[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 188 Engrossed in Senate (ES)]

103d CONGRESS

  2d Session

                             S. J. RES. 188

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION

           To designate 1995 the ``Year of the Girl Child''.
103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. J. RES. 188

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
           To designate 1995 the ``Year of the Girl Child''.

Whereas girls are the most neglected, deprived, and mistreated resource in the 
        world;
Whereas girls throughout the world are frequently condemned to a cycle of 
        poverty, illiteracy, unwanted pregnancy, and poor health;
Whereas it is not uncommon for girls in certain regions of the world to become 
        pregnant at the onset of puberty, and to continue to become pregnant 
        thereafter, damaging their health and increasing the chances that they 
        will suffer complications during pregnancy;
Whereas girls in developing countries are fed less, withdrawn from school 
        earlier, forced into hard labor sooner, and given less medical care than 
        boys in those same countries;
Whereas numerous studies indicate that girls are disadvantaged by the perception 
        that they are temporary members of a family, and by the belief that boys 
        will become the main financial source for the family and, therefore, are 
        more deserving of scarce family resources;
Whereas parents of girls in some regions of the developing world frequently 
        choose to resort to infanticide, rather than drain family resources to 
        raise girls;
Whereas girls in the United States and in other countries are exploited and 
        victimized by sexual abuse and child prostitution;
Whereas the most recent study of child sexual abuse in the United States shows 
        that, of the cases reported, 23 percent of the victims were males and 77 
        percent were females;
Whereas, by any measure, including test scores, curriculum, or teacher-student 
        interaction, girls in the United States receive an unequal education;
Whereas studies indicate that in developing countries where girls have as little 
        as 4 to 6 years of formal education there is a 20 percent decline in 
        infant deaths;
Whereas girls with at least a seventh grade education have half as many 
        pregnancies as girls with less education;
Whereas the World Health Organization estimates that improved education for 
        girls, and improved family planning services for women, would reduce 
        maternal deaths by 15 to 33 percent; and
Whereas the World Fertility Survey indicates that the age of a female at 
        marriage increases with the number of years she has spent in school, and 
        that with as little as 7 years of education, a female is more likely to 
        marry at 22 than at 17: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That 1995 is designated the 
``Year of the Girl Child''. The President is authorized and requested 
to direct all diplomatic personnel of the United States, and the 
Secretaries of Education and Health and Human Services, to encourage at 
every appropriate opportunity--
            (1) the opening of educational opportunities to girls;
            (2) gender equality in health care; and
            (3) gender equality in all phases of family and community 
        life.

            Passed the Senate October 6 (legislative day, September 
      12), 1994.

            Attest:






                                                             Secretary.