New Delhi (NVI): Despite remarkable gains in education, the world is still a violent, highly discriminatory place for girls, according to a new report by UNICEF, Plan International and UN Women.
The report, released ahead of the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, notes the number of out-of-school girls has dropped by 79 million in the last two decades. In fact, girls became more likely to be in secondary school than boys in just the last decade, it says.
Two and a half decades after the historic Beijing women’s conference, violence against women and girls still not only common but accepted, the report claims.
“In 2016, for example, women and girls accounted for 70 per cent of detected trafficking victims globally, most for sexual exploitation. An astonishing 1 in every 20 girls aged 15-19 – around 13 million – has experienced rape in their lifetimes, one of the most violent forms of sexual abuse women and girls can suffer,” the report says.
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said that twenty-five years ago, the world’s governments made a commitment to women and girls, but they have only made partial good on that promise.
“While the world has mustered the political will to send many girls to school, it has come up embarrassingly short on equipping them with the skills and support they need not only to shape their own destinies, but to live in safety and dignity,” she said.
“Access to education is not enough – we must also change people’s behaviours and attitudes towards girls. True equality will only come when all girls are safe from violence, free to exercise their rights, and are able to enjoy equal opportunities in life,” she added.
The report further notes that harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) continue to disrupt and damage the lives and potential of millions of girls globally.
Each year, 12 million girls are married in childhood, and 4 million are at risk of FGM. Globally, girls aged 15-19 are as likely to justify wife-beating as boys of the same age, it finds.
The report also points to concerning negative trends for girls in nutrition and health, many of which were unimaginable 25 years ago.
For example, globalization, a shift from traditional diets to processed, unhealthy foods and the rapid expansion of aggressive marketing techniques targeting children, have resulted in increased consumption of unhealthy foods and sugar-sweetened beverages.
This has contributed to an increase in overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence. Between 1995 and 2016, the prevalence of overweight among girls aged 5-19 has nearly doubled from 9 per cent to 17 per cent, resulting in nearly twice as many overweight girls today (155 million) than in 1995 (75 million).
Meanwhile, the last 25 years have seen growing concerns about poor mental health fuelled in part by excessive use of digital technologies.
