{"id":5913,"date":"2016-10-11T06:53:13","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T13:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldvision.org\/?p=5913"},"modified":"2020-06-08T09:07:07","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T16:07:07","slug":"behind-the-curtain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldvision.org\/gender-equality-news-stories\/behind-the-curtain","title":{"rendered":"Behind the curtain: Best, worst places in the world to be a girl"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gender inequality starts at an early age. It sits on the shoulders of young women in sub-Saharan Africa, where it can take more than an hour just to get drinking water, where in over two-thirds of households* women are responsible for this chore, and where girls younger than 15 are twice as likely to carry the responsibility as boys the same age. Where does that leave time for basic schooling when basic survival is more important?<\/p>\n

This inequality follows young women as they are pressured into families, sometimes in places with no child marriage laws and inadequate healthcare infrastructure. And when spousal abuse happens in her home, how can a woman stop the violence if her culture treats it as a normal part of a relationship with a man? Where does that leave time for secondary education? For jobs?<\/p>\n

Together, these and other pressures pull female outcomes downward when compared with men,  especially in education — one of the fundamental pillars to ending generational poverty cycles.<\/p>\n

\"Global<\/p>\n

Gender inequality is most extreme in sub-Saharan Africa, even though since 2000 the region’s GDP has increased fivefold<\/a> and despite a sustained demand for exports like oil<\/a>. In least-developed countries particularly, infrastructure to advance women’s basic human rights is weak, partly because women are seen as the bottom of the social ecosystem and partly because of a shifting population of mostly women and children refugees. Women in some countries hardly ever see the opportunity to go to school, make an income, or own land. Domestic violence and violent crimes against women are often not classified as crimes at all, and take low priority when they are.<\/p>\n

The worst places<\/h3>\n

Chad, Guinea, and Niger are among the poorest countries in the world and are the worst for females. Although basic laws may exist that are meant to protect women in some respects, family and religious code often override those provisions.<\/p>\n