With nearly 1 billion girls on the planet and 600 million adolescent girls entering the workforce in the next 10 years, enabling girls to be active participants in the global economy is vital – for those girls, their families, and their countries.
Supporting girls in becoming economic agents is important not only because girls should be treated equally and fairly, but also because girls’ participation in the world of work is of structural importance for the global economy.
The theme for this year’s International Day of the Girl, With Her: A Skilled GirlForce, speaks to the importance of a global conversation on this issue.
So how do we prepare girls to be contributing members of the global economy, prepared to join the worldwide workforce? One much discussed answer is by completing primary and secondary education. With 131 million girls currently out of school, we still have a long way to go to accomplish this goal. But there’s another important foundation that can help empower girls financially and economically.
WomenStrong International believes the key to a skilled ‘GirlForce’ is by building girls’ ‘protective assets’, a term coined by the Population Council to describe the most important skills, resources, and knowledge girls need to protect themselves and thrive.
Girls’ ‘protective assets’ include having a trusted adult to turn to in times of crisis, knowing how to access contraception, being skilled at communicating with elders, and understanding how to manage money.
When girls have these essential skills and awareness, they are able to advocate for themselves, express their opinions and desires, seek support and help, and have the self-esteem and confidence needed not only to dream big, but also to follow those dreams. These basic skills are a foundation on which girls can then learn any technical skills they may need to enter the workforce and make the best decisions for their own financial futures.
Without vital life skills, girls may be subject to discrimination or exploitation in the workplace, or may not be allowed to work at all.
For example, if a girl’s father tells her she cannot sell popsicles after school to earn money for school supplies, she can use her conflict management and communication skills to have a respectful discussion with him. Another girl may begin work as a waitress but is sexually harassed by her boss – she knows his behavior is inappropriate because of her understanding of human rights, so she can report this behavior to the appropriate person at the restaurant or managing company.
An effective approach to teaching these life skills is in safe spaces for girls, such as Girls’ Clubs. WomenStrong consortium members in Ghana, Kenya, India, and Haiti run Girls’ Clubs for more than 9,000 girls. Clubs teach girls about financial literacy, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, communication and relationship-building skills, goal-setting, self-esteem, and much more.
In early 2019, WomenStrong will release Strong Girls Make Strong Women: A Practical Handbook for Creating and Leading a Girls’ Club. The handbook compiles best practices from our Clubs and other experts, including a 16-chapter curriculum covering the most important topics girls need to know.
Crucially, the sisterhood formed among Club members serves as a valuable protective asset for the girls, because they have a community with whom they can share their successes and challenges, peers to turn to when they need support or are in crisis, and a community of friends who will encourage them to pursue their goals. This social aspect of the Girls’ Club is every bit as important as the skills learned.
Equipping girls through Girls’ Clubs with soft skills and a social network enhances their economic wellbeing and helps girls avoid or deal effectively with situations that might otherwise derail them from their goals and dreams.
But what do life skills have to do with helping girls transition into the world of work?
Take Nancy, who lives in the peri-urban community of Krobo, outside of Kumasi, Ghana. Nancy became pregnant in the first year of junior high, at age 15. Faced with uncertainty about her pregnancy and her financial future, Nancy dropped out of school. Fortunately, Nancy was a member of a Women’s Health to Wealth (WHW) Girls’ Club, supported by WomenStrong.
Club members and the Club facilitator noticed she was absent from school for several weeks and reached out to her. Learning of her pregnancy, WHW helped Nancy return to school to finish her basic education. Her social safety net, the Girls’ Club, helped her get back on track.
Equipped with the skills from the Girls’ Club and from her basic education, Nancy then went on, with WHW’s support, to study jewelry-making and now runs a successful bead-making business that supports her three-year-old child and employs two other teen mothers. Nancy’s life skills education and Girls’ Club membership enabled her to become a thriving member of her local economy, benefiting herself, her family, and other young women in Krobo.
As we, the global community, look ahead to how 600 million adolescent girls can be best prepared to join the world of work, we must remember to build girls’ foundation of life skills.
Empowered with the knowledge of how to manage a budget, advocate for oneself, and respectfully manage conflict and debate (just a few life skills girls need to know), girls are then free to pursue their careers of choice and to be thriving members of the global economy, benefiting themselves and creating ripples of benefits that can improve the lives of those around them.
