Because I am a Girl - The State of the World's Girls 2009

Because I am a Girl: The State of the World's Girls 2009 is the most comprehensive report ever published on girls' economic empowerment

New global report reveals investing in girls is crucial to ending poverty

Millions of girls at risk of falling deeper into poverty because of the global financial crisis

Report backed by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank, and Graca Machel, Nelson Mandela’s wife and a powerful advocate for women’s rights

A new report has found that the global financial crisis is threatening to plunge millions of girls further into poverty, thwarting the opportunity to break cycles of poverty in the developing world and build a foundation for global prosperity.

Because I am a Girl: The State of the World’s Girls 2009 – the most comprehensive report ever published on girls' economic empowerment – was today launched globally by leading international development agency Plan.

Presenting new analysis on the important role that girls and young women play in the economy, the third installment of Plan’s annual Because I am a Girl series argues that investing in girls is one of the best ways to end poverty and create global prosperity – an investment that is currently blocked in many countries around the world by persistent attitudes that girls are not as important as boys.

According to the report, investing in girls has a powerful effect on a family and community’s experience of poverty. For example, a girl who has received adequate education will grow into a woman who will have fewer children that are more likely to be healthy, well educated and break out of the cycle of poverty. Amazingly, a woman is likely to re-invest up to 90% of her income into her family; for men the figure is 30% to 40%.

The report’s findings are emphasised by the latest information from Plan’s nine-year cohort study that is tracking the lives of 142 girls from nine countries from birth until their ninth birthday in 2015, when the Millennium Development Goals should have been reached.

Ian Wishart, Plan in Australia’s Chief Executive, says the global financial crisis provides an opportunity to address the causes of poverty.

"Investing in girls yields real returns even to the poorest countries. Girls are uniquely placed to break intergenerational cycles of poverty whilst supporting economies, growth and global prosperity,” says Mr Wishart.

"Now is the time to ensure that a new course is set in which investment in girls and young women becomes a priority. It is time for governments, businesses, civil society organisations and the families of girls and young women around the world to commit to take action, invest in good policy and practice change.”

Plan is calling on Australians and Australian businesses to join its high-profile Because I am a Girl campaign by visiting a dedicated website - becauseiamagirl.com.au - to help to bring worldwide attention to the need for greater investment in girls to help end generational poverty cycles.

Featuring contributions from some of the world’s leading rights advocates including Graca Machel – Nelson Mandela’s wife and a powerful advocate for women’s rights – the report analyses the immediate impact of the current global recession on girls (and women), along with the long-term consequences of failing to invest in girls.

The report also highlights evidence that links a lack of investment in girls with poor economic growth. Recent World Bank Research shows that if the number of girls completing secondary education is increased by just 1%, a country’s annual per capita income growth is boosted by an average of 0.3% - reducing the need for foreign aid.

An extra year of school can increase a girl’s future wages by 10% to 20%; girls who attend secondary school make $US2000 more per year than girls who only attend primary school. Multiply that by the 1.6 million girls in Kenya who are not going to school and you can see the potential to increase national income by $US3.2 billion.

According to the detailed report findings, some of the immediate impacts of the global financial crisis on girls around the world include:

1. An estimated 50,000 extra African babies will die before their first birthday this year. Most will be girls.
   
   
2. Young women, millions of whom are employed in the informal and export-related sectors, are the first to lose their jobs.
   More than 60% of female workers in developing countries are in informal employment. Losing jobs will impact the ability of these young women to feed their children, send them to school and access healthcare – and in difficult times boys often get access to these resources before girls.
   
   
3. Remittances (money sent home by workers abroad) are falling, impacting the Gross Domestic Product (GPD) of many countries.
   At least half of all international migrants are women and they send millions of dollars in remittances back to their homes and families. Increased unemployment results in decreased remittances, which ultimately impacts the wellbeing of children, and a country’s GDP.
   
   
4. Girls are being pulled out of education and into domestic and other work, including child labour.

Cuts in national education budgets and a decline in remittances of migrant workers, which often help to keep children in school, could increase the number of children working. Recent global estimates indicate that more than 100 million girls are involved in child labour.  

The reports also warn that six of the eight Millennium Development Goals – the goals set by the world’s governments in 2000 to halve world poverty by 2015 – are unlikely to be achieved unless there is a greater international commitment to fight against gender discrimination.

To lend your support, visit www.becauseiamagirl.com.au and:

1. Be part of a passionate online community united to fight for girls’ rights and help them break the cycles of poverty in their communities.
2. Learn - By reading the Because I am a Girl reports.
3. Spread the word – share the message with a friend.
4. Donate – give to Plan’s GirlsFund to support Plan projects that are making a difference for girls and their communities around the world (gender equity and empowering girls/women are fundamental principles of all Plan projects).
5. Get your business involved.

ENDS

Further information

Contact for more detailed information, images and case studies:
David Cook, media officer for Plan International in Australia
Phone: (03) 9672 2652 / Mobile: 0448 816 900 / Email: media@plan.org.au

Notes to Editors

1. Because I am a Girl: The State of the World’s Girls 2009 is the third in a series of nine annual global reports on girls’ rights and the experiences of girls growing up in the world’s poorest communities.
2. The report was produced with guidance from human rights experts at Unicef and UNIFEM; economists from the World Bank, Difid and Standard Chartered Bank; academics at Swansea University and the University of Leeds; and input from the Nike Foundation.
3. In 2007, international community development agency Plan International set up a cohort study – Real Choices, Real Lives – to follow the lives of 142 girls in nine countries – Brazil, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Benin, Togo, Uganda, Cambodia, Philippines and Vietnam.