WASHINGTON — A new United Nations report says the world has work to do to reduce the number of young girls becoming mothers too soon.
Despite a decrease in adolescent pregnancies in the last 15 years, the United Nations Population Fund said each day 20,000 girls under the age of 18 give birth in the developing world, resulting in 7.3 million births a year. And two million girls under the age of 15 have a baby every year.
“Childhood and motherhood should be an oxymoron,” Dianne Stewart, of the U.N.’s Population Fund, said during a panel discussion at the Woodrow Wilson Center Wednesday. “But for too many girls around the world, circumstances and societal pressure conspire against girls to make motherhood a sad reality.”
But instead of focusing on behavior, a traditional tactic, the report suggests that nations work to change the perceived value of women.
“Really that’s what we’re talking about today,” Stewart said, “were talking about whether girls are worth protecting, are worth saving from a life of motherhood that starts at 12 or 13. Whether their nation sees them as being a valuable member… whether they see themselves as valuable and willing to stand up for themselves.”
Jennie Wetter of the Population Institute, which works to create awareness about “rapid population growth”, said until girls have the means “to say no, this is something you just can’t tackle.”
Wetter, who was not part of the U.N. panel, said “If you’re getting married at nine or 10 and are pulled out of school and are unable to have a formal education, you’re not going to have the power in any sort of relationship.”
Panelist Robert Blum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said child marriage is one of the main factors in adolescent pregnancy, which includes girls ages 10 to 18. The report recommends laws to stop early marriage in a time when one in nine girls in poor, non-industrialized countries is “forced into marriage” before the age of 15.
The U.N. Fund also recommends starting comprehensive sex education during the early school years.
“In many parts of the world, adolescents, and particularly young women, never make it beyond primary school years,” said Heather Boonstra, of the Guttmacher Institute. “That’s why this report calls for an attention on education and keeping young women in school and getting them beyond those primary school years.”
Fagbenle Oluwaseun Oyindamola, a representative from Women in Africa, said in her country of Nigeria, education faces all kinds of challenges.
In Nigeria, for example, the Child’s Rights Act of 2003 secures the right to an education but not every state in Nigeria has adopted the law. Advocates must develop “constant campaigns to persuade” areas that have not implemented the protective law to do so, Oyindamola said.
Oyindamola believes the report could help the country if government agencies work to carry out the recommendations, which could include amending a country’s constitution “to recognize international human rights obligations.”
“The constitution doesn’t support early marriage but in a way does not also stop people who are doing this act of marrying children.”
The report also suggests providing better access to health services and contraceptives, as well as engaging “men and boys” to be part of the solution.
“I think it’s important to realize that this isn’t just an international developing world problem,” Jennie Wetter said. “It’s also about access to comprehensive sexuality education in the U.S. and teen pregnancy in the U.S.”
The United States “has the highest adolescent birth rate” in the developed world, according to the U.N. report.