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Institutions and individuals around the world must collectively fight to change attitudes on gender, according to a global children’s rights charity.
Gender inequality can only be changed if fundamental societal structures are transformed by all involved, according to the charity’s new report entitled ‘Pathways To Power: Creating Sustainable Change for Adolescent Girls’.
According to the report, visible and invisible forms of power over girls are reproduced and deepened through households, communities, the market economy and the state.
Only by focusing on changing and challenging these realities of power can girls go forward and escape barriers of discrimination, violence and sexual harassment.
Nigel Chapman, CEO of Plan, said: “Power struggles through history – from the early collective action for women’s votes to civil rights movements, from disability campaigns to trade union activism – are long and usually painful.
“The struggle for gender equality and for girls’ rights – the carving out of their pathways to power – is no different.
“Our report highlights that there is so much more work to be done, that the language of gender equality is well understood and much used, but the reality of continuing inequality still blights girls’ and boys’ lives. Attitudes are very hard to change and poverty often pushes people back into stereotyping that they themselves thought they had abandoned.
“Girls’ lives continue to be limited by the double jeopardy of being young and female. Power doesn’t operate in a vacuum; it plays out in a range of institutions that touch all of our lives, and only collectively can we beat it.”
The report highlights the power of collective action and the renewed energy around campaigning that is visible among young people, particularly young women, across the globe.
It says girls are more and more aware that gender inequality is embedded in the attitudes and structures of society and must be tackled strategically and with collective force.
“You have to raise collective awareness…you have to communicate with other people, because a single person can’t change the world,” says Cecilia Garcia Ruiz, a young woman from Mexico.
“An idea can, certainly, but you need other hands, other eyes, other voices to make it a stronger initiative.”
Research for the report indicates that working locally with key power holders, identifying women leaders and active women’s groups, supporting girls’ leadership, participation and education is key.
Such actions will give girls choice, freedom from violence, access to education, decent work and the ability to make decisions about their own lives, says the report.
Social media is another effective tool for campaigning and shaming, says the report. Messages on social media can be used to counterbalance the often negative stereotyping of the press, and enable a good spread of information.
Chapman added: “Working collectively we can achieve so much. By tackling inequality at its heart and by challenging ingrained attitudes of sexism and discrimination, we can change the future of millions, just as women have done through the centuries.
“Social media is a powerful tool for collective campaigning – we should use everything in our grasp to make sure that the message is communicated.”
