****************************************************************************** This bulletin has been made available in electronic format by the United Nations. Reproduction and dissemination of the bulletin - in electronic and/or printed format - is encouraged, provided acknowledgement is made of the role of the United Nations in making it available. ****************************************************************************** United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women YOUTH PLATFORM FOR ACTION EDUCATION --------- Education is fundamental to development. Young people throughout the world are better educated than 25 years ago. However, wide gaps still persist between young men and young women's educational achievement in many areas of the world. Illiteracy According to a UNESCO report in 1990, global illiteracy rates showed that young women between the ages of 15-24 were over 40% more illiterate than young men in the same age group with 107 million young women and 62 million young men illiterate in developing regions. School Enrolment Female enrolment in primary-secondary levels of education are over 30% lower in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and South Asia, excluding Latin America and the Caribbean where girls and women's enrolment exceeds those of the men. Female enrolment in post-secondary education has been growing in all parts of the developing world but is still at a dismal rate. In Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, South Asia and Oceania, female's enrolment is 50% lower than the rate of male enrolment. "Investing in formal and non-formal education and training for girls and women, with its exceptionally high social and economic return, has proved to be one of the best means of achieving sustainable development and economic growth that is both sustained and sustainable." (Draft, Platform for Action, para. 71) Educated women have fewer and healthier children and mobilize the frequently neglected innovative and intellectual resources of society. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE YOUTH CONSULTATIONS: 1. Improve the accessibility of education for female youth. Girls and young women in many developing countries have lower enrolment rates and have higher absenteeism and drop-out rates due to customary attitudes, domestic responsibilities, early marriages, pregnancies, inaccessible educational facilities, migration and as a result of war and armed conflict. Measures can be taken to improve young women's access to education, such as: Promote public awareness campaigns on the advantages of education for females; Establish child care facilities in schools for young mothers; Abolish laws which prevent females from continuing their education, such as young single mothers; Develop special programmes to educate disadvantaged females such as rural youth, disabled youth, school drop-outs, street children, and migrant and refugee youth. 2. Develop new paradigms of education. Policies must be developed and implemented to expand the accessibility of formal education. Quality non-formal education in the form of information gained from parents, relatives, friends, community leaders and the media must be integrated into formal educational systems. 3. Ensure that education is based on social needs. Educational programmes should be developed which will provide female youth with the necessary combination of vocational guidance, technical training, social skills, work experience, health information and education in social values, including studies in political participation, human rights, citizenship and the environment. 4. Gain access to science and technology. Policies must be developed to encourage young women in the sciences and technology, including information technology. HEALTH ------ "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Women's health involves their emotional, social and physical well-being, and it is determined by the social, political and economic context of women's lives as well as by biology. (Draft, Platform for Action, para. 91) Reproductive Health Sabina Yasmin, a 16 year old female from a remote village in Bangladesh was sexually abused by a young man who promised to marry her. Sabina was pregnant. Her mother brought her to a village abortionist who inserted a stick into Sabina's uterus to induce abortion. Infection and pain ensued. She was brought to the hospital at a great deal of expense to her family who borrowed money with interest to pay for her medical care. Her brothers had no sympathy, her family became outcast and Sabina unmarriageable. -International Planned Parenthood Federation World-wide, pregnancy complications are the leading cause of death among young women. Unsafe abortions are a major public health concern. The prevention of unwanted pregnancies must always be given the highest priority. Appropriate, community-based sex education programs including reproductive health and family planning need particularly to target young people. The training of youth as peer counsellors who disseminate information on sexual and reproductive health is essential. "Adolescent girls are both biologically and psychologically more vulnerable than boys to sexual abuse, violence and prostitution, and to the consequences of [unprotected] sexual relations. The trend to early sexual experience, combined with a lack of information and services, increases the risk of unwanted and too early pregnant, HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases, as well as [unsafe abortions]." (Draft, Platform for Action, para. 95) AIDS About half of the world-wide infected population - which amounts to 4.5 to 5.5 million people - are younger than 25 years of age. Since the start of the pandemic, more than six million young people have been infected with the AIDS virus. Youths are at particular risk of HIV infection due to the influences of psychological, developmental and societal factors, including ignorance of safe sexual practices. The risk of contracting HIV through intercourse is two times greater for females than males. When physical force is involved in sexual intercourse, genital trauma increases the female's risk of HIV infection. Each year, 1 out of every 20 teenagers contracts a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Some STDs can cause lifelong disabilities, such as infertility or even death. -Population Reference Bureau Sexually transmitted disease rates are highest among 15 to 29 year olds. Young females are particularly affected by STDs, including pelvic inflammatory disease which is a bacterial infection of the female reproductive organs and can lead to pelvic pain, infertility, and life-threatening ectopic pregnancy. Another STD, Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes cervical cancer. Infected females can be asymptomatic until it is too late. Governments must . . . "facilitate the development of community strategies that will protect women of all ages from HIV and other STDs, provide care and support to infected girls, women and their families". (Draft, Platform for Action, para. 109f) Nutrition An estimated 450 million adult women in developing countries are stunted as a result of earlier protein-energy malnutrition which is responsible for subsequent childbirth complications leading to the death of mother and infant. Fifty percent of pregnant females in the developing world are anemic risking potential mental retardation in their offspring. Millions of females are blind as a result of vitamin A deficiency, a fate which could have been prevented by the consumption of half a carrot a day. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE YOUTH CONSULTATIONS: Organise community-based sex education programs utilising youths as both role models and counsellors of safe sex, reproductive health and family planning; Use non-formal education to inform youths in a manner appropriate to their age and formal educational level about health issues including primary health care, environmental health, and hygiene; Ensure accessible, affordable and comprehensive health services including, pre-natal, child-bearing and maternal and child health services, and screenings for STDs and HIV; Train all health-care professionals to be sensitive to the health issues of females, regardless of the females' age, background, economic situation and sexual orientation; Update and disaggregate existing data bases to reflect the health needs of female youth; and Conduct research on sexual practices and implications as they relate directly to young female youth. POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT ------------------------ Young people make up a significant but highly insecure part of the global work force. Young people comprise between one quarter and one third of the total work force in every region but Eastern Europe and the former USSR. Almost everywhere, young women are entering the work force faster than young men. Two thirds of the world's youth live in developing countries with very low per capita incomes of less than $1000 per year. During the 1980's, their income on average dropped. The main way out of poverty is through productive employment compensated at a living wage. Due to the nature of the work often available to young people such as employment as factory workers, artisans, service technicians, street vendors, sales people and prostitutes, female youth are not fully integrated in the work force and thus are the most affected by economic recession. Young women in parts of the developing world suffer from lack of primary and secondary education Young women are discouraged from pursuing careers in high-level occupations such as in science and technology and suffer from lack of appropriate training Female youth are generally less likely to be hired as compared with their male peers, do not receive comparable wages for the same amount of work, and are not as likely to be promoted within their field of work. With bleak economic prospects in the labour force, millions of girls and women are forced into the international prostitution industry, otherwise known as the trade in women or trafficking in women. Governments, with the help of non-governmental organizations and youth groups, can do many things to improve employment opportunities for female youth and thus decrease the number of young women living in poverty. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE YOUTH CONSULTATIONS: 1. Training Programs for Young Women: Over half of the world's countries have special government departments or ministries to address youth issues, including employment. Youth employment training programs must adopt a gender perspective to compensate for the special barriers that young women face. Training should be provided to close the gaps between young men and women and to explore non-traditional occupations for young women. 2. Special Support for Young Women in the Work Force: Women tend to have less mobility due to traditional family responsibilities in accessing social services which would ease the impact of poverty and enable them to be productively employed. Support services to help young women can include: subsidies for transportation, child-care, food, health services, access to credit and long-term housing mortgages. 3. Affirmative Action to Reduce Gender Discrimination: Laws should also be developed to eliminate employment obstacles for young women, to promote fair hiring practices and to prevent exploitation. 4. Special Emphasis on Female Rural Youth: Those who migrate to urban centres face special problems such as overcrowding, high crime rates, health hazards and marginalization. There must be more national investment for youth to provide opportunities to ensure a viable livelihood in rural regions. VIOLENCE -------- "Violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men." (Draft, Platform for Action, para. 118) The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women lists abuses which directly affect young females, including: Physical, sexual, and psychological violence occurring in the family and in the community, including battering, sexual abuse of female children, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women; Non-spousal violence; Violence related to exploitation; Sexual harassment and intimidation in educa-tional institutions and elsewhere; Trafficking in women; Forced prostitution; and Violence perpetrated or condoned by the State. Additional violations against young females include forced sterilisation, forced abortion, coercive/forced use of contraceptives, female foeticide, prenatal sex selection, female infanticide, slavery, forced marriage and forced labour. The daunting list of abuses traumatises and immobilises females of every age. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Approximately 6,000 girls daily face genital mutilation. An estimated 85 to 114 million female children are genitally mutilated. FGM is seen as a passage from childhood to adulthood even though the mutilation is inflicted most often on girls between four and eight years of age. Without the 'circumcision' she is not considered to be worthy of marriage by the male dominated societies where the mutilation is most commonly performed. Domination of a female's sexuality is the deepest assault that can be inflicted on a young girl's sense of self worth. In these cultures there is no self worth without FGM. Sexual Violence and Exploitation The chilling reality of the prevalence of child sexual abuse is coming to the forefront of society's awareness, belying the depth to which young females are devalued as humans. "Young women may be forced to leave home as a result of physical or sexual abuse within the family and due to a lack of adequate support, they may be forced to enter prostitution." (Asia-Paci-fic Youth Consultations) Young females are also driven into prostitution due to poverty and consumerism. Females who are economically disadvantaged and uneducated have little choice but to turn to prostitution to support themselves and their children. "Nothing is wrong in sending out teenage girls to be prostitutes. I am satisfied with the 2-4,000 baht my daughter sends home monthly. I can afford to buy a colour TV, refrigerator, and other electronic appliances because my daughter shows her gratitude to me by sending home money." --Male villager, Mae Hong Son, Thailand DOMESTIC VIOLENCE "Full of anger, he set my body on fire in front of my four year old son, saying that if I would not die I would look so physically injured that nobody would recognize me and no man would want me". --Maria Celsa da Conceicao, Brazil, Demanding Accountability, Center for Women's Global Leadership and UNIFEM Violence against young women in the home includes physical, sexual, and psychological batter-ing. This violence is often legally condoned when inflicted by a father or husband. Under certain legal systems, husbands have been given permission to chastise, rape and even murder his wife, often resulting in little or no penalty. Armed Conflict "On the morning of March 3, the Chetniks [Serbian fighters] arrived in our village. They rounded up all the women and girls. They raped us every night. There were nights when more than 20 of them came. I cannot live with the memories. I will go insane." --Mirsada, 17 year old survivor of Bosnian "ethnic cleansing"; Ms. magazine "Women and children constitute some 80% of the 23 million refugees and of the 26 million [internally] displaced persons in the world." (Draft, Platform for Action, para. 137) As mentioned in the draft of the Platform for Action, war crimes inflicted on females include the violation of human rights during armed conflict such as murder, rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, especially in ethnic cleansing as a strategy of war and its consequences; terrorism, and the female's systematic use as a weapon of war. Many displaced women resist programs offered to them, driven instead by their hope to soon return home. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE YOUTH CONSULTATIONS: Encourage the media to improve the image of females and promote their portrayal in non-traditional roles; Countries must banish the abuse and exploitation of females such as abduction, rape and incest, pornography, trafficking, abandonment and prostitution; Establish shelters and alternative care systems to protect young people and children who are victims of violence, neglect and abuse; Change legal frameworks that devalue females' autonomy and human rights; Reduce military expenditure to release funds for health, education, and welfare; Acknowledge and research the full impact of conflict situations on females of all ages; and Ensure sufficient resources for the integration of women affected by wars and conflicts into society. -----