[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 58 (Thursday, May 12, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        YEARS OF THE GIRL CHILD

                                 ______


                               speech of

                         HON. OLYMPIA J. SNOWE

                                of maine

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 11, 1994

  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be an original cosponsor of 
House Joint Resolution 302, a resolution to make the years 1994 through 
1999 the Years of the Girl Child. Establishing the Years of the Girl 
Child ensures that we will work to promote the status of girls, which 
will enhance the lives of children, women and families all over the 
world.
  Clearly, women, children and girls have made significant progress 
here in America since the years when child labor was common and women 
could not vote. There is still the need for more progress, as girls 
still receive unequal education in our Nation's schools, and in 
addition, they are more likely than boys to be victims of sexual abuse. 
In other nations, however, startling inequalities abound. For example, 
two-thirds of the global illiterate population are women. An estimated 
40 percent of the world's 14 year old girls will be pregnant by the age 
of twenty. In Bangladesh, boys under 5 years old were given 16 percent 
more food than girls. A study in Pakistan showed that 60 percent of 
grandmothers left in charge of grandchildren fed only the boys and not 
the girls. A study in 10 villages in Gujarat, India found that in cases 
of 58 infant deaths, only 22 percent of girls were taken to a health 
care facility as opposed to 80 percent of boys.
  All across America, schools, libraries, museums, and other 
organizations such as the Population Institute will be paying tribute 
and working to promote the status of girls. It is our hope that the 
Years of the Girl Child will raise public awareness about these 
shocking statistics and motivate people and nations to work together to 
eradicate these inequalities.

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