Girl Goals: What Has Changed for Girls? Adolescent girls’ rights over 30 Years
A new report by UNICEF, UN Women, and Plan International on progress—and persistent challenges—for adolescent girls worldwide.
Did You Know?
Globally…
- 122 million girls are out of school today.
- Adolescent girls aged 15-19 are more likely to not be in education, employment or training than their male peers.
- Almost 4 in 10 adolescent girls and young women do not finish upper secondary school.
- Nearly 1 in 4 ever-married or partnered adolescent girls aged 15-19 have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetimes.
- More than one third of adolescent girls and boys aged 15-19 consider a husband to be justified in hitting his wife under certain circumstances.
- The percentage of underweight adolescent girls aged 10-19 has only declined slightly in the last three decades, from 10 per cent to 8 per cent.
- With only five years remaining of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, no country with data has met even half of 16 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets crucial to adolescent girls’ well-being.
“I envision a world where we, as adolescent girls, are not just beneficiaries of change, but active architects of our present and future.”
— Gauri, 19, India
In the three decades since the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action was endorsed by 189 countries, remarkable gains have been made for adolescent girls across key domains—from rising school completion rates to legal reforms that strengthen their rights, to reductions in the number of adolescent girls giving birth. Yet, glaring gaps remain: nearly 1 in 4 adolescent girls (150 million) still live in countries that do not grant them the same legal rights as boys to inherit assets from their parents, millions remain out of school, and child marriage, female genital mutilation, sexual violence and intimate partner violence persist. Moreover, the progress that has been made has been uneven across regions.
This report explores what has changed for adolescent girls over the past three decades and what has not, highlighting the current status of girls when trend data are not available. To ensure every girl’s rights to thrive, a set of policy recommendations are made. These look at feasible models and approaches that can help us accelerate progress towards our SDG commitments for adolescent girls, taking into account fiscal constraints and the array of urgent issues countries face today.
While impressive gains have been made in girls’ schooling, adolescent girls and young women continue to be overrepresented among those not in education, employment or training.
Violence against women and girls, including harmful practices, is one of the most pervasive violations of human rights across the world.
Challenges to adolescent girls’ health and nutrition remain pervasive, especially in low-income countries.
Investing in Adolescent Girls is an Investment in the Future
With support for adolescent girls’ voices and movements; explicit targets for adolescent girls’ outcomes; and smart investments in the proven solutions to take change to scale, we can change the world, with and for girls. These investments would be transformative for girls, families, communities and economies as a whole – building from investments that have made inroads on girls’ rights in the past thirty years. We have what we need to take action; now is the time.
