Plan's Worldwide "Because I'm A Girl" Campaign Needs Our Support

Because women are still considered secondary earners, they're often the first to lose their jobs in a downturn. In the Philippines, for example, it's estimated that 7 out of 10 workers laid off because of the financial crisis are women.

That's just in the "formal" sector — official jobs in offices and factories. Many more young women are employed as domestics or piece-rate home workers — precarious jobs that vanish in tough economic times. Many families are dependent on the money sent home by young women who have migrated to wealthier countries to take jobs as nannies or caregivers. Overseas workers contributed $14.5 billion to the Philippine economy in 2007. Those jobs quickly disappear when employers are laid off themselves or need to cut back.

When money is short, it's the girls who are taken out of school and put to work.When jobs are scarce, unfortunately they're highly likely to end up in the sex trade.

 

The truth is when we began the research for this year's Because I Am a Girl study more than a year ago, we had no idea what was about to hit. We did know that investing in girls is the smart thing to do in any economic cycle, because it delivers a higher return than any other investment made in a country's development. We wanted more people to know that in many parts of the world, girls are hugely disadvantaged when it comes to access to education, and that an extra year of education can increase a girl's eventual income by 10-20%.

We wanted to better understand the impact on a country's economy when women have access to capital to start their own businesses. Among the things we learned was that the UN estimates if barriers to women entrepreneurs in Tanzania were removed, economic growth in the country could increase by a full 1 percent.

Study after study confirms that if young women are economically active, their country's economy grows and all members of their family benefit. They are less likely to get married at a very young age, they have fewer and healthier children, they contribute to the economy, and they invest 90% of what they earn in the well-being of their families.

Three years ago, Plan decided to take the lead in shining a spotlight on the discrimination faced by girls because of their gender and their age. We've been following the lives of 142 girls from birth — in Brazil, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Benin, Togo, Uganda, Cambodia, Philippines and Vietnam — and intend to report on them each year until their ninth birthdays in 2015. Already, we're getting a deeper understanding of their challenges and how their families are striving to overcome them. Despite their poverty, these mothers have high aspirations for their daughters.

This year, we decided it was high time to reach out to Canadian mothers and daughters — and sisters, aunts, nieces — with a challenge. I'm excited to say that today, on September 22, which we've named Plan's "Day of the Girl," we're launching a campaign aimed at mobilizing Canadian girls to play a powerful role in supporting their "sisters" in the developing world. We think there's a great opportunity for girls here to get involved - and get their families involved in overcoming injustice and changing the lives of underprivileged girls. Perhaps their own lives will change as well.

Please visit our new campaign website at becauseiamagirl.ca to find out how to participate, and keep coming back throughout the fall to see what's new. And read this excellent article from last weekend’s Toronto Star on the power that girls have to change the world. I'm looking forward to the journey!

Rosemary McCarney,
CEO,
Plan Canada