Help us show the world that investment in girls' development is key to ending poverty.
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The State of the World's Girls 2009 - view report

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It’s a good question: why focus on girls?
Aren’t boys important too?

All children are important, have the same rights and deserve the same opportunities, however research and field experience shows a specific focus on girls is needed for a few reasons.

  1. Girls in the developing world do not enjoy the same opportunities as boys. For example, they are more likely to suffer from malnutrition, die before the age of five and be forced to get married as a teenager.
  2. Girls who get the right opportunities are more likely to pass on the benefits to their family and community, for example:
    1. Women will reinvest 90% of their income back into the household whereas men reinvest 30%-40%
    2. Children of a woman who has completed primary school are less likely to die before the age of 5 than children of mothers who have no schooling.
  1. Investment in girls can improve a country’s economy. Statistics show that an increase in the number of girls in secondary education boosts a country’s wealth because many will enter the work force as wage earners who then have more money to spend.

Quite simply, investing in the rights of girls is one of the best ways to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty that traps many people around the world.