{"id":41628,"date":"2013-10-08T14:14:40","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T18:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=41628"},"modified":"2013-10-08T14:16:39","modified_gmt":"2013-10-08T18:16:39","slug":"means-girl-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/means-girl-world\/","title":{"rendered":"What it means to be a girl in our world"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Editor’s Note: October 11 of every year is designated by the U.N. as the “International Day of the Girl Child.” The following article is focused on girl children and what we can do to help them live and thrive throughout the world. As the article mentions, abortion is one of the chief reasons so many girls – 200 million – are missing from our world today. Take this writer’s advice, and do what you can, <\/em>today, to rescue girls who are being led to the slaughter. This article first appeared at We Are That Family<\/a> on October 8, 2013, and is reprinted with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

There is a price on her head. She runs for her life because she knows they will kill her, she hides in dark corridors like a criminal, she sells her body for food.<\/p>\n

What is her crime?<\/p>\n

She is a girl.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"MH<\/a><\/p>\n

The United Nations estimates there are\u00a0200 million missing<\/a>\u00a0just like her, killed, aborted or abandoned just because they are girls. Today, India and China eliminate more girls in their countries than are born in America every year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a quiet genocide.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just a foreign issue: in our country we exploit, objectify and even traffic girls. Pornography is a\u00a010 billion dollar industry<\/a>. Sex sells and our daughters are the commodity. There must be a direct correlation to this booming practice when you consider trafficking is on the increase in our nation. Girls are\u00a0trafficked in 49 states<\/a>\u00a0in our country and the average entry age for commercial exploitation is between the ages of 12-14 years old and many of these girls are punished for prostitution instead of helped as a victim.<\/p>\n

\"MH<\/a><\/p>\n

In countries like Kenya, girls have been subjected to genital mutilation and polygamy and sent out to prostitute their bodies for food to help feed their families. And if they end up pregnant, they have to quit school and are often kicked out of their homes. Some are orphaned, some are trafficked.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the main reason we risked it all and started\u00a0Mercy House<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A day this week has been set aside as International Day of the Girl.<\/p>\n

The Day of the Girl is a response to an\u00a0urgent problem<\/strong>\u00a0facing our world today: the\u00a0neglect and devaluation of girls around the world<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You might have a daughter or two, a sister, you\u2019re probably a mom reading this. And we are busy busy people with so much to do, so many demands placed on us. But we cannot ignore the plight of our sisters around the globe.<\/p>\n

How can we help? Because this isn\u2019t just a day,\u00a0it\u2019s a call to a movement,\u00a0<\/strong>we can stand up for the girls in our world by boycotting places that sell pornography, getting involved locally in trafficking organizations like\u00a0Not for Sale<\/a>, become active in the fight to save our girls.\u00a0Here are 11 tangible ideas for action<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo act is too small; you may never know the full extent of your impact. Activism is contagious. While you may be one person, your voice and actions can touch others, whose voices and actions can touch still others, and so forth until we experience change. This is how activism works.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(Fight Like a Girl by Megan Seely)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We can also do something right now. Change begins with the opportunity for education.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll never forget sitting on a blanket outside\u00a0Mercy House<\/a>\u00a0in Kenya with one of the very first residents almost three years ago. This young girl had been rescued from unspeakable horrors. She gingerly reached out to touch my white skin and said, \u201cThank you for bringing me here.\u201d I thought she was referring to sleeping on a bed, living in a clean home with plenty of food, a safe place to heal and become a mother. \u00a0But her next words surprised me. She thanked me for the the chance to get an education. \u201cI want to learn. This is what I want the most. I want to be something,\u201d and then she put her hands on her swollen belly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know from study after study that there is no tool for development more effective than the education of girls and women.\u201d Kofi Annan<\/p>\n

Education is a fundamental right for all people, women and men, of all ages. Unfortunately in Kenya and many countries like it, education for girls still lags behind education for boys.<\/p>\n

When girls are given the opportunity to learn, it not only changes their lives, it changes the world (facts based on research at\u00a0womendeliver.org<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\"SBP_3470\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Educating girls raises lifetime incomes<\/b>\u00a0for them, their families and their countries.<\/strong>\u00a0In particular, girls with secondary education have an 18% return in future wages, as compared to 14% for boys.<\/li>\n
  2. Educating girls and women fosters democracy<\/b>\u00a0and women\u2019s political activity. Educated women are more likely to resist abuses such as domestic violence, traditions like female mutilation, and discrimination at home, in society or the workplace.<\/li>\n
  3. Educating girls and women saves children\u2019s lives<\/b>. Each additional year of schooling for girls reduces infant mortality for their offspring by up to 10%. Also, mothers provide better nutrition and health care and spend more on their children: girls and women spend 90% of their earned income on their families, while men only spend 30-40%<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you are interested in finding out more about Mercy House and how you can help, go here<\/a> to finish reading the article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Editor’s Note: October 11 of every year is designated by the U.N. as the “International Day of the Girl Child.” The following article is focused on girl children and what we can do to help them live and thrive throughout the world. 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