Financial crisis is hitting girls hardest - study

Repost from the Sydney Morning Herald

Adele Horin

September 22, 2009

THE global recession is taking an ''inordinate'' toll on girls and young women in the developing world because they are the first in their families to go without food, be pulled out of schools, or lose their jobs, says the chief executive of an international aid agency.

Before the worldwide launch of a report called Because I am a Girl, the head of Plan International, Ian Wishart, said the economic crisis posed a particular threat to girls and women. But it also presented an opportunity to increase investment in girls' education and gender equality.

''Gender equality and investment in girls is pivotal to economic progress,'' Mr Wishart said.

Each extra year of education increased a girl's income by 10 to 20 per cent and meant she was more likely to have a smaller, healthier family, and to start to break the cycle of poverty.

The report says in hard-pressed times families have to make choices: ''In these circumstances girls, whatever their inherent abilities and potential, are worth less to their families.''

What has been called the world's ''first fully feminised recession'' - due to women now being a big part of the workforce - is believed to have stymied progress on girls' education, workforce participation, and gender equality. As well, the recession is predicted to lead to a huge rise in infant mortality, push more girls into the sex trade, and lead to unemployment for another 22 million women.

In a call to action to governments, aid agencies, businesses and civil society, Plan International says girls should be ''right at the heart of a new economic revolution''.

''We know from extensive research that mothers … are more likely to spend their income on the welfare of their household, so creating the conditions for the next generation to move out of poverty,'' the report says.

The report acknowledges gains in the past decade for the 500 million girls and young women living in developing countries - for example, 83 per cent of girls are now in school, and the global economy has brought young women some new job opportunities. But girls' chances of reaching their potential were still ''considerably less than those of their brothers''.

The report shows that the countries with the highest levels of discrimination embedded in their legal, social, and education systems are some of the least developed in the world. These include Mali, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Sudan. It urges national governments to eliminate legal restrictions on girls' right to own, inherit or acquire property and land, to end discriminatory inheritance laws, and to mandate registration of births in order to give girls a crucial legal identity.

Mr Wishart said governments, development agencies, and the UN should design all their programs with a view to improving outcomes for girls.

''It's a slow process because it's about changing values within a community,'' he said. ''There's a long way to go.''