GLOBAL STRATEGY TO EMPOWER ADOLESCENT GIRLS

Gender-based violence (GBV)
Girls’ transition into puberty and adolescence increases their vulnerability to GBV—including physical,
emotional, and psychological violence, rape, and other forms of sexual abuse—with grave and enduring
impacts on their health and well-being. More than 1 in 10 girls worldwide has experienced some form
of forced sexual activity, and many girls’ first experience of sexual intercourse is unwanted or coerced. 4
Worldwide, an estimated 150 million girls and 73 million boys have experienced sexual violence; nearly half
of all sexual assaults are committed against girls younger than 16 years of age. 5 GBV disproportionately
impacts the most vulnerable members of society. Girls in conflict or emergency settings, in minority or
indigenous communities, with disabilities, and lesbian, bisexual, and trans-identified girls are at increased
risk of GBV. Married girls may also be at a higher risk of marital rape and domestic violence, either from
their husbands or their husbands’ families. Harmful practices such as CEFM and FGM/C are widespread.
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C)
FGM/C, which refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external genitalia or other
injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons, is typically carried out on young girls between
infancy and adolescence, and occasionally on adult women. According to UNICEF, at least 200 million girls
around the world in 30 countries have undergone FGM/C. 6 Current progress in eliminating this practice
is insufficient to keep up with increasing population growth. If trends continue, the number of girls and
women undergoing FGM/C will rise significantly over the next 15 years. FGM/C is a human rights abuse that
has no health benefits and is not rooted in any religious or theological tradition. It is typically practiced as
an initiation rite that reflects locally held beliefs around the need to control women’s sexuality and preserve
and prove their virginity for marriage. Depending on the degree of the cutting, the practice can lead to
intense life-long pain and a range of physical and mental health problems, including psychological trauma,
chronic infection, infertility, fistula, hemorrhaging, and life-threatening complications during pregnancy
and childbirth.
Child, early, and forced marriage (CEFM)
CEFM is defined as a formal marriage or informal union where one or both parties is under the age of 18.
As of 2010, there were legal prohibitions against this practice in 158 countries, and 146 granted exemptions
in the case of parental consent. 7 In many countries, existing laws are weakly enforced, especially when
they conflict with local customs. There are currently nearly 700 million women alive today who were
married as children, and 15 million more are married each year. 8 CEFM often occurs in contexts of poverty,
displacement, or societal pressures, and prevalence rates are highest in the most impoverished and most
rural regions of the world. Of the 25 countries with the lowest gross domestic product, 12 have rates of child
marriage above 40 percent. 9 Within these regions, CEFM is concentrated within the poorest households;
girls living in poor households are almost twice as likely to be married before the age of 18 as compared to
girls in higher income households, as are rural girls compared with girls from urban areas. 10
Families marry girls before the age of 18 for a number of reasons, including social beliefs about the
appropriate age of marriage for girls; fears that older girls will not find spouses; poor quality of schooling;
concerns about the risks of sexual violence girls face in school and on their way to school; the socioeconomic
needs of a girl’s household; and concerns about premarital sexual behavior that could result in pregnancy
outside of marriage, HIV/AIDS, and perceived dishonor to the family. This practice is often rooted in
patriarchal beliefs that value girls less and confine them to traditional roles of motherhood and domestic
labor.
United States Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls
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