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Girls
count: a global investment & action agenda
Ruth
Levine, Cynthia Lloyd, Margaret Greene and Caren Grown, Center for
Global Development
January 14, 2008
http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/15154
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One person in
eight is a girl or young woman age 10-24. Young people are
the fastest growing segment of the population in developing countries,
and their welfare is a fundamental input for key economic and social
outcomes -- including the size and competitiveness of tomorrow's
labor force, future economic growth, improved governance, and healthy
civil societies.
But girls in
developing countries are in trouble. They face systematic disadvantages
over a wide range of welfare indicators, including health, education,
nutrition, labor force participation, and the burden of household
tasks. Because of deprivation and discriminatory cultural norms,
many poor girls are forced to marry at very young ages and are extraordinarily
vulnerable to HIV, sexual violence, and physical exploitation. Lacking
a full range of economic opportunities and devalued because of gender
bias, many girls are seen as unworthy of investment or protection
by their families.
This report,
co-authored by CGD vice president for programs and operations Ruth
Levine; Cynthia Lloyd, senior associate with the Poverty, Gender,
and Youth program and chair of the Bixby Fellowship program at the
Population Council; Margaret Greene, director of the Population
and Social Transitions Team at the International Center for Research
on Women; and Caren Grown, economist-in-residence in the Department
of Economics at American University, describes why and how to initiate
effective investments that will give adolescent girls in developing
countries a full and equal chance for rewarding lives and livelihoods.
This report's
broad agenda includes three key actions:
- Count girls.
Disaggregate data of all types—from health and education
statistics to the counts of program beneficiaries—by age
and sex. Doing so will make girls more visible to policymakers
and reveal where girls are excluded.
- Invest in
girls. Make strategic and significant investments in programs
focused on adolescent girls, commensurate with their importance
as contributors to the achievement of economic and social goals.
- Give girls
a fair share. In employment, social programs, protection of human
rights, and all other domains ensure that adolescent girls benefit
equitably. In many cases this will take explicit and deliberate
efforts to overcome household and social barriers.
The authors
have provided specific recommendations for civil society, governments,
private-sector leaders, and donor agencies to create mechanisms
for the meaningful participation of young women and adolescent girls
in their programs and policy, helping to foster youth leadership
and gender-sensitive ideology. At the global level, while these
priorities by no means constitute an exhaustive list, they should
inform donor and technical agencies and private charities of where
gains can be made.
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