Society still needs to protect the girl-child

Girls at a school in Mombasa in this photo taken on January 2, 2018. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The high prevalence of HIV means that young married girls are particularly at risk.
  • To justify this, a combination of cultural, traditional and religious arguments are cited.

I was shocked recently when some people took to social and mainstream media to complain about the attention being given to the girl-child.

One even claimed that corporations are now hiring women for leadership positions to the detriment of their male counterparts.

I do not want to delve into that right now. However, there is still much more that needs to be done to ensure girls get the same opportunities as boys.

TRANSITION

Girls jump many hurdles to complete school. Many factors affect their transition from one class to the next.

Thankfully, governments and non-governmental organisations have been working towards gender parity in education, which has significantly reduced the school enrolment gap.

According to the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (Unicef), an estimated 23 per cent of girls in Kenya are married off prior to their 18th birthday and 4 per cent before they turn 15. This means that they drop out of school while boys continue learning.

Child marriage rates vary across regions. Northeastern and Coast regions have the highest prevalence rates while central Kenya and Nairobi city have the lowest.

Early marriage results in teenage pregnancy; the leading causes of maternal deaths and injuries for girls aged 15 to 19 are pregnancy and childbirth.

It also contributes to high rates of obstetric fistula, premature births, sexually transmitted diseases (including cervical cancer), HIV and domestic violence.

The high prevalence of HIV means that young married girls are particularly at risk.

SINGLE

A study conducted in Kisumu shows that 33 per cent of the married girls surveyed were infected with HIV as opposed to 22 per cent for their sexually active single counterparts.

Many girls in poor rural areas are often perceived by their families as either an economic burden or capital for their exchange value in terms of goods, money and livestock that is paid as dowry.

To justify this, a combination of cultural, traditional and religious arguments are cited.

However, education is a key driver as 67 per cent of women aged 20-24 with no education are married off as children, compared to 6 per cent who have a high school education or higher. Hence, if a girl completes her education, chances of her being forced into a marriage significantly reduce.

Another study revealed that rural women are twice as likely to be married before 18 as those living in urban areas.

According to Unicef, child marriage often compromises a girl’s development by resulting in early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupting her schooling, limiting her opportunities for career and vocational advancement and placing her at increased risk of domestic violence.

DEPRESSION

Female genital mutilation also affects girls’ education due to its immediate health and psychological consequences, including bleeding and excessive pain, and longer-term consequences such as pain, bleeding during sex and birth complications like obstetric fistula and maternal deaths and stillbirths.

Psychological consequences include fear of sexual intercourse, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.

Kenya has legislative mechanisms to fight these vices but some societies lack awareness and, therefore, continue to practise them.

There is, therefore, a need for enforcement of the relevant prohibitive laws as well as creating more awareness towards behaviour change in order to protect girls.

Protection of girls is needed now more than ever. The issues girls face are unique to them and no amount of comparing the genders can solve them.

Ms Njuguna is a strategist in communication for development at Sapphire Concepts. [email protected].