jehan Ara
are interacting with decision-makers schools to install computer labs.27 appeared on web-TV’s In the Line of
L I V I N G , N I G E R I A , D E V E LO P E D B Y
English, to spread the word.” by email, and a toll-free feel capable of solving our problems with
S C R E E N F RO M L E A R N I N G A B OU T
T A R I Q A N D S tan T he k ae k a r a
voice number. great autonomy without help from our
Finding work Because it is an fathers, brothers or relatives.” 37
B U T T E R F L Y W ORK S
Fourth, ICTs have financial value for anonymous and electronic This may well be because the young
adolescent girls and young women. If they service, it removes the women live in countries where gender biases
don’t acquire the skills of modern technology stigma and judgment mean they have fewer opportunities than
they will be disadvantaged in the workplace. that teenagers fear when young men, and accessing the internet gives
In the Cherie Blair Foundation survey, 41 per asking for information. them exposure to the outside world that
cent of women reported having increased Uju Ofomata, project manager of Learning they would not otherwise have.
income and professional opportunities About Living, says: “Anyone who wants ten women reported feeling safer because of Checking her
through owning a mobile phone.32 “By being proof as to the need of this project should Keeping safe their mobile phone.39 The report notes that messages in
better connected, women feel safer, find come and take a look at the questions we And finally, girls and women say that this cut across age, location and social status. Bangalore,
employment, start businesses, access banks, got in. In two months flat, we got over technology, and mobile phones in particular, Although we will also show in this report India.
learn about market prices and altogether 10,000 questions coming in from young makes them feel safe. One study found how communications technologies can
benefit socially and economically,” said people, very real questions dealing with that when people first buy mobile phones, expose adolescent girls to risk, it is important
Cherie Blair.33 their everyday lives. It is obvious from the the first reason they give is safety.38 In the to remember that keeping connected is also
“In today’s world, computers are questions that we received how very much Cherie Blair Foundation study, nine out of a way of preventing violence and abuse.
the tools we use for work, to learn, to young people want this information...
communicate and to find out about At the end of the day, their lives may be GIRLS AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ON EQUAL ACCESS TO INFORMATION/MEDIA40
the world… In terms of employment saved.” It is possible to look at the right to equal access to information as a two-part right. First, there is the right
opportunities, with new jobs, 95 per MyQuestion’s text message option, to access to information, which is enshrined in international human rights law under Article 19 of the
cent are going to require some kind of though available only on the MTN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Articles 13 and 17 of the Convention on
technology,” says Wendy Lazarus of The network, is free. the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Secondly, there is the right of girls to have equal access to information
Children’s Partnership in the US. 34 Learning About Living also includes and media, by virtue of the non-discrimination provisions of various international instruments, including
a competition service called MyAnswer the ICCPR and UNCRC, and in other international instruments, such as the Convention on the Elimination
Accessing information that educates young people about AIDS, of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).41
Fifth, adolescent girls have accessed HIV and sexual health by giving them a International standard-setting documents work alongside international instruments to protect and
technologies for advice on HIV infection chance to win prizes. 36 promote the right to equal access to information and media, in recognition of the challenges women and
and prevention and protection, pre- and girls face in realising their rights.
post-natal care, and sexual and reproductive Building self-esteem The Beijing Platform for Action, which was developed during the Fourth World Conference on Women
health rights information. One study of Sixth, studies have shown that when young in 1995, sought to accelerate the removal of “all the obstacles to women’s active participation in all
the gender impact of computers in African women do master technologies, this can spheres of public and private life through a full and equal share in economic, social, cultural and political
schools found that young women used the have a huge impact on their self-esteem. decision-making”.42 Section J of the Platform for Action focuses specifically on “women and the media”
internet frequently to access information WorldLinks is a programme that provides and requires states to “increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making
normally kept from them by society about internet connectivity and training to in and through the media and new technologies of communication”.43
sexuality, puberty and HIV.35 secondary school students and teachers In the five-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action, the secretary general’s office reported that:
around the world. An evaluation of the “Poverty, the lack of access and opportunities, illiteracy, lack of computer literacy and language barriers,
LEARNING ABOUT LIVING gender impacts of WorldLinks in Ghana, prevent some women from using the information and communication technologies, including the internet.” 44
Learning About Living is a project in Senegal, Mauritania and Uganda found that In the 15-year review, conducted in 2010, the office re-emphasised the importance of access to and
Nigeria using computers and mobile 95 per cent of girls said that participating control over ICTs for women and girls.45 The World Summits on the Information Society in Geneva in
phones to teach Nigerian teenagers in the programme had increased their 2003 and in Tunis in 2005 also reiterated these concerns regarding women’s access to ICTs. The outcome
about sexuality and HIV prevention. confidence and self-esteem. These girls in documents for these summits recognise the ‘gender divide’ in access to ICTs, expressing a commitment to
The programme includes an interactive Achimota College, Ghana, said: overcoming this divide.46
e-learning tool with cartoons and “Our self-esteem has really improved But in general, the international instruments did not anticipate the role that technology would play
sexual health tips based on the national because of the programme. Now we can and the pace of change, and therefore do not set out concrete steps or activities that countries should
Family Life HIV/AIDS Education (FLHE) rub shoulders with boys that want to step undertake in order to ensure equality of access to ICTs and the media.
B j o e r n S tein z / P an o s P ict u r es
a member of their family if they ran out of number of reasons for this: four main differences between girls and
credit. Idea Cellular came up with the idea • Unlike computers, mobiles do not need a boys.52 First, that while boys were more
of a ‘Women’s card’ which not only has regular power supply, and street girls and interested in exploring the technology for
“information tips on beauty and fashion, slum dwellers often do not have electricity. its own sake, girls were interested in what
health, fitness, cookery, career and private • Mobiles can be easily stored and hidden it could do. Second, girls tended to talk
counselling on women matters” but also has from prying eyes – sometimes they are about technology as end-users while boys
the possibility of inputting a three-digit code the only source of ‘privacy’ a girl enjoys used more technical terms. Third, only
which sends a ‘Please Call Immediately’ SMS when she lives in a small one-room house boys were interested in putting computers
to three people in case of an emergency.47 with many family members, in slums and other hardware together; and fourth, discuss, brag and vent about anything with Engrossed in
The Cherie Blair Foundation report notes where there are no quiet spaces, or in boys and girls had different perceptions no limitation on topics tied to any traditional their mobile
that: “Use of the SMS alert was extensive, communities where they are never allowed about the appearance of technology, boys feminine narrative. With the anonymity phones in
and both female and male subscribers time to themselves. being attracted to functionality and girls to the internet provides, a diversity of themes South Korea.
appreciated the sense of security provided by • Mobiles have a low entry and maintenance appearance. are up for discussion.” She points out the
the feature.” cost – talk time is available in low pre-paid Other studies have also noted differences many innovative and creative ways in which
denominations, so they can budget for it. in the way girls and boys approach girls use these sites and the major focus on
Cheap China-made handsets are available technologies. Canadian research with middle community.
in many countries. school students noted that: “Whereas Other studies also showed that in general
• Mobiles help girls multi-task – they are boys were keen on technology used for girls were more interested in the aspects of
an all-in-one communication device, FM entertainment and fun, girls preferred using technology that were about communication:
radio, camera and calculator. technology for communication. In general, • A study in Norway found that boys were
• However, the majority of mobile phones in boys were interested in playing video games more likely to use the internet for gaming,
developing countries are entry-level phones on different computing platforms.”53 e-commerce and videos. In contrast,
(not smartphones) and don’t have internet Girls in the study noted that: girls use the internet for chatting and
access. Even as technology advances make “In sixth grade, I think girls are a lot better email. The authors classify female usage
entry-level handsets internet compatible, at technology than boys, because the as predominantly ‘relational’, while male
poorer sectors of society cannot afford boys just want the gory stuff – most of usage is described as ‘technical’ and
internet data fees, though this is likely to the boys do that – they’d rather be outside ‘instrumental’.55
4 Breaking the silence: girls, change in the medium term.50 playing sports or attacking people with fake • In Canada, one study found that young
the super-communicators? swords.” women generally use the internet to
How adolescent girls and boys use “Girls are really good at cell phones, like socialise with friends (68 per cent) while
“I was not computer literate when I started technologies differently I know a lot of guys, who can’t do [it]. I young men used it for gaming (68 per
using the internet on my mobile phone so mean, they have cell phones… they know cent).56
it was quite an eye-opener. Now I want “I use the computer a lot. At least a couple how to call people, and that’s about it.” • Research by Nielsen Online in the UK
to learn everything. My uncle bought a of days a week to help with my homework, Boys said that girls: “don’t waste their showed that young women aged 18 to 24
computer two months ago and his wife has and I keep an eye on [the social networking time trying to figure out – ‘oh, how does this accounted for 17 per cent of all users of
been teaching me some basics.” sites] Bebo and Facebook every day to see work, how does that work, how does this social sites, compared to 12 per cent for
Patience, a young refugee from Zimbabwe who’s on it. I’ll check shops to see if I can get through there’. They just go, ‘Oh, that’s young men of a similar age.57
living in South Africa48 buy things I want cheaper online or to make there, that’s there – that’s fine’.” • One study in Brazil found that between
sure they have something in my size. I MSN In her study of adolescent girls’ personal the ages of 10 and 17, girls were more
“Girls are creative, they are more into [instant message] my friends. The computer websites in the US, Michele Polak finds likely than boys to have used the internet
history, English and art – it’s the boys who also makes it easy to stay in touch with my “a virtual space that is surfed, occupied, and were also more likely to own a mobile
are more into the techie things.” dad because he lives in Los Angeles.” created, criticised, and well-managed by phone.58
Clover, 12, UK49 Clover, 12, UK51 tech-savvy girls”.54 Calling themselves • In the US, the study by Pew Internet found
‘gURLs’ she says, these websites are where that 35 per cent of girls, compared with 20
This section will show that adolescent girls Evidence shows that girls and boys use girls can “find a sense of self, creating not per cent of boys, have blogs; 32 per cent
are competing with boys for the most use technologies in different ways. While most only a girl-space for their own voices, but of girls have their own websites, against
of communications technologies such as of the research to date is in the North, the a space for other girls to interact, argue, 22 per cent of boys.59
B U N Y A D F o u n d ati o n , Lah o r e
“You’re a girl – a mobile can cause many ownership.
problems, and so you don’t need it.” Pakistani mobile operator Mobilink has
Father of Hiba, a young learned a great deal about attitudes regarding
Palestinian woman61 women and mobile phones, especially as
penetration rates soared in Pakistan in recent
5 Barriers – what is keeping Adolescent girls’ access to technology is times. In addition to creating a product
adolescent girls from accessing limited by the societies, communities and tailored specifically for the women’s market,
communications technologies? families in which they live. In a patriarchal Mobilink has sought to demonstrate the messages a day on a variety of topics A group
society, it is men who control technology, power of mobile phones to improve literacy including religion, health and nutrition, of young
With the importance of communications whether this is ‘new’, such as computers and rates for adolescent girls in rural areas and were expected to practise reading and women
technologies for adolescent girls established, mobile phones; or ‘old’, such as radios and where reading materials are often scarce. Yet writing down the messages and responding taking
and with adolescent girls keen, willing and televisions. As one report notes: “At home, there is often resistance to girls having the to their teachers via SMS. Monthly part in the
able to use these technologies, this section husbands might regulate the family radio, independence that mobile phones symbolise. assessments of participants’ learning gains programme.
examines the barriers that are preventing mobile phone or television, controlling when For four months in 2009, Mobilink were conducted to assess impact.
equal access with boys. and how other family members use them.”62 partnered with UNESCO and a local non- Programme organisers encountered
The first barrier is the fact that women, Being in charge of tools and technical governmental organisation (NGO), Bunyad, considerable resistance on the part of
and by extension adolescent girls who are skills has always conferred power on the on a pilot project in a rural area of southern parents and community leaders to the idea
on their way to becoming women, are still user; power that is men’s not women’s. Punjab province. The project involved 250 of allowing girls to have mobile phones,
viewed as second-class citizens in many The fact that technology is seen as high females aged 15 to 24 who had recently largely due to the conservative social
societies. The second barrier exists in school, status and women as low status may mean completed a basic literacy programme. Each norms of the area. This resistance began to
where boys both outnumber girls and tend that men and boys are given access where of the girls was provided with a low-cost soften, however, once people began to see
to dominate access to computers. The third girls and women are denied it. Another mobile phone and prepaid connection. the nature of the messages the girls were
barrier is psychological. Because they don’t paper notes: “What the research shows Teachers were trained by Bunyad to teach receiving and the benefits the programme
have equal access at school, girls may be less us is that patriarchal habits persist in the students how to read and write using mobile conferred. Exams taken by the girls
confident than boys when it comes to going family, school and mass media. Boys are phones. The company set up a system for participating in the programme showed
into IT jobs, because they don’t feel they have educated to explore and conquer the world; the NGO to send out SMS messages in an striking early gains in literacy, with the
the same skills and knowledge as the young girls, despite the advances experienced effort to maintain and improve participants’ number of girls receiving the lowest scores
men competing for the jobs. Finally, there is by democratic societies, are still educated literacy, which often lapses because of dropping nearly 80 per cent.
the issue of language – in order to use these to care for others.”63 This also means that Worldwide inadequate access to interesting reading Participants and their families are even
technologies, English is usually a requirement, families may have different expectations the web material. Crucially, the low-cost phones taking advantage of other features of the
and for girls with only basic literacy in their of their sons and daughters, which also is used to were enabled to send and receive messages phones, including the calculator. While
own language, this is a major barrier. extends to whether they need mobiles or campaign for in Urdu, the local language, rather than 56 per cent of learners and their families
Without the knowledge, language, skills the internet. equality. in English. The girls received up to six initially maintained negative feelings
and confidence to use communications towards the programme, 87 per cent were
technologies, adolescent girls are not only satisfied with its results by the end. Users
missing out on a crucial part of youth culture can pay $6 to buy their phones at the end of
and networking: they are being deprived the programme. There are plans to expand
of the very skills that are needed for work the programme further.
and life in the coming decades of the 21st Its success demonstrates how mobile
century. phones can be used to increase the reach
and effectiveness of basic education
R o ge r A l l en / Dai l y M i r r o r
B U N Y A D F o u n d ati o n , Lah o r e
PLAN
it has been a critical boon, providing a prejudice against girls and computers in specifically at girls and young women.
E r ic M i l l e r / P an o s P ict u r es
• It would be a boring job The generation gap Xu, from China.
• ICT attracts nerds Surprisingly, the difference between the
• You have to be good at maths proportion of men and women working in THE STORY OF GUIZHEN XU
• It is too technical.77 computing jobs is wider among the younger Guizhen Xu, 23, has not had an easy life.
While data is limited, in Australia, women than the older generation. In 2006, some 3.5 Her dream is to go to college. She was
make up only 20 per cent of ICT employees per cent of men in Europe aged below 40 abandoned by her parents at a young age
and 25 per cent of ICT university students were employed in computing compared to and helped her foster father on the land
seeking to enrol female students. and numbers are declining from year to year.78 less than one per cent of women.84 while studying hard in school. But then
For instance, 31 per cent of students This is true in other countries. In the US, “Girls in my generation are not really her father was diagnosed with senile
graduating from the Networking Academy the percentage of female computer science encouraged to go into IT. A lot of girls get dementia and cervical spondylosis. She
courses in Africa are women. The majority undergraduates at major research universities into the sector via vocational colleges, and had to look after him at home and spent
of female survey respondents said they has dropped from 37 per cent in 1985 to it can be intimidating being the only girl in a their small savings on his treatment.
have more confidence and their career 14 per cent in 2006.79 In the UK in 2005-6, group of boys,” said Dawn Breen, who works When he died, she was on her own.
opportunities are better as a result of the there were 75,360 male students studying for a software company in the UK.85 Neighbours helped her to travel to
programme. computing at university compared to 23,370 However, once they are computer Nanjing, where she found work and saved
In March 2010 Cisco became the first women.80 “An IT industry dominated by men literate, young women in countries in Latin from her meagre earnings so that she
private-sector member of the UN Girls’ is only using half the available talent and America, East and Central Europe, South could go to college. She says: “I want
Education Initiative (UNGEI) Global creativity. We know girls are turned off by IT and South East Asia, and South Africa, to go to college because I believe that it
Advisory Committee, further cementing as a career option because it is not something see the computer industry as a route to would bring changes into my life. I also
its commitment to gender equality. they connect with. Technology appears to independence. really enjoy studying.”
be marketed by men for men. It’s time we • In South Africa, women hold 19 per cent Her dream was still a long way off
Computing: jobs for the boys? started switching bright and talented girls of data communications and networking when she heard about the Community
on to science and technology,” said the UK’s jobs, 18 per cent in information systems Technology & Learning Centre
“I definitely wanted to do it, because way Patricia Hewitt when she was Trade and and information technology management, Programme (CTLC), a free computer
back in high school, I really liked computer Industry Secretary.81 and 39 per cent in education, training and training project co-organised by Plan
studies, but when I was in high school, I development.86 and Microsoft. With no previous
could not go to a computer class because Basic education and training • In India, women occupy nearly 20 per cent knowledge of computer operation, she
I could not afford to pay for a computer These comments are underlined by another of the professional jobs in the software successfully completed the course. At
course. But when I cleared high school, I got research report which notes that: “Women in industry, including at technical and the same time she took quite a few other
friends and told them about what I wanted developing countries do not receive the basic training courses to satisfy her quest for
to do and they gave me a scholarship. I education and training needed to be ready knowledge. Since she could not afford
studied IT for free… I was therefore among technology adopters and are often seen only college, this was the next best thing.
the people who got the opportunity to as ‘users’ or ‘receivers’ of technology, rather Then in June 2007, a financial aid
study IT.”’ than as innovators involved in technology programme for migrant workers to
Young female web designer in Kenya75 design and development. continue their studies was officially co-
“The more sophisticated the technologies, launched by the Asian Women’s Fund and
Despite the fact that they are familiar with the less likely women are to be involved. As Nanjing Women’s Federation. Guizhen Xu
the technologies and keen to use computers, one commentator points out: ‘At work, men was too excited to sleep. In the following
in general young women are not studying may determine that operating … a computer days she completed the application form,
IT at university or finding work in the is not something women should be allowed obtained the necessary certificates of
computer industries. This may partly be to to learn. Even technology programmes that work experience and family background, CTLC project
PLAN
do with attitudes. Sarah Blow is a 26 year- target women can be co-opted by men once and then contacted the Nanjing Radio in China.
Mbogella, Chief Country Advisor for the years ago.” It assesses the significance of other forms
Tanzania project. “We have conducted Donna Hughes95 of internet-related abuse, like cyberbullying
research involving schools with and and cyber-harassment, and shows how these
without the video content, and the results We have seen how ICTs can be very affect girls and young women in particular.
are amazing. Students who watched the empowering for adolescent girls, socially, It also profiles new research and showcases
videos showed greater motivation and politically and economically. But we also IT solutions that come from young women
achieved better test results.” know that they can expose them to risks, themselves. It shows how ICTs can be used
problems on the web, they are often children about the consequences of sexting,” group of 23 teenage girls who provide online
unable to seek help in the real world. said state Community Services Minister advice to girls using the site. As their website
With the aim of making the web safer Linda Burney.174 states: “These girls are stepping up to make
UNIFEM
mobile phones are used by girls more often for using the internet – 11 per cent had share ideas keitai is itself an effective visual anti-
for communication with their parents or not even thought about it. Sixty-seven per by posting an oyaji signal.193
caregivers. In a UK study, girls were found cent of young people accessed the internet ‘action’ online. The action can be viewed
to make 50 calls or texts to parents or on computers with screening software. But and commented upon by other registered This chapter has looked at the benefits
caregivers a week, versus 29 calls made by 55 per cent of this group indicated they users, who can use the website to develop of communications technologies for girls
boys. Girls also received 67 calls/texts from could get around such software.185 ideas and contacts with activists around and how they are keen to adopt them and
caregivers versus 30 to boys. This heightened One 17 year-old girl said: “I wouldn’t listen the world. There are over 237,419 online become aware of how they can improve
connectivity with girls is likely due to to my parents anyway, as they don’t know ‘actions’ to date and heads of state and their lives. They use them to communicate,
increased concerns about safety and security enough.”186 Another young person noted: ministers from 69 governments have signed to learn, to network. But we have also
of girls.182 “Parents could be better educated in the up to end violence against women.192 seen the barriers adolescent girls face in
However, the line between freedom and way of computers, since kids are learning accessing these technologies, and the
control is a fine one. On the one hand, young, and can use the internet easily. If PROTECTED SPACES – JAPANESE dangers that present themselves at the push
there are hugely positive aspects of ICTs parents know the ins and outs of computers, GIRLS, THE KEITAI, AND URBAN SPACE of a button. The section on page 135 makes
that can have immense benefits for young protecting kids from adult material on the The following account from Japan shows recommendations on keeping girls safe
women’s lives. On the other, parental fear internet will be far easier.”187 that girls are using the mobile phone to online and unleashing their potential.
Le o D r u m o n d
phone, representing a growth of 54.9% “Lan houses are not safe. There is drug A group of
(56 million) since 2005.194 dealing and people do whatever they feel like. teenagers in
• The number of people over 10 who There are no conversations. Users [of the Lan Brazil.
CPP led with adults and young people, the children on- and off-line.
by the UN Convention on the Rights of Where do they find healthy role models? project.
PLAN
P lan
Real Lives’ study shows how a consistent
CLAUDIA CANUTO
every year as a result – four families have chosen to leave the study so far and this year returns in two each month. Although they grow vegetables
countries, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, were low. The intrusion into family life has also to be in their garden, almost 90 per cent of this
carefully considered. family’s income is spent on food.
P lan
The views of the mothers of the girls by their mothers because their fathers have
taking part in the cohort study in El migrated to cities abroad. “In my case, my Real Lives – migration in Togo Togo. Abide left her family at the age 15 to
Salvador capture this ambition for a better husband moved to the United States leaving Migration within Togo and to its earn money in Nigeria:
economic life. Most of them would like to me alone with six small creatures [children],” neighbouring countries is widespread. “I come from a poor family and we had no
migrate abroad to make a better life for one mother told us. More than 40 per cent of the Togolese money. I had nothing to do so I thought I
themselves and their children. “The dream In Brazil, at least half of the parents population already lives in an urban area. may as well go to Nigeria. I went with my
of everyone is to travel [migrate] to the interviewed were considering moving to a It is not uncommon for adolescent girls sister. I expected to find material things,
United States.” At home in El Salvador, city, and 75 per cent of the girls indicated and boys to be sent to towns and cities to but when I arrived it was very different.
work is seasonal and poorly paid. Those that their fathers had left home at various live with relatives and to work or to train I was working as a maid 18 hours a day
who can secure a permanent job are paid times, seeking work opportunities. One girl as apprentices. Out of the 20 Togolese from 4am to 10pm for 5,000 cprs [$10] per
slightly more – between $2.50 and $3.00 gave this account: families taking part in the cohort study, month. Now I am back home and have been
per day. “My father left. He spent three years away at least 12 have reported that a close training to be a seamstress for the past
Research from across West Africa from home to work. The family was sad; family member has moved in the past year. three years. The money is much better and
confirms that the departure of girls and he didn’t even see my brother when he was Aridjatou’s older siblings live in Gabon. it is safer. I know maids who were beaten by
young women to cities can be perceived born, and when my brother died, my father Maninani’s mother works part of the their employers or who were not fed.”
both as a ‘relief’ and as an extra source of couldn’t even come home to see him...” year in Lomé, the capital of Togo. One of Robeline and Joceline are both orphans,
income for the family.1 And as one Brazilian Maridiyatou’s older siblings lives in Ghana; now aged 18 and 20. Three years ago, they
mother says: “When our daughters leave a second lives in Lomé. Salimata has an took the more traditional route of working
home to move to cities, it is always for older sister who lives in Nigeria. in the Togolese capital of Lomé. Robeline
a better life… [they are] searching for Several of the families taking part in first worked as a maid. Her employer did not
new work or study opportunities, which the cohort study mentioned that in order treat her well, making her work 18 hours a
will provide them with a better, more for their daughters to pursue the kind of day with no holidays, and paying her $10 per
comfortable life.” education they would like, they would have month. A neighbour helped Robeline find
to move to Sekode, which has secondary a better-paid job at $15 per month with a
FOR A BETTER LIFE and post-secondary education facilities. kindly employer. Soon after their father died,
The teenagers we interviewed in Uganda Sekode is the nearest town for many of the their mother became ill. There was no money
were motivated to move to cities and Key target: Ensure that all boys and girls families. It is on the main road running north for hospital bills so Joceline went to Lomé
gave the following reasons: complete a full course of primary education to south through Togo – one of the major and became apprenticed to a hairdresser,
• Lack of employment in their by 2015 child trafficking routes in West Africa – an where she earned $25 per month.
communities of origin added risk to counterbalance the educational All three girls were now happy to be
• To send money back home and support Achieving MDG 2 is largely reliant on real advantages which the town has to offer. back home in a Plan-supported vocational
their elderly parents progress being made on the MDG 3 target to In nearby Soutouboua we met with a training school for seamstresses. A trained
• To live a more exciting life than they ensure gender parity in education enrolment. group of older girls – their stories illustrate seamstress can earn more than $1 per hour,
have in the village This target should have been met by 2005. the pressures to migrate from this part of providing them with a much better future.
P lan
primary education and beyond.2
Our study shows that despite a major shift good to educate a girl because nowadays
in attitudes towards the importance of girls’ women are taking up leadership positions in
education in all of the countries taking part, politics.” She cites an example of the deputy
parents still face immense economic difficulty speaker of the Ugandan parliament, Rebecca Key target: Eliminate gender disparity in
when it comes to providing for their families Kadaga. primary and secondary education, preferably
and investing in their children’s education. by 2005, and at all levels by 2015
Combined with attitudes that determine Lyca, Philippines
strict boundaries around gender roles and Lyca attends the local day care centre from Despite significant progress worldwide in
responsibilities in the home, it is as yet unclear 7am to 9am. The centre is in the village, a enrolling increasing numbers of girls into
how much progress the girls taking part 10-minute walk from Lyca’s home. All of Lyca’s primary schools, secondary education
in the study will actually make. The study siblings, except for her younger sister Renna, remains an unattainable goal for millions
P lan
shows that girls are expected to combine a are in school. Her mother explains: “It is of adolescent girls. Targeted government
heavy domestic workload together with their daughter in school: “Education enables her important for all of them to finish their studies. action is needed, particularly for girls from
schoolwork, whereas boys have more time to to know the right things… she has to be Girls need to be educated because the time will poor and marginalised families living in rural
study and to socialise. educated to be able to work, not like us come when they will have their own families areas. Although the girls taking part in our
Almost half of the girls – 46 per cent farmers.” and they need to get a good job.” study are not yet in primary school, many of
across the seven countries where this has However, parents cite the various their parents are already expressing concerns
been reported – have already started to Sreytin, Cambodia difficulties they already face in securing about whether their daughters will access
attend pre-school. Riza’s mother from the Sreytin has been enrolled in the community a place for their daughters in a local quality secondary education, as they live in
Philippines explains: “Angelica is now in pre-school in her village, as part of an early pre-school. Many families simply do not largely rural communities without facilities.
grade 3, Angie Rhea is in grade 1, while Riza childhood care and development programme have a pre-school facility nearby – this is Attitudes to educating girls are positive across
is enrolled in the day care centre. Education supported by Plan. Sessions run from 7am to particularly so for the families living in the the countries taking part in the study, with
of my children is very important so that they 10am and include a cooked breakfast. Her most rural areas in the poorest countries. parents and carers expressing confidence
will have a bright future ahead…” mother explained the immediate benefits Most of the families taking part in the study in girls’ abilities as well as affirming the
Thi Kim Khanh’s mother in Vietnam for Sreytin: “She is braver than before. She in Togo cited distance from the nearest importance of investing in both girls and boys.
explains her motivation for enrolling her knows how to respect people, especially pre-school as the reason for not enrolling Mary Joy T’s mother in the Philippines
older people. She knows many friends. She their daughters. Here, only 10 per cent of
can sing songs and she likes singing and the study’s girls are enrolled in a pre-school.
dancing very much.” In the case of four year-old Adjara, the
nearest pre-school facility is five kilometres
Angel, Uganda away from her home, which is too great
Angel is attending a nursery school. She also a distance to travel every day. The most
meets regularly with her local play group. disadvantaged children, who would benefit
In the group, Angel likes singing songs. All most from a pre-school facility, often have
of her older siblings are in school. Angel’s the least access.
mother explains: “Girls are good at bringing
Sreytin and about change in society and, if educated, Christine, Uganda Mikaela and
her mother they can transform their family as well There is no pre-school in Christine’s her family
P lan
P lan
as their community.” She goes on: “It’s community, and the nearest primary school
P lan
and victimised.” difference in treatment given by fathers to name and go to the supermarket”. Cintia’s
Jacky’s mother’s beliefs are firm: “Of girls and boys is due mainly to sexism. mother disagrees: “The opportunities girls from 10 to 14 is 18.4 per cent higher
course it is important for girls to be able to The majority of the girls said that they for education have to be the same for in urban than in rural areas, and 37.5 per
study and complete school. That’s to help felt that they should be treated differently everyone, because the world is offering cent higher for young women between 15
her family later.” She explains why: “I cannot from boys and that girls need additional equality of opportunities for both genders. and 19.3 There are many reasons for this –
help my husband because I wasn’t able to protection. They also acknowledged the The person just needs to be qualified.” schools may be more plentiful and closer
finish anything. Education is important for influence of their upbringing on their The mother of Kevyllen – another of the to home in urban areas. As is the case of
both girls and boys. That’s for their future.” attitudes. “Girls are more fragile, and this four year olds in the study – added that families taking part in the cohort study,
In a departure from prevailing attitudes kind of upbringing has been passed from education starts in the home and that, “by many girls and young women move to cities
towards investing in girls, several families parents to children.” studying they will learn more and have specifically to improve their chances of
interviewed in Vietnam said that the fact that All of them acknowledged that girls and further knowledge. Studying today means continuing with their education. There may
young women marry and move away from boys are treated differently and felt that a better future.” She went on: “Being also be less household work to do in the city
the family home gives their parents more boys benefit more from this, particularly educated is the best thing in the world.” – there is probably no land to work on – and
of an incentive to invest in them. A mother in relation to the amount of time boys Nonetheless, here is clear evidence education may be seen as more of a norm
in Vietnam stated, “[Both] our daughter have to socialise. “At home, the girls have that parents are making discriminatory for girls and worth investing in.
and our son are our offering. Besides, our to sweep the floor and do the washing choices in how they actually invest in Critics of the MDG framework have
daughter will get married and will not live while the boys watch television. Boys their children. “If the money isn’t enough outlined how a series of measurable targets
with us after that; therefore, we have to care don’t help with the chores at home, and for both [children], then the boys end such as the MDGs can do little to track
for her more.” go out to play football.” Such attitudes up taking the course,” remarked one changing attitudes within families about
Yet, despite positive affirmations of are encouraged by the adults around Brazilian girl we interviewed. gender issues, and that understanding the
the importance of realising girls’ rights to them.“My brother doesn’t want to help way attitudes change is vital for achieving
education and investing in them, the study with anything in the house and my father More than half of the families taking part in gender equality.4 What is clear from our
is unearthing that these girls are growing protects him,” said one girl. the ‘Real Choices, Real Lives’ cohort study study is that attitudes to gender roles
up surrounded by a series of other attitudes This year we met Ana Célia, the older would like to see their daughters pursue and responsibilities can change over time.
that will do little to encourage them as they cousin of Cintia, one of the four year olds careers that involve further education When we interviewed grandparents last
reach adulthood. in the study. She spoke at length with and training to become midwives, nurses year, we discovered that there had been
researchers about how the predominant and teachers. However, post-secondary a large generational shift in their attitude,
Discussing gender roles ‘macho’ culture gives boys more free time education is not widely available in the particularly in relation to participation of
with Brazilian mothers and than girls, as well as more time to focus rural villages in which most of the families girls and women in public spaces, and as
daughters on their studies. live. Therefore parents’ aspirations for their a result, in relation to girls’ education. The
As part of the study this year, 24 mothers daughters will inform the decisions they grandmother of Noelia from the Dominican
and 20 teenage girls, neighbours and Ana Célia make about moving to cities. In Brazil, at Republic speaks for many: “I want Noelia to
relatives of the cohort group, took part in and Cintia least half of the families interviewed already study and do what she likes. I want her to
several group discussions held in north- have older daughters who have left home, have a future and be who I couldn’t be.”
east Brazil. the vast majority either to improve their The vast majority of parents and
Only 20 per cent of the parents educational prospects or to work. The sister grandparents have positive attitudes regarding
interviewed confirmed that they aim of one of the girls taking part in the study their daughters’ and granddaughters’ futures,
to bring up their sons and daughters explains: “I want to finish high school to with high ambitions for their careers, and
equally. The women who took part in work, and maybe go to the university, and ambitions for their social mobility. It will,
claudia canuto
our discussion in Brazil believe that boys here in Codo there isn’t one…” however, take a great deal of investment from
and girls themselves view education Girls are much more likely to go to school both inside and outside the families for these
differently, despite recognising that if they live in a city – school attendance for high hopes to be realised.
P lan
families’ best attempts, girls in the world’s from what would have been their first year in hospital, where they made a note of the
poorest countries are continuing to die Gastine too suffered from malaria but her school, and caused Reaksa in Cambodia to drugs she was prescribed. Whenever she
from preventable diseases. Five girls, from life was saved because her mother was able miss the formal school enrolment date, and shows the same symptoms, they purchase
Togo, Benin and Uganda, have died since to take her to a trained healthcare worker, therefore an entire school year. As the study the drugs locally as the nearest health centre
the study began four years ago. Despite a who was both local and free. progresses we will be looking more closely does not always have supplies.
natural biological advantage that sees more Our study is showing that the ongoing at the impact of persistent illness and poor
girls than boys born, survival rates to age challenge for the poorest families is how nutrition on the girls taking part in the study. Towards 2015
five are higher for boys. Unless urgent action to secure the health and basic survival of In the countries with the lowest health Yassiminatou and Gastine’s story of death
is taken to address the reasons why more their daughters. Families across the study indicators taking part in our study – Togo, and survival sheds light on the immediate
girls are dying, the target to reduce child have reported a range of health concerns, Benin and Uganda – the girls are not only investments required to make a difference in
mortality will not be met. Yassiminatou, from serious illnesses like malaria, dysentery the lives, not only of the girls taking part in
from Togo, a country with one of the and dengue fever, to persistent respiratory the study, but of the millions of girls facing
highest child mortality rates in the world, illnesses and observed malnutrition. These Gloria 21st century challenges. The experiences of
died earlier this year. Her family reported are all preventable diseases, and are largely these two four year olds illustrate the sheer
that she had lost consciousness after a caused by the lack of basic infrastructure, urgency of the need to increase investments
brief, undiagnosed illness. It is probable such as clean water and sanitation in basic services, and girls’ access to these
that she died from malaria, but the family facilities. Girls will continue to die when, services.
was unable to tell us more about the cause like Yassiminatou, they have no access to a As we have seen, migration to a city may
of her tragic death. The story of Gastine, health centre or hospital nearby. provide a window to a new life for a girl as
P lan
also from Togo, illustrates how investment she approaches her teens. It may help her to
in healthcare can make all the difference. Reaksa, Cambodia facing a daily challenge of poor nutrition, but provide additional income for her family or
Reaksa’s mother told researchers that they are also battling a constant onslaught of afford her the opportunity to go to secondary
her four year-old daughter’s health illness and disease. Despite a high proportion school. But this new opportunity carries risks
Reaksa and has been poor over the past year – she of the girls receiving both first and second too. In the next five years there is a lot to do
her mother would sometimes have convulsions at the round basic immunisations – across six if the girls in our survey and their families are
community pre-school she attended. Reaksa countries where it was reported, all of the to make real progress and achieve the goals
was taken to Siem Reap Children Hospital, girls were immunised as babies and 94 per that they have talked to us about. The current
50 kilometres from her home, where she cent have received their second round of rate of progress towards meeting the MDGs is
was diagnosed with multiple infections immunisations – many still face persistent simply too slow for a four year old in 2010.
– meningitis, dengue fever, and acute illness. Malaria, for example, continues to be
respiratory infection. Although she is now a problem for the cohort in Uganda, Togo “We don’t know yet what she wants when
better, Reaksa is still being treated at the and Benin, with the majority of the girls being she grows up. Of course as a mother we
hospital. Her mother needs to hire a motor treated at various times over the year either at will support whatever she wants and,
taxi at a cost of $5 per trip, and she now the local health centre or the nearest hospital. hopefully, we will have a better income
owes her boss $50 as she requested a salary The call for governments to increase their when she grows up so that we can support
advance during Reaksa’s illness; this salary investment in preventing and treating diseases her and all our children.”
P lan
advance probably saved Reaksa’s life. like malaria cannot be louder. Mother of Girlie, Philippines
El Salvador
Brenda
Evelyn
Heydi Cambodia
Yaqueline Chhea
Togo Konthea
Tatiana Richala
Vilma Davath
Djalilatou (m) Sokhea
Maria Salimata
Helen Nika
Adjara Cham Philippines
Eunice Oumou
Ashlin Sipha Riza
Yassiminatou (d) Sophea (m) Edwina
Darlin Mariyama
Hilda Brazil Sreyman Jacel
Soumeyatou Uganda Sophy Leah
Melissa Cintia Brenam
Wemilly Christine Sreytin Mary Joy T
Blandine Anna Maria Channy Girlie
Leidjane Fadilatou
Rosane Gloria Reaksa Airesh
Fridos Is. Annet Chariya Jessa B
Kevyllen Faissatou
Maria (l) Sumaya Naream Marjorie
Aridjatou Docus Mary Joy O
Amanda (m) Fridos Id. (d)
Ketily Trassy (m) Mikaela
Beretchissou Ruth Doreen
Eloiza Gastine
Marina (l) Sarah Lyca
Maninani Tereza Bhea
Isadora Massama-Esso
Kessia (m) Resty (d) Jacky
Maridiyatou Juliet Jessa S (m)
Lorena Razakatou
Sidcleia Mirabu
Yasmine Angel
Iasmine (l) Walidatou (m) = migrated
Damali
Merabu (d) = deceased
(l) = left the study
D i n a T orra n s
J eff B la c k / I R I N
snapshot of the progress girls have made
since the last report. What progress are we
making towards helping girls realise their
rights, and what are the areas that require
further investment? The Millennium Development Trying to
This year we have also introduced an Goals and Girls ignore the
analysis of the progress girls are making in The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) rubbish on a
the context of the Millennium Development are eight goals set by the United Nations Cairo street.
Goals. Ten years after the Millennium in an attempt to eradicate extreme poverty
Declaration rallied governments to finally by 2015. The Goals were drawn from the
end extreme poverty across the globe, we Millennium Declaration, which was adopted
ask: what have these commitments meant by 189 nations at the United Nations
for girls’ lives? Are they better off? And Millennium Summit in September 2000.
where are the MDGs failing to reach the The eight goals are broken down into 21
most vulnerable – adolescent girls? The maps quantifiable targets and measured by 60
in this section correlate with the five MDGs indicators to monitor their progress.
we focused on in Section 2 and provide a These maps prove that although global
global backdrop to the lived experiences of investment in poverty reduction has
our cohort girls. remained high, this is not being translated
Our final resource section provides a into improvements in girls’ lives. More
useful reference guide for information on needs to be done by donors, national
organisations, campaigns, research and governments and civil society organisations
databases which are focused on girls’ rights so girls don’t get left behind, uncounted
and well-being. and unvalued.
Na z ia P arve z
North Korea
Nepal
Afghanistan
Eritrea India
LEGEND
Niger Laos
Bangladesh
Proportion of girls Guatemala Yemen
under-5 years that Ethiopia
are underweight
%
49.0
Timor Leste
1.0
Madagascar
Worst %
Bangladesh 49
India 49
Timor Leste 45
Yemen 45
Niger 45
Afghanistan 40
Nepal 40
Eritrea 39
Ethiopia 38
Laos 30
Mongolia
LEGEND
Algeria
Girls’ gross primary
school graduation
rate Mauritania Djibouti
Niger Laos
Pakistan
% Senegal
12.3
Burkina Faso
209.6 Benin DR Congo
Burundi
Malawi
Mozambique
Bolivia
Worst %
Burundi 12.29
Niger 12.77
DR Congo 16.68
Burkina Faso 21.91
Djibouti 22.68
Malawi 23.40
Mauritania 24.10
Mozambique 27.30 Gross primary school graduation rate: the number of children graduating
Benin 30.20 from primary school in any one year divided by the number of children
Senegal 33.10 in the age group at which primary school completion should occur.
Ukraine Kazakhstan
Mauritania Mauritania
Nicaragua Chad Chad
Niger Senegal Niger
Bangladesh Suriname Burma
Guinea
Ethiopia Mali
Mali Burkina Faso Uganda
Central African Indonesia
LEGEND Brazil Republic LEGEND Burundi Tanzania
Nigeria Cameroon
Proportion of girls Female transition
aged 15-19 years from primary to
Mozambique
married by age 15 secondary education
% %
28.0 31.4
1.0 100.0
Highest % Worst %
Niger 28 Burundi 31.39
Bangladesh 26.3 Cameroon 36.77
Mali 22.8 Niger 37.48
Chad 17.9 Chad 41.81
Central African Uganda 43.30
Republic 16.1 Burkina Faso 43.60
Nigeria 16.1 Tanzania 45.20
Mozambique 14 Mali 46.80
Mauritania 13.4 Mauritania 47.20
Ethiopia 12.7 Senegal 47.70
Guinea 12.2
Mongolia
Palestinian
LEGEND Territories
PPP, US$
191 Libya
Mexico
India
Niger
Eritrea
31,663 Guayana
Guinea-Bissau
Sierra Leone
Liberia Togo
DR Congo
Burundi
Timor Leste
Angola
Worst $ Best $
Bolivia
DR Congo 191 Norway 31,663
Liberia 222 Hong Kong 31,232 Madagascar
Morocco
LEGEND Afghanistan
Mozambique
6.7
%
99.6
Infant mortality rates Proportion of young women aged 20-24 years that have achieved at least secondary education
Worst Out of 1,000 births Worst %
Afghanistan 165 Niger 6.7
Democratic Republic Chad 9.2
of Congo 126 Tanzania 10.4
Chad 124 Mozambique 10.6
Sierra Leone 123 Rwanda 10.7
Somalia 119 Burkina Faso 12.3
Guinea Bissau 117 Mali 12.8
Central African Republic 115 Senegal 14.8
Mali 103 Guinea 15.6
Liberia 100 Ethiopia 17.3
Ukraine
South Korea
Prevalence of HIV
among young women
(15-24 years) 2007
Trinidad and Central Eritrea
Tobago Arican
More than 10% Republic Sudan
High Guatemala Guyana Thailand
Medium
Low Liberia
Cameroon
Burundi
Malawi
Zambia
Botswana
Namibia
South Swaziland
Africa
M ar k P e n gell y
196 t h e s tat e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s g i r l s S E C T I O N 3 197
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