Thought it could be useful to raise awareness of issues facing woman and girls worldwide and discuss what we can do to help them.
Please do feel free to add to the list also as there will be loads that I’ve missed.
It made me very angry writing and researching this:
FGM - ‘the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and within communities from countries in which FGM is common’
FGM is still practiced within the UK and is of course illegal here, we have only had one successful prosecution since it was made illegal and it was February this year - www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-47094707
Girls are encouraged to not tell anyone about it, awareness for the communities and those around them is the only way we can end FGM here. With wider efforts needed accords the globe.
Safe access to abortion - this is not just something that happens in third world countries, this is happening on our very doorstep in the UK! Northern Ireland has still not updated its abortion laws. Woman are being forced to continue pregnancies, even if they are raped, even if it was through incest and this needs to change.
Child brides - 140 million girls will become child brides between 2011 and 2020 . Girls who marry before age 18 are typically denied an education, at risk of complications related to premature childbearing, and more vulnerable to intimate partner violence.
Maternal health - The World Health Organization estimates that 800 women die every day from preventable, pregnancy related causes. That’s nearly 300,000 lives per year needlessly lost during what is fundamentally a life-creating event.
Sex based violence 1 in 3 woman Experience physical or sexual abuse in their lifetime. I’m not sure what more I can say on this than attitudes need to change.
Access to education A 2013 report by UNESCO found that 31 million girls of primary school age were not in school, and about one out of every four young women in developing countries had never completed their primary school education. That number represents a huge pool of untapped girl power: that same report suggests that educated women are more likely to get married later, survive childbirth, raise healthy kids, find work, and earn more money, among other positives.
Trafficking of woman and children This is the fastest growing crime in the world, it pulls in an estimated $99billion per year and there’s an estimated 25 million people trapped in forced labour, with an estimated 71% being woman and girls.