Mercy Global Concern - 2006

Mercy Global Concern: Report 1, March 2006

The Girl Child:

Facts to consider:

• At least 60 million girls who would otherwise be expected to be alive are “missing” from various populations as a result of sex-selective abortions or neglect.
  
• Existing discrimination against the girl child in her access to nutrition and physical and mental health services endangers her current and future health.
  
• Gender violence against girls and women is ingrained in cultures around the world.
  
• In some areas of the world men outnumber women by 5 or more in every 100 as a result of violence and gender discrimination.
  
• 120 million women have undergone some form of female genital mutilation; another 2 million are at risk each year.
  
• 2 million girls between ages 5 and 15 are introduced into the commercial sex market each year.
  
• 130 million children had no access to primary school; of these, 81 million were girls. This can be attributed to such factors as customary attitudes, child labour, early marriages, lack of funds and lack of adequate schooling facilities, teenage pregnancies and gender inequalities in society at large as well as in the family.
  
• More than 15 million girls aged 15 to 19 give birth each year as a result of early marriage and early pregnancy. This can severely curtail educational and employment opportunities; it has a long-term adverse impact on them and their children's quality of life