SharpLight is supporting Because I am a Girl because we understand how important it is to address barriers and challenges that hinder or prevent girls and women from pursuing their passions and talents. SharpLight is committed to helping improve the quality of life in communities worldwide. We contribute to the quality of life in communities through donations and sponsorship programs. For every machine sold at SharpLight we are contributing to Because I am a Girl’s global initiative to end gender inequality, promote girls’ rights and lift millions of girls – and everyone around them – out of poverty.
There is an urgent need to stand up for the rights of millions of girls. In the poorest regions of the world, girls face double discrimination and unique barriers to survival and development, simply because they are young and female.
- 70% of the world’s 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty is made up of girls and women.
- Girls are three times more likely to be malnourished than boys.
- 66 million girls do not attend primary and secondary school in the poorest countries of the world.
- More than 10,000 girls a day will get married before they turn 15.
- Girls’ fundamental human rights to survival, development (including education and employment), protection (from violence, neglect, and abuse) and participating in decisions that affect their lives are increasingly under threat.
Plan’s Because I am a Girl initiative is working to change that because we know that investing in girls and women is the key to transforming lives, lifting families, communities, and entire nations out of poverty.
- For every year a girl stays in secondary school, her eventual wages will be boosted by 15 to 25 percent. When she earns an income, she reinvests on average 90 percent of it into her family, compared to only 30 to 40 percent among men.
- When a girl in the developing world receives seven years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children.
- It has been estimated that universal secondary education for girls in sub-Saharan Africa could save as many as 1.8 million lives annually.
- Girls and women having equal access to technology, land, education, financial services and markets would mean 100 to 150 million fewer hungry people worldwide.
- There is a 20% increase in child survival when household income is in a mother’s hands
To learn more about Because I am a Girl, please go to: becauseiamagirl.ca
