Helping girls reach potential

To raise awareness of the difficulties faced by girls and their potential if empowered, international NGO Plan China, UN Women and the Beijing Cultural Development Center for Rural Women hosted a celebration of the 3rd International Day of the Girl Child in Beijing.

According to Plan China's annual reports Because I am a Girl and Hear Our Voices, which is carried out among 7,179 adolescent girls and boys (aged 12 to 16) in 11 countries, each year 14 million girls under 18 are married off, 65 million girls drop out of schools and 150 million girls are affected by sexual violence.

The report is one of the largest studies on adolescent girls' rights and empowerment that an organization has ever undertaken.

The report said that visible and invisible forms of power over girls are reproduced and deepened through society's most powerful institutions - households, communities, the market economy and the state.

The report said that in reality, girls and boys are usually not able to realize their rights to the same degree. Due to gender-based discrimination and gender stereotyping, especially when resources and opportunities are limited, girls are more likely to undertake more housework, receive less education and have lower social status and less employment opportunities than boys.

This gender inequality will affect the lives of girls and women from infancy to adulthood, and even profoundly affect the development of their daughters and sons.

"It's girls who often pay the price for how power is wielded by parents, community leaders, local government authorities, business practices, and legislative policies," said the report.

The report looks at the influence of different forms of power in these public and private spaces, and what this means for the prospects of gender equality and for girls and young women in particular.

"Girls are our future-humanity's future mothers, scientists, artists, leaders and athletes. Fulfilling their dreams will fulfill our common dream for prosperity and peace," said Julie Broussard, Country Program Manager of UN Women in Beijing.

"We as development actors - irrespective of our governmental, non-governmental, academic, bilateral, multilateral or private sector background - can create the conditions in which girls and boys are enabled to empower themselves," said Sven Coppens, country director of Plan China.

The organization has been working in China since 1995 helping children access their rights to health, education, livelihood and protection. It runs programs to work with children, especially the most marginalized, their families and their communities, to improve living standards and promote children's development.

Their programs address children's rights, early childhood care and development, child protection, community-based child education, child nutrition, child-friendly schools, and child-centered disaster preparedness.

Most of their program areas are located in Shaanxi province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Yunnan province, where 168,000 children have directly benefited from the program, with RMB 542 million invested in China as of June 2013.

"There is a long way to go in promoting girls' protection and development, which needs joint efforts to people from all walks of society," said Xie Lihua, chairwoman of Beijing Cultural Development Center for Rural Women.

yangyao@chinadaily.com.cn