Investing the time and resources to understand the causes of schoolgirl dropout in each setting will pay off with more effective interventions. Photo by: Ashish Bajracharya / Population Council
By Stephanie Psaki - 27 March 2015
Does pregnancy really cause girls to drop out of school? Globally, “schoolgirl pregnancy” is cited as one of the primary barriers to girls’ education. But the story may not be as simple as it seems.
Yes, an adolescent girl’s formal education is usually over the moment she becomes a mother. Laws and culture often discourage girls from returning to school after giving birth. Unmarried girls may be pressured to marry the father of the child. Married or not, having a child can put an adolescent girl under intense financial strain. Finding work might be the only way to provide for her young family. Going back to school may feel impossible.
So how do we intervene? What can be done to support adolescent girls — to help those who want to prevent pregnancy and stay in school, and to help girls who give birth to continue their education?
By Harriet Baskas – April 13, 2015
Frequent traveler Katy Mann is "not super comfortable nursing in public, no matter how covered up she is." So when it comes time to nurse her baby in an airport while traveling with her children, Mann says her only option is often sitting on a dirty bathroom floor in a family restroom.
It's no easier when she travels without her baby.
In airports, "I find it difficult to find a place to pump," Mann said. "So I sit on a toilet in a stall, fully clothed, trying to stay as clean and sanitary as possible and then I dump (the milk) in the toilet because those bathrooms could be pretty dirty."
Mann's airport experience is quite common.
In November 2014, a study to determine which U.S. airports offered the minimum requirements for a breast-pumping mother (a private space with a chair, table and electrical outlets – other than a bathroom) showed that while 62 out of the 100 airports reported being "breastfeeding-friendly," only eight of the airports surveyed provided private lactation rooms that met the minimum requirements.
The Earth Charter
11. Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and ensure universal access to education, health care, and economic opportunity.
a. Secure the human rights of women and girls and end all violence against them.
b. Promote the active participation of women in all aspects of economic, political, civil, social, and cultural life as full and equal partners, decision makers, leaders, and beneficiaries.
c. Strengthen families and ensure the safety and loving nurture of all family members.
PREAMBLE
We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.
