Because I am a Girl: Urban and Digital Frontiers - Plan International

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South Asia, 50 per cent of young women in rural areas are married by the time they are 18, which is about twice the rate of young women in cities. 69 There are many reasons for this. Some are simply about the different aspirations and understandings of city dwellers – the people girls live with in the cities such as parents, relatives, guardians and boyfriends have aspirations and expectations that are radically different from their rural peers and this translates into a powerful influence on girls. Some are practical – schools may be more plentiful and closer to home, or there is less work for girls to do in the home in the city, because there is no land to work on. Once a girl makes the city her home, she then faces the same opportunities and threats as other girls her age. PLAYING SPORTS, BUILDING CONFIDENCE Sport is good for girls, especially those in cities who are less likely to lead active lives than their rural counterparts. UNICEF notes: “Girls who participate in sports tend to be healthier – emotionally and physically – and less likely to smoke or abuse drugs or alcohol. There may also be a link between decreased incidences of breast cancer and osteoporosis in women who have been physically active throughout their lives. In addition, adolescent girls who take part in sports tend to delay becoming sexually active until later in life. 70 This may in part be because participation in sports encourages adolescent girls to develop a sense of ownership of and strength in their own bodies instead of seeing them simply as a sexual resource for men. “Before playing football I was fearful,” said one girl. “Now I am not because I am used to mixing with people and I know what is good and what is bad.” Through football, another young Kenyan said, “I have learned how to have my own principles and not be blown and tossed around by the wind.” 71 There are a number of projects working with adolescent girls to build their Leo Drumond A girls’ football match in Brazil. 39
football skills – for example, the Mathare Youth Sports Association Football Programme (MYSA) for Girls. One of the girls taking part noted: “When I started playing for MYSA my father would say that there is no football for girls, and he would beat me up. So whenever I wanted to go and play, my mother would cover up for me by saying that she had sent me somewhere. Then when I went to Norway, he started liking it.” 72 Plan spoke to some of the girls who came from seven different countries to the Street Children’s World Cup in South Africa in March 2010, and found that many of them felt playing football had given them a new approach to their lives. Jessica, aged 15, from Nicaragua pointed out: “I think football has helped me not to think about the bad things that have happened to me… I have become more involved with football than my past. I’m trying to leave the past behind and live a new life.” 73 Building capacity: finding jobs in the city “I like working [in a restaurant]. The hard work only really starts at 4pm, and I have learned a lot. In my spare time I watch TV and text my friends. I don’t want to get married until I have finished college.” Irene, 17, Masbate, Philippines 74 “Over the next 10 years, 1.2 billion young women and men will enter the working-age population. They will be the best-educated and best-trained generation ever, with great potential for economic and social development, if countries can find uses for their skills, enthusiasm and creativity. Otherwise they will be condemned to poverty, like many of their parents are.” UNFPA 75 It is not surprising that some young women come to the city in search of employment. Some are sent by their families, others come of their own volition. Some will find formal paid work, but this varies enormously from country to country and even from city to city. Young people in general are more than three times as likely as adults to be unemployed – of the 1.1 Tanzania Malawi Rwanda Senegal Chad Guatemala Haiti Colombia Nepal Nicaragua Mali Burkina Faso Niger Mozambique Young Women in Education or Employment, Selected Countries (%) 76 0 50 Small Towns Capital/Large Cities billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24, only 3.8 per cent, or 548 million, are employed. In general, apart from agricultural work, cities offer young women more employment opportunities than rural areas. There also appears to be a difference between cities and small towns, as the chart (above) shows. Many older adolescent girls in cities, particularly in Asia, find themselves working in factories in export-processing zones or in call centres. In Indonesia, for example, export-oriented sectors employ more than twice the national average of young people. Young women are particularly likely to be employed in these industries; case studies in Bangladesh showed that many young women preferred working in factories to their other choices: agriculture or domestic service. 77 This is true elsewhere too. Cho Cho Thet is 15 and works in a garments factory in Rangoon, Burma. She works for 14 hours a day, seven days a week and is paid $35 a month. She is given free 100 40 the state of the world’s girls
Page 1 and 2: Cities have the potential to make c
Page 3 and 4: Mark Henley / Panos Pictures
Page 5 and 6: Acknowledgements This report was ma
Page 7 and 8: Contents Foreword by Anna Tibaijuka
Page 9 and 10: Foreword For the first time, more t
Page 11 and 12: Introduction “The first night I w
Page 13 and 14: Investing in girls Adolescence, age
Page 15 and 16: 14 the state of the world’s girls
Page 17 and 18: Section 1 of the report looks at th
Page 19 and 20: children, but this may be partly be
Page 21 and 22: BUILDING GIRLS’ ASSETS The word
Page 23 and 24: Massama and her family had access t
Page 27 and 28: cities of the developing world. 2 T
Page 29 and 30: GIRL HOMELESSNESS IN CANADA - A NAT
Page 31 and 32: Philippines Uganda Vietnam Togo El
Page 33 and 34: the village to the city - one study
Page 35 and 36: “suffered a lot as we didn’t ge
Page 37 and 38: She is now at school. 56 In Ghana t
Page 39: subsistence farming. This teenage g
Page 43 and 44: My ideal city The ideal city, in th
Page 45 and 46: Longer-term, the effects of such wo
Page 47 and 48: having a school within walking dist
Page 49 and 50: the Philippines, such accommodation
Page 51 and 52: 100 Attendance by skilled birth att
Page 53 and 54: PLAN There are big differences betw
Page 55 and 56: PLAN “NOT EVEN WITH THE PETAL OF
Page 57 and 58: The Old Fadama slum area. 36 per ce
Page 59 and 60: Nighttime streets, Codo, Brazil. GI
Page 61 and 62: • When asked what would make thei
Page 63 and 64: “I DON’T LIKE BEING HIT” - A
Page 67 and 68: some of the time and spend the rest
Page 69 and 70: Many girls on the streets live with
Page 71 and 72: Trust is a dangerous thing - girls
Page 73 and 74: 4. Why do adolescent girls leave ho
Page 75 and 76: y boyfriends and male street ‘bro
Page 77 and 78: portrayals of girls in conflict wit
Page 79 and 80: sexual dimension to the abuse of gi
Page 81 and 82: Chris Stowers / Panos Pictures SUMI
Page 83 and 84: Projects with adolescent street gir
Page 85 and 86: Q. How long would you work? A. 8am
Page 87 and 88: Q. What do you think of the police?
Page 89 and 90: Begging in the busy streets of Mani
Page 91 and 92:
Adolescent girls’ right to the ci
Page 93 and 94:
adolescent girls have demonstrated
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especially the use of nonviolent me
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6 All girls should have the right t
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them to meaningfully contribute in
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100 the state of the world’s girl
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is critical. Girls need to be empow
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Nikki van der Gaag “WE NEED A COM
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6 Because evidence has shown that l
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Wire webcast, where she said: “So
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The report cites a project in India
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5 Barriers - what is keeping adoles
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In addition, girls’ domestic role
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seeking to enrol female students. F
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and TV University. Because of her g
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in counter-trafficking efforts to e
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them “becoming victims of violenc
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place, off she goes. Really simple,
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Percentages of student experience o
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the internet a safer place. Just li
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Brazilian adolescent girls in a dig
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When there was a warning, it was ab
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3 Harness the potential benefits of
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that the violence and commercial an
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and user-created content which is p
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Conclusion In this report we have h
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Millennium Development Goals Goal 1
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healthcare and nutrition is already
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Coping with poverty - migration to
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But of the 113 countries that faile
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explained that for her, “educatio
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Key target: Reduce under-five morta
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Because We are Girls ‘Real Choice
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Plan’s Because I am a Girl campai
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Proportion of girls under-5 years t
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Girls’ gross primary school gradu
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Proportion of girls aged 15-19 year
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Estimated female earned income (PPP
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Infant mortality rates / Proportion
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Ratio of young women to young men l
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References Introduction, Section 1:
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Section 1: Chapter 2 038 Humanitari
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Section 1: Chapter 2 112 ID 21 Heal
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Section 1: Chapter 3 007 “Amount
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Section 1: Chapter 3; Chapter 4 079
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Section 1: Chapter 4 047 IDEA. “W
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Section 1: Chapter 4 113 E.g. Conve
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Section 1: Chapter 4; Section 2 181
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Centre on Housing Rights and Evicti
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World Association of Girl Guides an
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marriage. Its many publications on
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health and educational quality can
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Plan Offices Plan International Hea
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Because I am a Girl: Urban and Digital Frontiers - Plan International

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