Discrimination against girls 'still deeply entrenched'

Gender inequality and discrimination are widespread and pervasive, hindering governments' ability to meet key development goals, according to the British child development agency Plan International. Plan International's report, "Because I am a Girl," released on May 15, exposes the gender discrimination which remains deeply entrenched and widely tolerated across the world. Girls are more likely than boys to be malnourished, suffer poverty, face violence and be refused an education, according to the report, the first in a series of nine studies by Plan International. "Girls and young women, who make up almost a quarter of the world's population, probably face the greatest discrimination of any group of this size in the world," the report says. While many of the most shocking figures in the report relate to developing nations, it also shows that sexual discrimination is still prevalent in industrialized nations. The study collated statistics from around the world, looking at the lives of girls under the age of 18. Girls risk discrimination from the moment they are conceived, Plan International says, facing a far higher chance of being aborted before birth and malnourished or mutilated afterwards in societies which value boys over girls. Almost 100 million girls "disappear" each year, aborted or killed as babies. Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt and Morocco are cited as countries where there is a strong preference for baby boys over girls, and China alone accounts for 50 million "missing" women, the report says. Statistics show that 62 million girls are not even receiving primary school education while an estimated 450 million have stunted growth because of childhood malnutrition. Of the 1.5 billion people living on less than $1 a day, 70 percent are female, with 96 million young women aged 15 to 24 unable to read or write–almost double the number for males. The report highlights the fact that two million girls a year still suffer genital mutilation and half a million die during pregnancy–the leading killer among 15 to 19-year-olds–every 12 months. Early marriage in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia means that many girls engage in intercourse even before they are teenagers and have limited choice over birth control. Eighty-two million girls in developing countries who are now aged 10-17 will be married before their 18th birthday. In Niger, 76 percent of girls marry before reaching 18 and in Nepal 60 percent of girls do. An estimated 7.3 million young women are living with HIV/AIDS compared with 4.5 million young men. Almost a million girls fall victim to child traffickers each year compared with a quarter that number of boys. Nearly 50 percent of sexual assaults worldwide are against girls aged 15 years or younger. Those living in the conflict zones are particularly at risk. Economically, the report argues, it makes no sense to neglect girls and young women who have a real and valuable contribution to make to lifting countries out of poverty. Plan International says that education remains the key to improving the situation for girls and young women and in changing acceptance of discriminatory practices within a society. Education serves to change the lives of girls and young women for future generations too–educated girls are more likely, as mothers, to send their own girls to school. Plan says that the legal tools–such as international agreements and human rights charters–already exist but their principles must be followed. It also calls for listening to women under the age of 18 and using their opinions to inform policy and decision-making. Groups who encourage change, Plan International says, should be supported, "to ensure that when a child is born she is not discriminated against simply because she is a girl."