The State of World Population 2013, produced by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), notes that out of the 7.3 million births, 2 million are to girls who are 14 or younger, many of whom suffer grave long-term health and social consequences from pregnancy such as obstetric fistula, and an estimated 70,000 adolescents in developing countries who die each year from complications during pregnancy and childbirth.Too often, society blames only the girl for getting pregnant. The reality is that adolescent pregnancy is most often not the result of a deliberate choice, but rather the absence of choices, and of circumstances beyond a girl’s control.

“Too often, society blames only the girl for getting pregnant,” said UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin. “The reality is that adolescent pregnancy is most often not the result of a deliberate choice, but rather the absence of choices, and of circumstances beyond a girl’s control. It is a consequence of little or no access to school, employment, quality information and health care.”

The report, Motherhood in childhood: facing the challenge of adolescent pregnancy, seeks to offer a new perspective on teenage pregnancy, looking not only at girls’ behaviour as a cause of early pregnancy, but also at the actions of their families, communities and governments.

Early pregnancy takes a toll on a girl’s health, education and rights. It also prevents her from realizing her potential and adversely impacts the baby. A country’s economy is also affected by teenage pregnancies as adolescent mothers are prevented from entering the workforce.

In Kenya, for example, if the more than 200,000 teenage mothers had been employed instead of becoming pregnant, $3.4 billion could have been added to the economy. Similarly, if girls in Brazil and India had been able to wait until their early 20s to give birth, the countries would have greater economic productivity equal to more than $3.5 billion and $7.7 billion, respectively.

The report notes that countries must not only increase efforts to prevent teenage pregnancies, they must also invest more in girls as the currently the global community directs less than two cents of every dollar spent on international development to adolescent girls.

In addition to funding, the report stresses that to tackle teenage pregnancy, countries must adopt a holistic approach which does not dwell on changing girls’ behaviour, but seeks to change attitudes in society so girls are encouraged to stay in school, child marriage is banned, girls have access to sexual and reproductive health including contraception, and young mothers have better support systems.

“We must reflect on and urge changes to the policies and norms of families, communities and governments that often leave a girl with no other choice, but a path to early pregnancy,” said Osotimehin. “This is what we are doing at UNFPA and what we will continue to do and recommend until every girl is able to choose the direction of her life, own her future and achieve her greatest potential.”

While teenage pregnancy is a much bigger challenge in developing countries, the report also found that it is a significant issue in developed ones. In the United States for example, only about half of the girls who become pregnant as adolescents complete high school by 22, compared to nine out of 10 girls who do not become pregnant. It also harms the economy as a whole, with nearly $11 billion a year in costs to taxpayers in the country.

“The global pandemic of violence against women and girls thrives in a culture of discrimination and impunity,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message for the occasion. “We must speak out.”

The One Billion Rising campaign, sponsored by the V-day Organization, seeks to mobilize men and women around the world on Valentine’s Day – observed annually in various countries on 14 February – to raise their voices to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), and sex slavery. Dances, protests and panel discussions are being held around the world to mark the event.Each of us has to do our part. Men must respect women as equals and show solidarity with women combating this scourge of violence. All of society will benefit when men and women unite and rise together.

Ban said must be “more than a day of advocacy” and must trigger action. “On this special day, I urge all governments to send us a Valentine message: a concrete commitment of action to end violence against women and girls,” he said in his message, delivered by Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson at an event held at UN Headquarters in New York along with the UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign and V-Day.

He added that in less than three weeks, States will have the chance to address this cause at the meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. So far, 18 countries have pledged to contribute new initiatives to stop gender-based violence as part of the COMMIT campaign organized by the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

“By standing together we can end violence against women and girls and build a world where all live free from harassment and fear,” Ban said. “This will have benefits that reverberate far beyond the affected individuals as they become empowered to help create a better world.”

Adding a few remarks of his own, Eliasson underlined that women are disproportionately the victims of attacks but many times are left out of decision-making processes to respond to gender violence.

“Women bleed and hurt and struggle. We should acknowledge the special qualities that women can bring to our collective fight against violence,” he said.

“Each of us has to do our part. Men must respect women as equals and show solidarity with women combating this scourge of violence. All of society will benefit when men and women unite and rise together.”

“Women tend to be overrepresented in the humanities and social sciences, and underrepresented in science and technology,” said an official from the world body’s International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Bureau for Workers’ Activities, Claude Akpokavie. “Measures need to be put in place to redress this imbalance.”

According to ILO, the gap between men and women in the scientific and technological fields is linked to pervasive gender roles and attitudes in different societies – visible in both developed and developing countries – which encourage girls to pursue ‘softer’ subjects.

Over the past few months, recent stories have emerged revealing stark gender discrepancies in a number of countries around the world, which are hindering women’s participation in science and technology both at school and at work, the agency noted.

In the United States, for example, a Yale University study found that women science graduates are discriminated against when applying for research posts. In Iran, the Government recently announced that women will be excluded from a wide range of university studies, including nuclear physics and electrical engineering. In China, several universities require women to obtain higher entry grades than men for science courses.

“Girls are far less likely than boys to study engineering or computer or physical sciences,” said the Director of ILO’s Bureau for Gender Equality, Jane Hodges. “Stereotypes of girls represent them as less interested or capable in certain subjects – such as mathematics and science. This inevitably reduces their access to jobs with better pay or labour markets that may offer better opportunities.”

However, when encouraged, girls do excel in scientific subjects, she added.

With an estimated 500 million people entering the global workforce over the next decade, Ms. Hodges stressed that it is crucial that women in science and technology jobs are not left working at the lowest levels.

“Even though women hold more than 60 per cent of information and communication technology-related jobs in OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, only 10 to 20 per cent are computer programmers, engineers, systems analysts or designers,” she said. “Education and skills training – and a change in attitudes – are vital to ensure women are not left behind.”

Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), noted in a statement that recent weeks have witnessed cases of “extreme abuse and appalling violence against women.”

They include the torture and rape of a young woman, Lal Bibi, by Afghan Local Police and the public execution of a young woman, Najiba.

“These cases have once again focused attention on the continuing and urgent need to protect women’s and girls’ rights as the world redefines its role in Afghanistan, and as the Government of Afghanistan moves forward in [its] transition,” she stated.

Ms. Bachelet said such brutality is “intolerable” and called on the Government to respond urgently to these crimes, bring the perpetrators to justice, put an end to a culture of impunity and create a culture of zero tolerance of violence and discrimination against women and girls.

It is vital, stressed the Executive Director, that the important gains made for and with women over the past decade are advanced and sustained and that women are fully engaged in charting the future of Afghanistan.

“If Afghan women and girls continue to be ignored within the major decision-making processes affecting their country, the vision of a more secure, prosperous and stable Afghanistan cannot be realized,” she stated.

“To ensure progress for Afghanistan, we must act in solidarity to prioritize women’s rights, equality and accountability, and in ending impunity for violence against women and girls,” she added. “UN Women remains committed to working with the Government and people of Afghanistan to advance women’s empowerment and gender equality.”

During a high-level dialogue, leading figures in gender empowerment and technology debated and defined a roadmap for more successful approaches to attract school-age girls to the technology field, and agreed to work together to change attitudes that make this area of study unpopular among young women.

The debate brought together leading international figures and champions of gender empowerment including Melanne Verveer, United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues; Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director, UN Women; Mignon Clyburn, Commissioner with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC); Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda; and Jasna Matić, State Secretary for Digital Agenda in Serbia.

It also featured lively discussion from industry leaders including Alethea Lodge-Clarke, Programme Manager of Public Private Partnerships for Microsoft; Monique Morrow, CTO Asia Pacific with Cisco Systems; Juliana Rotich, Ushahidi’s pioneering Executive Director; and Sarah Wynn-Williams, Manager of Global Public Policy for Facebook.

“Over the coming decade, there are expected to be two million more information and communications technology (ICT) jobs than there are professionals to fill them. This is an extraordinary opportunity for girls and young women – in a world where there are over 70 million unemployed young people,” said the ITU Secretary-General, Hamadoun Touré. He emphasized the need to cast aside outdated attitudes that are keeping young girls from considering technology as a career option. “ICT careers are not ‘too hard’ for girls. ICT careers are not unfeminine. And ICT careers are certainly not boring,” he added. “Encouraging girls into the technology industry will create a positive feedback look – in turn creating inspiring new role models for the next generation.”

The debate was one of many events organized in more than 70 countries around the world to mark Girls in ICT Day, which is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday in April. Many events extended invitations to teenage girls and university students to spend the day at the offices of ICT companies, government agencies or academic institutions and to meet with female role models working in the technology field, so they could obtain a better appreciation of what it is like to work in the ICT sector.

The event also featured very special guest Joanne O’ Riordan, one of only seven people in the world with Total Amelia, a congenital birth condition causing the absence of all four limbs. ITU flew Joanne to New York from her native Cork in Ireland to take part in the event, so that she could give her perspective on the vital role of accessible technology in personal empowerment. In an inspirational speech, the 16-year-old, who celebrated her birthday in NY just prior to the event, told the audience her motto in life had always been ‘no limbs, no limits’.

“I use technology in all aspects of my life . . .  I was just one year old when I first began to explore the use of technology with our old computer. I figured out how to use it by simply moving my ‘hand’ and chin at a faster speed. Today I can type 36 words a minute and for someone with no limbs, I think that’s an incredible achievement,” she said.

Girls in ICT website