Part I The human rights of women and girls Child marriage: Child marriage (defined as marriage before the age of 18 years) is widespread and affects tens of millions of girls. In some African and South Asian countries, half of all girls are married by the time they are 18.27 Child marriage often has a devastating effect on girls, as well as on their families and communities. Girls who marry early are usually forced to leave school and move away from family and friends. Once married, they are at risk of domestic violence, sexual abuse and health complications associated with early sexual activity and childbearing. This in turn leads to high rates of maternal and child mortality. Conflict and post-conflict situations may impact marriage practices by exacerbating the factors that increase girls’ vulnerability to child marriage (for example, girls displaced by war and girl refugees being married early to “protect” them from sexual violence in conflict situations or refugee camps). Discrimination in education: Over the past decade there have been significant improvements in literacy and school attendance rates for girls in most regions and most countries. However, almost two thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women and this reflects continuing problems of discrimination.28 In many developing countries, girls are still more likely than boys to not attend school or to drop out early. For those girls who are at school, discrimination can result in lack of access to opportunities, failure to progress and early withdrawal.29 ASSESSING DISCRIMINATION IN EDUCATION: KEY QUESTIONS29 • Is education available to girls and women, throughout the cycle, and not simply in terms of primary level enrolments? • Is education accessible, in terms of the absence of financial, physical, geographical and other barriers? • Is education acceptable for girls and women as well as boys and men, in terms of its content, form and structure – both what is being taught and learned, and how that teaching and learning happens? • Is education adaptable, in terms of being responsive to girls’ and boys’ different needs and lives, taking into account phenomena such as girls’ and women’s labour, early marriage and pregnancy? Violence and harmful traditional practices: Gender-based violence against girls is widespread and can take place in many different contexts: in their homes, at school, at the workplace or in the community. For example, the United Nations estimates that, worldwide, up to 50 per cent of all sexual assaults are committed against girls under 16 years.30 Girls are also vulnerable to a number of harmful practices based on tradition, culture, religion and superstition. For example, according to the World Health Organization, about 140 million girls and women worldwide currently live with the consequences of female genital mutilation,31 a violation of their human rights that reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. 27 UNFPA;, Marrying Too Young: End Child Marriage; 2012. See also International Center for Research on Women; “Child Marriage Facts and Figures”; available at www.icrw.org/child-marriage-facts-and-figures. 28 Global Campaign for Education; Gender Discrimination in Education: The violation of the rights of women and girls; 2012; p. 6. See also United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs; The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics; 2010; Chapter 3. 29 Global Campaign for Education; Gender Discrimination in Education: The violation of the rights of women and girls; 2012; p. 6. 30 UN Women; “Statistics on violence against women and girls”; available at www.endvawnow.org/en/articles/299-fast-factsstatistics-on-violence-against-women-and-girls-.html. See also United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics; 2010; Chapter 6. 31 World Health Organization;, “Female genital mutilation: Fact sheet No. 241”; February 2013; and Understanding and addressing violence against women: Female genital mutilation; 2012. Chapter 1: Why focus on women’s and girls’ human rights? | 9