The Devaluation of Girls Around the World
Being born a girl remains, in much of the world, a disadvantage from the very first breath. Girls in many countries eat last and eat least. They are pulled from school to care for siblings while their brothers attend. They are married before they are old enough to understand what marriage means. They are denied the education, health care, and legal protections that would give them any chance at a different life.
More than 640 million women alive today were married before their eighteenth birthday. At the current pace of change, the United Nations estimates it will take 300 years to end child marriage globally. Girls are told — by law, by culture, by silence — that their lives are worth less than the boys beside them. The BabyGirl Network refuses to accept that verdict.