Attaining SDGs by 2030: Early marriage of girls could make it hard:UNFPA
Early marriages threaten to keep Bangladesh from achieving the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with 59 percent girls getting married here before they reach 18, according to a UN Population Fund report released yesterday.
Apart from child marriage, the UNFPA in its State of the World Population 2016 report warned against child labour and other practices that undermine girls' education, health and rights, key factors in attaining the SDGs by 2030.
“Practices that harm girls and violate their human rights -- starting at age 10 -- prevent them from realising their full potential as adults and from contributing to the economic and social progress of their communities and nations,” the UNFPA said in the report.
The adolescent fertility rate is as high as 113 per 1,000 live births in Bangladesh.
Pregnancy has long-term negative health effects on adolescent girls, and too many girls thus succumb to maternal mortality and morbidity. It is also a major reason for high gender-based violence, experts say.
Though girls' enrolment in primary schools is nearly universal in the country, enrolment in secondary schools stands at 69 percent with 47 percent dropout rate, which is 10 percent more than boys.
School dropout denies them skills and job opportunities as found in official data. Only 36 percent women participate in formal employment, far less than men's 82.5 percent.
“Leaving girls and women behind means the world cannot achieve the SDGs that are equitable and leave none behind,” Argentina Matavel Piccin, UNFPA representative in Bangladesh, told journalists at her office in the capital on the occasion when the report was released.
The report focuses on 10-year-old girls and challenges the world's notion of taking measures for their education, health and social safety.
Of 125 million 10-year-olds in the world today, 60 million are girls who are systematically disadvantaged at the global level as they move through adolescence into adulthood, according to the report.
Nine out of 10 10-year-old girls live in developing countries, and one in five lives in a least developed country: one in five is in India, and one in eight in China.
If all the 10-year-old girls who drop out of school or do not attend school in developing countries completed secondary education, they would trigger a $21 billion annual dividend, according to the State of World Population Report.
At present, there are 16 million girls between 10 and 19 years in Bangladesh.
“Today's ten-year-old girls will be 25 by 2030. How they fare will depend on the measures taken by the country and community,” Piccin said.
At that age, girls reach puberty and face much vulnerability -- sexual harassment, child marriage, child labour etc.
These practices prevent girls from utilising their immense potentials and in turn have great impact on society as a whole, Piccin said.
Explaining why more investment is needed for these girls, she said that if these girls have education and nutrition, they can become a great scientist, an astronaut, a great teacher etc.
“If these rights are denied, a lot of opportunities are lost,” Piccin said. Age-appropriate sexuality and reproductive education can empower girls and protect them from sexual violence and early marriage.
The UNFPA will measure the progress of today's 10-year-old girls up to 2030, the end year to achieve the SDGs, said its representative in Bangladesh.
On Bangladesh's status, Piccin said the government had to invest in girls who were lagging far behind boys.
The initiative of making secondary education free for girls is praiseworthy, she said.
Now only 300 schools and 50 madrasas came under sexuality and reproductive health education through Generation Breakthrough Project, she said insisting on its fast expansion.
“We need to change the mindset of our boys about girls.”
For that to happen, awareness has to be built among parents, teachers and the authorities, Piccin said.
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