Girl talk

"… the best way to fight this is to educate the young girls so that they KNOW that they are not being treated right. Many women just feel that that is the way things are, and that they cannot change." Mareka, 15, from Australia

© UNICEF/HQ96-1183/Pirozzi

Girls perform a chemistry experiment at school in Lusaka, capital of Zambia.

By the age of 13 or 14, a girl with little education or knowledge of her own rights may find she has few choices.

She may marry very early – either forced by her parents or as a result of more subtle pressure from social expectations and traditions.

If she works outside the home, she may be at greater risk of being overworked, underpaid, and even physically abused.

"Change must take place through evolution, through educating the young people of today. We can only hope that the adults of tomorrow will make the right choice." Girl, 16, from the UK

Other girls are in an even worse situation. In Brazil, for instance, an estimated half a million girls under the age of 20 make their living as prostitutes. Many of these girls are poorly educated and resort to prostitution because they feel they have no other way of helping to support their families. 

Generally, girls who have not had access to an education are more likely to live in poverty when they become adults. About 70 per cent of the world's poorest people are women. Around the world, women earn, on average, only three-quarters of what men earn. And although they put in two-thirds of the world's working hours every year, they own only one-tenth of the world's wealth and an equally small portion of the property.

This is why it is so important that girls have access to a quality education.