United Press International - December 11, 2003
William M. Reilly, UPI United Nations Correspondent

Popularly known as UNICEF, the agency said development efforts are leaving them uneducated and unable to contribute to positive change for themselves.

"International development efforts have been glaringly inadequate at getting girls into school in too many countries," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, said in releasing "The State of the World's Children," the agency's flagship report.

"We have to ask ourselves why this is, and what the consequences are," she said. "In this report, the findings are clear. Gender discrimination is hampering development efforts, starting with the fundamental right of every child to go to school."

Development efforts are leaving hundreds of millions of girls and women uneducated and unable to contribute to positive change for themselves, their children, or their communities, according to the 148-page report. It said illiteracy rates were still far higher among women than men, and at least 9 million more girls than boys, 65 million compared to 56 million, were left out of school every year.

Bellamy said the results have lasting implications not only for girls and women, but for their children and families as well.

Without accelerated action to get more girls into school over the next two years, global goals to reduce poverty and improve human conditions will simply not be reached, the report said. At the same time, it said bringing down barriers that keep girls out of school would benefit both girls and boys and their countries.

"We stand no chance of substantially reducing poverty, child mortality, HIV/AIDS and other diseases if we do not ensure that all girls and boys can exercise their right to a basic education," Bellamy said in an accompanying statement. "In daily life, knowledge makes the crucial difference."

An adjustment in development strategies needed to get girls in school and keep them there would jump-start progress on the entire development agenda for 2015, known as the Millennium Development Goals, the report said. The goals are aimed at halving poverty and significantly improving health by that target date.

"Because of the persistent and often subtle gender discrimination that runs through most societies, it is girls who are sacrificed first -- being the last enrolled and the first withdrawn from schools when times get tough," the report said.

An agenda for action, presented in the report as "What Must Change," calls on development agencies, governments, families and communities to help.

It basically called for adjustments in how development was approached from the start, including among specific measures: creation of a national ethos recognizing the value of educating girls as well as boys; education to be included as an essential component in development plans; elimination of school fees of every kind; integration of education into national plans for poverty reduction; and increased international funding for education.

The report said the greatest need was in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of girls left out of school each year has risen from 20 million in 1990 to 24 million in 2002.

Of all girls left out of school, 83 percent live in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific.

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