Save the Children: International Women's Day

Save the Children celebrates the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day with videos of success stories of brave women and girls.

From Save the Children:

In many poor communities around the world, sons are considered a blessing, while daughters are viewed as a burden. Often, families marry off their daughters early — sometimes as young as 9. Then, education ends and health risks grow. Young mothers and their babies are far more likely to die from complications during pregnancy and birth. Yet more than 16 million adolescent girls give birth a year — 95 percent of them in the developing world.

But what happens when you give a girl a voice? Save the Children, in partnership with the Nike Foundation, is helping girls develop the resources, skills and confidence to participate in planning their future. The Girls’ Voices project empowers girls and encourages families to let daughters prove just how much they have to offer.

Shathi’s Story: Married Young and Speaking Out view video.

Like many girls in rural Bangladesh, Shathi was forced to marry young and drop out of school. She had her first child at 15. That put both Shathi and her baby at far greater risk of death in a region where maternal and newborn mortality are already high. What happens when you give girls’ like Shathi a voice? Thanks to support from the Nike Foundation, Save the Children’s Girls’ Voices project has given 42,000 girls in Bangladesh a chance to answer that question. www.savethechildren.org

Shilpi’s Story: Proving the Value of Girls in Bangladesh view video.

In rural Bangladesh, sons are considered a blessing, while girls are seen as a burden. They are often married off young -- ending their education and putting them and their babies at greater risk of death from complications at birth or during pregnancy. But what happens when you give girls a voice? Shilpi gained the confidence to find an alternative -- even though women in her culture are expected to stay at home. Thanks to support from the Nike Foundation, Save the Children’s Girls’ Voices project has given 42,000 girls in Bangladesh a chance to raise their voices.

www.savethechildren.org

Child Marriage

From Talking Points Memo:

On Thursday night, hours before passing the tax cut compromise, House Republicans thwarted a bill that aimed to protect girls around the world from being coerced into child marriage. They opposed it because, they claimed, it might fund abortions.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), was blindsided. After the Child Marriage Protection Act passed the Senate with zero objection on Dec. 1 -- a rare feat these days -- it didn't seem like there was much to worry about.

But just before the vote began, Republican leadership blasted out a "whip alert" to GOP staffers with a message: Vote no. The alert claimed the bill cost too much and that a competing bill, introduced just the day before, would be better.

"There are also concerns that funding will be directed to NGOs that promote and perform abortion and efforts to combat child marriage could be usurped as a way to overturn pro-life laws," the alert read.

And so the bill, which needed a two-thirds vote to pass under the suspended rules, failed. Even some congressmen who sponsored the bill voted no.

McCollum, along with human rights organizations and the State Department, believes that child marriage is a form of child abuse that includes sexual abuse, domestic violence and slavery.

Read the full article here.

Read the bill here.

According to Change.org: Millions of girls are forced into child marriages around the world, sometimes with men over twice their age. In developing countries, child marriage is an incredible problem, with girls' physical and emotional health being endangered by this dangerous practice. From missing out on education to dangerous childbirth at a young age, girls in developing countries are especially at risk because of child marriage.

In response to the House of Representatives failure to pass the bill, change.org has started a petition which can be viewed and signed here.

Picture by Kay Chernush for the U.S. Department of State.