Girls becoming more valued across the world, UN says

Despite difficult odds, females going to school, learning about their rights

For millions of girls facing overwhelming odds in developing countries, Malala Yousafzai is a shining beacon in darkness.

The 18-year-old survivor of an attack by Taliban militants bent on barring girls from schooling is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, an author, documentary star and one of the world’s best known activists for her gender. But she’s not alone. In the 20 years since the Beijing conference on women made malefemale inequality a global priority, rays of light have reached girls who in the last century would have been doomed to the misery of early marriage, domestic slavery, violence, genital mutilation, illiteracy and abject poverty.

“Today more girls are going to school, more women have joined the labour force and more women have access to sexual and reproductive health services, including family planning,” says the UN population fund’s executive director Babatunde Osotimehin.

As girls gain education, they’re learning more about their rights and fighting for them. They pass their knowledge on to others, seek leadership roles in their communities and mobilize action against practices that control and disempower girls and women.

International aid programs have helped to end genital mutilation in more than 1,000 communities worldwide, and 38 countries have adopted national strategies to end child marriage. Investment in education has also paid off. Girls’ literacy rates are rising and in Afghanistan, one of the world’s most illiterate countries, about 3.2 million girls are in school — a jump from less than 400,000 in 2001.

“The good news is, girls are becoming more valued, and girls themselves are feeling empowered and hopeful for their rights in the future,” says Nidhi Bansal, a senior gender equality adviser for Plan Canada.

“However, despite their optimism they can’t do it alone. Unless systemic barriers are broken down, girls’ rights will remain unfinished business. It is society, not just girls, that needs to change.”

SHAH MARAI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES International aid programs have helped females across the world, including these Afghan women and girls who have been displaced by violence.