Global Roundup: Children & Gender

The last few weeks have seen many stories popping up around the world relating to children and gender. Instead of focusing on one specific story, we wanted to provide you with a round up of the ones that have caught our attention.

A school for girls in Ghana

Parents in Ghana are being urged to put a premium on the education of young girls, with the hopes that it will lead to healthier women who earn more income in the long run.

Namibian President, Hifikepunye Pohamba, says that Gender Based Violence is still a very stark reality for many women and children in the country despite laws and programs in place to combat it.

On the heels of International Women’s Day, a new report from CARE shows evidence that by empowering women, countries can actually have an impact on the health of their children. The report gathered data from Bangladesh, and found that women who participated in various empowerment interventions were actually less likely to have stunted children than women who only received direct nutrition interventions.

India continues to be concerned over the skewed sex ration facing the country’s population. The gap between men and women has always been an issue, but more recent figure have shown that the proportion of girls ages 0-6 is at its lowest since the country gained independence.

In a move that will surely shock the Toddlers & Tiara fans of the world, France is currently considering banning beauty pageants within the country.

24,000 Women and children were rescued from Chinese human trafficking gangs. Many were found in police raids on over 3,000 gangs, and included many young boys who had been sold to couples specifically wanting boys in a country with a one-child restriction policy.

After their viral video on Joseph Kony and his army of children amassed over 75 million views, it seems as if everyone is talking about the organization, Invisible Children. People are weighing in both on both sides, either promoting the organizations endeavors and methods or criticizing various issues surrounding the group. Our own staff writer, Spectra, weighs in by sharing five African women’s voices on the situation.

Please share links to stories you’ve read or have written yourself on children/gender around the world.

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