Adolescents crucial in push for gender equality

Delegates queue outside City Hall on November 12, 2019 during the International Conference on Population and Development. Debate is raging on the need to involve adolescents in the global campaign aimed at achieving gender equality by 2030 which is part of the 17 SDGs launched in 2016. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Prof Robert Blum observed that it would be impossible to achieve gender equality by 2030 by ignoring adolescents.
  • Gender equality is one of the SDGs which is part of a wider 2030 agenda for the global sustainable development.
  • Dr Catherine Kabiru said there is need for countries to tailor their policies towards making the SGDs a reality by 2030.

Debate is raging on the need to involve adolescents in the global campaign aimed at achieving gender equality by 2030 which is part of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched in 2016.

This is after participants in the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+25) held in Nairobi last month, rooted for the involvement of adolescents in the gender equality campaign.

The participants argued that adolescents form huge chunk of the global population and it would, therefore, be wrong to leave them out of the gender equality push.

EQUALITY CAMPAIGN

The findings of the Global Early Adolescent Study conducted last year has informed the proposal to have them included in the global gender equality campaign.

The study was sponsored by the African Population and Health Research Centre, the Population Council Kenya, and the Global Early Adolescent Study at Johns Hopkins University.

It was conducted in 15 countries worldwide including Kenya and Ethiopia.

Prof Robert Blum from John Hopkins University, and who was the study’s lead researcher, observed that it would be impossible to achieve gender equality by 2030 by ignoring adolescents who he said make up half of the global population.

He added that it will be a tall order to realise global gender equality if adolescents continue to be relegated in the discussions.

2030 AGENDA

Gender equality is one of the SDGs which is part of a wider 2030 agenda for the global sustainable development. The SDGs were built on the previous Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Prof Blum said current indicators monitoring SDGs achievements are less about gender equality and more about women’s health.

He said 27 per cent of adolescent girls globally are married before the age of 18 while there are two million births to girls aged 15 years and below.

BOYS EXCLUDED

“Adolescents are not much discussed yet they make up about half of the global population. We cannot achieve gender equality if we continue ignoring them. Currently we have boys mostly excluded from the gender equality objective yet they are very critical,” said Prof Blum.

In his presentation during an ICPD+25 side event, Prof Blum said countries need to place adolescents at the centre of their gender equality campaigns and initiatives if they want to achieve it by 2030.

According to the study, Kenya has the 20th highest number of child brides in the world. A quarter (23 per cent) of young women were married before the age of 18 years.

CHILD MARRIAGES

Poverty, education level, teenage pregnancies, natural disasters, cultural practices, family factors and unmonitored social and recreational activities have been identified as main factors associated with child marriages in Kenya.

The study also indicates boys are often side-lined in programmes and interventions on gender equality and empowerment even though they are equally affected by gender inequalities.

The results of non-inclusion of boys in the gender equality programmes often manifest in the high rate of interpersonal and self-directed violence.

“In 2014, more adolescent boys than girls aged 15-19 (43 per cent versus 35 per cent reported lifetime experiences of physical or sexual violence in the past 12 months.

Mr Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli, the lead Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) at the World Health Organisation (WHO) said no one should be left be left behind including adolescents in the quest to achieve global gender equality.

LEFT OUT

Adolescents, estimated to be about one billion globally, have in the past been largely left out in gender equality push.

Beatrice Maina, a researcher at African Population and Health Research Centre said the study will be instrumental in placing adolescents in the global gender equality debate.

“Including adolescents in the gender equality push will ensure they are not left behind in the gender equality campaign. The study has shown that they are normally exposed to sexual productive health risk more so in the slums, where they are more prone to sexual violence, drugs and alcohol,” she said.

Dr Caroline Kabiru an associate with the Population Council of Kenya said there is need for countries to tailor their policies towards making the SGDs a reality by 2030.

Ms Kabiru noted the country had made remarkable progress towards achieving gender equality.

“The new Constitution guarantees gender equality, which among others include right to equal representation, education and employment between men and women,” she said.