Why 2.3 crore schoolgirls stop answering the roll call every year

 #KeepGirlsInSchool will help empower 90 lakh young girls to stay in school so they can continue chasing their dreams

Think about school and the one thing that instantly comes to mind is answering the roll call. That your name is in a school attendance register makes you feel like you’re part of something larger. Roll call time may seem like a routine exercise that marks the beginning of a typical school day, but it is in fact a symbol of hope and optimism. Behind every ‘Present’ that you hear during the daily attendance is a student who is eager to learn new things and build a bright future. That explains why children are always so excited during roll call time.

12-year-old Akanksha (named changed on request) from Mumbai says, “I love attending school. I look forward to roll call time every day as it sets the tone for the rest of the day. Every attendance session is a reminder of the many wonders of education and knowledge.”

While this is Akanksha’s happy story, crores of other school-going girls across India are not as fortunate.

Every year, nearly 2.3 crore girls abruptly stop answering the roll call. Their education comes to a sudden halt.

Their dreams are cut short and they are unable to realise their full potential. That’s because, on an annual basis, 2.3 crore girls are compelled to leave school at the onset of puberty due to lack of period education and protection.

In India, periods are still a taboo topic. Studies show that as many as 71 percent adolescent girls know nothing about periods till they experience it themselves. They are unaware of good hygiene practices to manage periods. This severely impacts their confidence and self-esteem, forcing 2.3 crore girls to permanently stop attending school every single year.

Whisper is at the forefront of changing this grim story with its #KeepGirlsInSchool campaign.

Every year, 2.3 crore girls are compelled to leave school at the onset of puberty due to lack of period education and protection.(Photo: iStock)

#KeepGirlsInSchool

We just saw how lack of period education and protection makes it impossible for several young girls to complete their education. This is where #KeepGirlsInSchool makes all the difference.

The objective of the campaign is to ensure that periods don’t get in the way of young girls achieving their dreams.

Commenting on the importance of period education, Poonam Sharma, principal of Sharda Sarvhitkari Model Sr Secondary School, Chandigarh, says, “When young girls who don’t know anything about menstruation, get their first periods, they panic or start crying. To avoid this, it’s essential to impart period education. It’s important to tell them that periods are normal and not something to be ashamed or afraid of. More importantly, they should know that periods are certainly not something you should be missing school for.”

#KeepGirlsInSchool is now in its second edition. Whisper has partnered with UNESCO to integrate period education as a module in school curriculum. Before we tell you more, watch this video.

The film shows you how something as natural as periods are stopping young girls from completing their education, thus depriving them of a promising future.

It’s only when girls stay in school will they be able to forge ahead in life and realise their dreams. That’s exactly what Whisper and UNESCO are doing with #KeepGirlsInSchool.

By educating young girls about periods and providing them with menstrual hygiene products, they’re empowering them to fulfill their dreams.

Lauding Whisper on their campaign, Poonam says, “Whisper is doing a wonderful job and we are thankful to them. 

Whisper visits schools, screens documentaries and equips girls with education and products to manage their periods. Often, even mothers hesitate when it comes to talking to their daughters about periods. When Whisper conducts such workshops in schools, the children go home and tell their mothers about it. This, in turn, inspires mothers to have an open conversation about periods with their daughters.”

Poonam has first-hand witnessed the impact of Whisper’s initiatives in her own school. She says that after the brand conducted workshops in her school there was a noticeable change in the behaviour of her students. They felt confident enough to speak about their own period experiences. Talking about Whisper’s Mother Daughter Menstrual Hygiene Awareness Program, Poonam says that the initiative has been instrumental in empowering and equipping young girls in managing their periods.

Ushering change, one girl at a time

What Whisper is doing is impacting the lives of crores of young girls across India and the numbers speak for themselves. So far, 4 crore girls have learnt about periods and how to manage them, thanks to the brand’s Mother Daughter Menstrual Hygiene Awareness Program. Going ahead too, Whisper has pledged to provide period education and protection to another 2.5 crore girls.

#KeepGirlsInSchool will help empower 90 lakh young girls to stay in school so they can continue chasing their dreams. The campaign has already generated awareness among 5.5 crore people. That’s not all. Whisper’s joint initiative with UNESCO aimed at including period education as part of the academic curriculum has seen support from 10 lakh people across the country.

In a country such as India where a culture of silence surrounds the topic of periods, #KeepGirlsInSchool is ushering change, one young girl at a time. The campaign plays a key role in ensuring that no girl suddenly stops answering the roll call. Instead, she will continue to stay in school and go on to make her dreams a reality.

(Source: The Quint)

Why Hollywood doesn’t tell more stories for — and about — girls

 It has partly to do with a dearth of women behind the scenes, changing audience tastes, and an evolving industry.

My two best friends and I were three lonely children growing up in the ’90s without siblings for playmates. We eventually found each other, but we also found comfort and adventure in a spate of intelligent films about girls like us—heroines of non-franchised stories set in the real world rather than a computer-generated one. There was Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden, Sara Crewe of A Little Princess, Fiona in The Secret of Roan Inish, and the protagonists of Matilda, Harriet the Spy, Fly Away Home, The Parent Trap, and Ponette. These girls were too young for love triangles or battling dystopian forces. Their stories and conflicts varied, but they served to eventually reveal certain qualities: resilience, imagination, audacity, and compassion.

Another thing these films have in common is that they came out decades ago. Today’s audiences rarely see movies like The Secret Garden and Matilda—live-action works for and about younger girls that celebrate the ambition and resourcefulness of their protagonists. For studios, big-budget sequels and reboots and remakes dominate the day. Kids’ movies as a whole are usually animated and/or feature protagonists who are a bit older (or four-legged). Combine that with other systemic problems like outdated ideas about gender and marketing, as well as a dearth of female writers and directors, and the result is a cinematic landscape for girls that’s in some ways less rich today than it was 20 years ago.

Though modern films with boy protagonists are also increasingly animated (Big Hero 6, Sanjay’s Super Team), there are still a few live-action options with young heroes who use ingenuity and courage to solve problems (Pan, The Jungle Book). But within the broader context of storytelling, toys, and costumes for children, boys have traditionally been permitted to fill a wide range of exciting roles (pirates, superheroes, ninjas, astronauts). Girls, meanwhile, tend to be slotted into a narrower range of character types (princesses chief among them), making it that much more valuable when films present alternatives young female viewers can relate to. The problem is even worse for young girls of color, who historically haven’t seen many images of themselves on screen, animated or otherwise (though films like the upcoming Moana seem to offer some hope that might change for the better).

TRISTAR PICTURES

Nineties films like The Secret Garden or Matilda—many of which were, incidentally, adaptations of books—offered alternatives at the time. Their protagonists healed people and places, primarily through hard work and compassion, not magic. Even Matilda, who could move objects with her mind, was more interested in pursuing an education than in strengthening her powers. Fiona of Roan Inish, Sara of A Little Princess (not about an actual princess), and Mary of The Secret Garden didn’t happen upon adventure accidentally: They practically curated the adventures themselves. 

These films also exposed their viewers to more grown-up themes and ideas, such as grief and loneliness, and even classism, racism, and war—acknowledging the emotional capacity and maturity of their young viewers, rather than infantilizing them.

Since the ’90s, Hollywood has made small strides when it comes to better depicting women and including them behind the scenes, and yet there are fewer high-quality movies for girls being made today. “The industry is still overwhelmingly male,” said Kathy Merlock Jackson, a communications professor at Virginia Wesleyan College. And men, she added, “write stories that resonate with them, about their experiences growing up.” Pixar creates some of the best children’s films today, but since most of the people who work there are men, the studio produces more movies about boys’ lives, Jackson said.

Almost no Pixar movies feature female protagonists, with one notable exception: 2015’s wonderful Inside Out, which revolved entirely around the anthropomorphic emotions in an 11-year-old girl’s head. But even that film didn’t have a female director, and there don’t seem to be many attached to the movies on Pixar’s horizon. The problem is bigger than a single studio: The federal government is investigating the entertainment industry for gender discrimination after the ACLU argued that women are routinely excluded from directing jobs.

Though female authors such as J.K. Rowling and Suzanne Collins are behind Hollywood’s most popular young-adult material, the directors who adapt those stories are usually men. (This was also the case with many of the great ’90s films mentioned earlier.) An international study conducted by Dr. Stacy L. Smith at USC Annenberg and funded in part by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media found that fewer than one-third of all speaking characters in films are female, although “films with a female director or female writer attached had significantly more girls and women on-screen.” It stands to reason that getting more women, especially women of color, behind the scenes of children’s movies would lead to an increase in characters who better reflect the makeup of their young audiences.

Another challenge in creating more girl-centric films is the assumption that “girls will go to boys’ films, but boys will not go to girls’ films,” said Jackson, who pointed to the example of Disney picking the name Tangled over Rapunzel (it also used Frozen instead of The Snow Queen). Gender doesn’t strictly matter as a point of identification; kids can relate to anything if given the chance, even inanimate objects. Still, it’s important for young girls to see images of themselves onscreen—to realize their personal stories can have universal relevance, and that they needn’t exist merely as extensions of male characters. 

Films like Frozen, Twilight, and The Hunger Games exemplify how kids movies with female stars tend to feature young women more than girls. “The marketing philosophy in Hollywood is that younger [female] audiences are ‘aspirational’ and will watch older girls, but that older girls won’t ‘watch down,’” said Susan Cartsonis, the producer of What Women Want and Where the Heart Is. The result is that movies for younger viewers can feature more sexualized female protagonists (consider how the figure and appearance of Ariel in Disney’s Little Mermaid titillated male film critics at the time).

Even outside of movies, girls are exposed to pop-culture messages that sexualize them from a young age, which can lead to unhealthy attitudes about self-image. Having younger female characters star in their own films helps to counteract that pattern. “The truth is that themes for girls are also themes women carry with them through their teen years, young-adult years, middle age, and old age,” said Cartsonis. “Friendship, and the discovery of powers or identity they didn’t know about or underestimated—these themes work at every age.”

Professor Ian Wojcik-Andrews of Eastern Michigan University highlights another roadblock for filmmakers: the lack of a tried-and-true genre for the pre-pubescent girl. “There is no mythological framework for the 11- or 12-year-old child, particularly the girl,” said Wojcik-Andrews. He explained that while movies for older children like The Hunger Games regularly draw on tropes from Ancient Rome and King Arthur, there’s no popular narrative archetype for younger children, especially girls, that Hollywood studios are eager to market.

All of these gender-specific challenges to making films for girls are playing out against a backdrop where live-action films for children have largely disappeared, or rather, been “decimated,” as Melissa Silverstein, the founder and editor of the blog Women and Hollywood, put it. “A lot of [actors] have migrated to TV,” Silverstein said. “That’s where the good roles are.” There are far fewer child actors in the central roles of kids’ movies today, and many have been replaced by older characters or cartoons.*

Indeed, kids’ viewing habits have changed significantly in the last decade or so. “What children are engaged with now is not as much film as it is television, Netflix, or Amazon,” said Lynne McVeigh, an associate professor of television and children’s media at New York University. She said it makes little sense for studios to bother with expensive movies for the younger demographic, since teens are more likely to go to the movies. “I don’t think it’s a bad or good thing—it’s just changed,” she said, pointing to shows like Doc McStuffins (about an African American girl who plays doctor to her toys), Peg + Cat (an educational math program), and Angelina Ballerina as standout examples on TV.

There’s a silver lining to all this: With more alternative forms of film and TV release available, there are myriad options to showcase independent work. To compete in the children’s movie market, big studios may need an action-adventure spectacle with merchandise; but HBO and Netflix could do for children’s programming what they’ve already done for grown-up shows—expand the limits of a genre by giving producers more creative freedom and placing a higher premium on quality over ratings. This could mean more writers and directors taking risks telling stories with young girl protagonists, including those of color.

In a 1995 review of A Little Princess, Roger Ebert wrote:

Movies like A Little Princess and The Secret Garden contain a sense of wonder, and a message: The world is a vast and challenging place, through which a child can find its way with pluck and intelligence. It is about a girl who finds it more useful to speak French than to fire a ray gun. I know there are more kids this season who want to see Judge Dredd, Die Hard With a Vengeance, and the new Batman movie than kids who want to see A Little Princess, and I feel sorry for them. 

Ebert was right to be concerned; the people we meet, experiences we have, and movies we watch in childhood can resonate for a lifetime. Little girls deserve worthy, thoughtful films aimed at them, as much as anyone—and the rapidly changing home-entertainment landscape should give families reason to hope that the industry will eventually deliver.  

(Source: The Atlantic)

Sleep deprivation makes Scots teenage girls' anxiety worse

Sleep deprivation is exacerbating mental health problems among teenage girls in Scotland, experts have said.

Research has shown almost a third of young people experience problems nodding off which has a negative impact on both mental and physical health.

But girls age 15 and over in particular are experiencing high levels of pressure in their lives which has contributed to anxiety and nervousness.

Leaders of the recent study said the picture is complex.

The research, led by Glasgow University and commissioned by NHS Health Scotland, surveyed school-age children in 2018. It found that the proportion of young people reporting sleep difficulties more than once a week increased from 23% in 2014 to 30% in 2018.

A recent study showed older girls were reporting high levels of pressure - but that generally more girls were talking to their fathers for help

Some areas of wellbeing did show improvement - such as a reduction in substance, alcohol and tobacco use as well as healthier eating habits and 85% reporting high life satisfaction.

However, researchers found that just over a third (37%) of adolescents were classified as having low mood (33% boys, 41% girls) and 14% were at risk of depression (11% boys, 17% girls).

Lead author of the study Dr Jo Inchley, from Glasgow University, said a number of factors could influence mental health, including social media, but that sleep was significantly important for physical and mental wellbeing.

She told BBC Scotland: "There is a range of issues there that we need to understand better and provide support for young people - girls in particular.

"When we speak to young people what we do find is a lot of older girls reporting high levels of pressure from schoolwork but also things in their lives - managing their friendships, managing their relationships at home, thinking about their future careers, thinking about their body image and their health.

"So all these things may be contributing to higher levels of anxiety and feelings of nervousness that we see in our research."

Turning to fathers for help

Previous studies have linked sleep problems among adolescents to electronic devices and social media.

And while the latest research had similar findings, Dr Inchley said it showed children reporting more support from their families in some cases - specifically girls feeling able to talk to their fathers about problems.

Meanwhile, Dr Justin Williams of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Scotland said that affluence and supportive families were an "important source of resilience".

He said: "The increasingly rich media diet offered to our young people today often causes problems because they consume too much or consume the wrong stuff.

"It can displace family life, physical activity and even just sleep. And some young people, especially those with mental health problems, are highly vulnerable to these negative effects."

Dr Rory Mitchell, public health intelligence principal at NHS Health Scotland, which funded the study, highlighted that children from wealthier families tended to report better health and wellbeing.

He said there was a need for "a continued focus on tackling health inequalities in Scotland."

(Source: BBC)

Free period products to be available in schools and colleges in England

State scheme starts from Monday as part of government bid to tackle ‘period poverty’

Tampons, sanitary pads and other period products will be made freely available to all state schools and colleges in England starting next week, with the launch of a scheme funded by the Department for Education.

The DfE scheme follows the government’s commitment last year to pay for sanitary products for primary and secondary schools, in an effort to tackle “period poverty”, which can cause girls from low-income families to miss school.

“We know that it is not easy for everyone to access period products where and when they need them. This scheme will deal with those problems so young people can go about their daily lives without getting caught out,” said Michelle Donelan, the children and families minister.

The scheme will apply to 20,000 primary and secondary schools, and colleges. Photograph: lovethephoto/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Stock Photo

The DfE said the scheme was designed “to give pupils easy access to period products at school or college” as well as breaking down stigmas and raising awareness around menstruation.

Amika George, the founder of Free Periods who began campaigning to end period poverty in 2017, said: “We ask that schools have open conversations with students about what they need and start signing up to the scheme – no child must miss out.

“Free products in schools will ensure that every child can learn and be their very best, without periods holding them back.”

A recent survey found that 42% of 14- to 21-year-olds in the UK said they had used makeshift sanitary protection, with some saying they had used socks, other fabric or paper as emergency replacements.

Rosamund McNeil, the assistant general secretary of the National Education Union, said more than 137,000 pupils missed school in 2018 because of their period. “No girl in the UK should miss out on education because they can’t afford these essential products,” McNeil said.

The scheme is to cost up to £20m this year for an estimated 1.7 million students. From Monday, staff will be able to order products from a commercial supplier, PHS group, awarded the contract by the DfE after a tender last year.

The range available to more than 20,000 schools and colleges includes environmentally friendly pads and reusable products, the company said.

The government initially pledged to provide sanitary products to all state secondary schools and colleges in last year’s spring statement. But the coverage was extended after campaigners pointed out menstruation began for many girls during their time at primary school.

Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, applauded the government’s effort to extend provision to all schools.

“We’d urge the government to monitor the new scheme closely, so that if take-up numbers are low initially, then more can be done to advertise the service and to guarantee that every pupil can access a period product that meets their needs,” Whiteman said.

The scheme in England follows a groundbreaking 2018 decision by the Scottish government to fund free menstrual products to young people in schools, colleges and universities across Scotland, after a survey found that one in four struggled to obtain tampons or pads.

The Welsh government followed last year, offering free products to all state schools and colleges. NHS England also announced that women and girls in hospital would receive free sanitary products on request.

(Source: The Guardian)

10-yr-old student earns praise after refusing to answer ‘offensive’ math problem about girls’ weight

In a picture of the answer shared online by the proud parent, Rhythm encircle the question and wrote "what!!!!" adding that, "This is offensive. Sorry I won't right [write] this it's rood [rude]."

A fourth-grade student from Utah is winning hearts online after she refused to solve an ‘offensive’ maths problem that asked students to compare girls’ weights. Her answer on the worksheet refusing to solve the sum stating her reason and a note to her teacher explaining her concern are going viral.

Rhythm Pacheco is winning hearts online after standing up for things she strongly believes in.

Rhythm Pacheco, a Grant Elementary School in Murray, recently was given a homework where a question involving body-weight of girls made her uncomfortable as she thought it was very rude. The problem read, “The table to the right shows the weight of three Grade 4 students. How much heavier is Isabel than the lightest student?”

In a picture of the answer shared online by the proud parent, Rhythm encircle the question and wrote “what!!!!” adding that, “This is offensive. Sorry I won’t right [write] this it’s rood [rude].”

The 10-year-old also went ahead and wrote a note to her teacher explaining why she couldn’t answer the question. “Dear Mrs. Shaw, I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t think that math problem was very nice because that’s judging people’s weight. Also, the reason I did not do the sentence is cause I just don’t think that’s nice. -Love Rhythm”

Speaking to Today, her mother Naomi said, “Rhythm’s dad and I were extremely proud of Rhythm for listening to her gut instincts and standing up for what is right. Rhythm’s teacher was so responsive and handled the situation with such care. She told her she understands how she would be upset about this and that she didn’t have to write out the answer.”

People on social media praised the little girl for “standing up for the things she believed in”, while a few others lashed out at the publishers who curated the assignments.

“I was shocked… I was shocked, honestly,” Naomi told Fox News about the homework question. “I feel like it’s such an irresponsible way to teach children how to do math,” Naomi said.

\After the girl went viral and it raised concerned among many parents online about the kind of questions through which children learn these days, Eureka Math, the company that provides core educational materials to the girl’s school district, released a statement regarding the questionable math problem.

“User feedback is a vital part of our culture; we are grateful to receive constructive feedback from students, teachers, and parents alike,” said the statement. “We apologize for any discomfort of offense caused by the question. Please know that we will replace this question in all future reprints, and suggest that teachers supply students with an appropriate replacement question in the interim.”

(Source: The Indian Express)

'I was told only boys could be autistic'

Jasmine Ghibli was diagnosed with autism at two years old in America. The diagnosis was taken away from her when she moved to Scotland after her GP decided she was the "wrong sex" to be autistic.

Now at 18, Jasmine has her diagnosis but not without enduring years of frustration at a system that she thinks appeared to forget the female face of autism.

Nicole Bonner, Jasmine's mother, said their GP told them that, "autism isn't for girls - she's just a bad kid."

After moving to Scotland from America, the children's hospital informed Nicole that Jasmine wasn't autistic, and that her original diagnosis was unrecognised.

Speaking to BBC Scotland's The Nine, Jasmine, from Helensburgh, said the confusion around her diagnosis caused her mental health to deteriorate.

She says the lack of support and bullying at school led her to attempt to kill herself three times - the first time was when she was just seven.

Nicole Bonner says Jasmine felt "hopeless"

Jasmine's mum doesn't blame Jasmine for trying to end her life. "She felt hopeless - I felt hopeless," she says.

Jasmine's story is not uncommon. The National Autistic Society's most recent study examining the ratio of diagnosis in men was higher than that in women. The official estimate is now 3:1.

'Being a brat'
There are multiple theories speculating as to why more men and boys get an autism diagnosis. Some reports say that girls are better at camouflaging or "masking" their autism by using mimicking techniques. Jasmine masks her behaviours by copying the people around her.

"It's like putting on a horrendous amount of face paint, and at the end of every day, you have to wipe all of that face paint off," she says. "I'm constantly exhausted."

Jasmine believed she couldn't appear as autistic because she wouldn't get the same treatment as if she was male - "There would be no understanding if I had a meltdown. It would just be perceived as me being a brat."

Jasmine felt isolated due to the lack of support and understanding

She says she was forced to find her own sources of support. She now works closely with the Scottish Women's Autism Network (Swan) as an advocate for autistic women.

"Swan saved her life," Nicole says. "Jasmine would not be here without the support of those kind and understanding women."

Jasmine has also spoken at an autism cross-party group at the Scottish Parliament to share her experiences, and hopes to be an advocate for more awareness in the area.

"I can't express how important it is to empower autistic women and girls," she says. "One of the main reasons I want to raise awareness is that it's so easy to feel lonely and ostracised as an autistic person, but particularly as an autistic woman.

"We are completely underrepresented."

Both Jasmine and her mum are now hopeful for the future

Despite leaving school at 16 with little to no qualifications, Jasmine is going to the University of Glasgow in September to study English Literature, Language, and Linguistics.

"I always knew Jasmine was going to do great things," Nicole says. "That's just what she does - she changes people. She already has."

"People just need to be tolerant, and show a wee bit of love. All she's ever wanted was friendship and kindness."

(Source: BBC)

Breast-ironing is abuse and could lead to prison term, says CPS

Exclusive: perpetrators could face up to 10 years in prison under new legal guidance

Relatives who “iron” a young girl’s chest with a hot stone or other objects to delay breast formation could face up to 10 years in prison, under new guidance published by the Crown Prosecution Service.

The guidance makes clear to police and prosecutors that breast-ironing, a ritual common in parts of Africa that now sometimes happens in the UK, is a crime that can be charged under existing law even if the victim is said to have consented.

In January the Guardian revealed anecdotal evidence of dozens of British cases of the practice, in which a girl’s chest is “ironed” with a hot stone to delay breast formation, thereby supposedly protecting them from unwanted male attention. The government issued a statement promising to tackle the practice, which it described as child abuse.

 A stone used a woman in Cameroon to ‘iron’ the breasts of her four daughters. Activists estimate at least 1,000 women and girls in Britain have undergone the abuse. Photograph: Véronique de Viguerie/Getty

“The message that we have is quite clear – breast-ironing is child abuse,” said Jaswant Narwal, a chief prosecutor who specialises in so-called “honour” abuse. “What we want is for these practices not to happen, because these are essentially criminal offences,” she told the Guardian.

While the move does not change the law to make breast-ironing a specific offence, the CPS said it hoped the guidance would provide reassurance to victims and a warning to perpetrators. “We hope this new guidance will give victims, police and prosecutors the confidence they need to bring perpetrators of this cruelty to justice,” Narwal said.

She said victims may be dissuaded from turning to the police because the practice may occur in the family home, where the perpetrator could be the victim’s own mother.

“Another reason is that they may not understand or believe that a crime has indeed been committed. That’s why this guidance is important - because it’s going to go someway to confirm the legal position … so that we can have some viable cases coming forward for prosecution.”

In March the National Education Union said breast-ironing awareness should be made part of the mandatory school curriculum to protect young girls from abuse.

Alex Carlile, a QC and peer who in January tabled questions in parliament concerning the practice, said the CPS guidance was “a welcome step forward”. “It is a clear warning that breast-ironing gives rise to a serious criminal charge. Those who do it are likely to be jailed,” he said.

Comfort, a woman who has spoken out about undergoing breast-ironing as a nine-year-old, said: “It’s a start at least. Now those [affected] children will know that the police are aware of it, that it’s nothing new … so that it doesn’t sound like they are talking about something foreign. And even the children themselves will now know that if there’s guidance, it’s serious – it’s a crime.”

Leyla Hussein, a British-Somali anti-FGM campaigner and psychotherapist, said prosecuting cases of breast-ironing under existing legislation was better than having a separate law, as is the case with female genital mutilation (FGM).

“Abuse is abuse,” she said. “We are not going to have a separate law if people started cutting hands or fingers. We got that so wrong when it came to FGM.”

Narwal stressed that the new guidance was not about criminalising families for their cultural practices. “It’s not a new law – it’s existing legislation. We respect families and we respect cultures. But where actual harm is being caused to children, that’s where it can be considered to be a criminal offence.”

Activistsestimate that at least 1,000 women and girls have been subjected to the abuse in the UK, but there has been no formal assessment of the prevalence of breast-ironing in the country.

(Source: The Guardian)

The living hell of children trapped in Bangladesh's brothels

Sold by traffickers, enslaved for years and raped many times a day … this is the life of tens of thousands of underage girls in Bangladesh.

After five years in the brothel, Labonni stopped dreaming of being rescued. Ever since she had been sold to a madam at 13 years old, customers had promised to help her escape. None had followed through. Over time, their faces began to blur together, so she couldn’t remember exactly who had visited before, or how many men had come by that day. There’s usually one every hour, starting from 9am.

“Sometimes I wake up and I don’t understand why I’m not dead yet,” she says.

 Girls wait for customers in Jessore brothel. Photograph: Allison Joyce

Now 19, Labonni says she’s resigned to life – and death – in Mymensingh, a brothel village in the centre of Bangladesh. Here, between 700 and 1,000 women and girls are working in the sex trade – many of them against their will.

Girls as young as 12 sleep five to a room; their beds only cordoned off by torn cotton curtains. Music blares from heavyset sound systems and homemade liquor is poured from plastic bottles to numb the pain. Men swagger shirtless down the alleys looking for girls. Ten minutes of sex will cost them TK400 (about £3.66) – but it’s money that mainly lands in the pockets of those running the brothel.

Like the majority of girls in Mymensingh, Labonni was trafficked into sex work. On the run at 13 years old, she left her six-month-old daughter behind to flee the abusive husband she had been made to marry the year before, in a ceremony that took place on the same day she started her period. “I didn’t know where I was going,” she remembers. “I thought maybe I could find work in a garment factory.”

A woman saw her looking tearful in Dhaka railway station, and offered her food and a place to sleep for the night. Two days later, Labonni was sold by her to the brothel for about £180 and forbidden to leave.

A graveyard for sex workers in Tangail. Photograph: Allison Joyce

Overnight, she became a chukri, or bonded sex worker – imprisoned within the brothel until she repaid hundreds of pounds in fabricated debts. “The madam who bought me said that I had to pay her back,” Labonni says in a flat voice. “She’d bribed the police to say I was 18 [the legal age for a registered sex worker] and told me I owed her more than £914. Then she confiscated my phone and locked me in my bedroom. She said that she’d hurt me if I tried to run away.” After two or three months, Labonni gave up trying to escape. “They always find you,” she adds.

A quick breakdown of the figures involved shows how girls like Labonni are a vital part of a hugely profitable business model for brothel owners in Bangladesh. For the past six years, since being trapped in the brothel, she has worked continually to pay off her phantom debt. Yet over those six years she has earned upwards of £46,500 for madams who enjoy lives of considerable luxury.

Until last year everything Labonni earned went to her madam. All she was given back was a £37 as a monthly allowance for food, clothes and toiletries. Labonni has now paid her original £914 “debt” back 50 times over.

Last year she was finally told she had paid off her debt, but she has yet to move on. Her mental strength is worn down by years of abuse. “I feel worthless,” she says. “My daughter doesn’t even know I’m her mum.” Even with her “debt” gone, she’s still obliged to pay half of her weekly earnings – approximately £78 – to the madams in exchange for electricity and a place to stay.

One of her regular customers, Mohammed Muktal Ali, is 30 years old. A married bus driver from the nearby town, he has been visiting Labonni every day for four and a half years, since she was 14. “All the girls here are helpless,” he says. “You can’t sell a boy to a brothel, but you can sell a girl because she has monetary value.” He doesn’t feel guilty for paying for sex with a trafficked teenager. “I am in love with Labonni. I’m 70% sure that one day I will rescue her.” Labonni doesn’t look up. “I don’t believe anything the men say to me any more,” she says later. “They all lie.”

Four floors down from Labonni’s bedroom, Farada, 33, says the number of trafficked girls has increased since she arrived at the brothel in 1999. She knows, she says, because she buys them. After 12 years entrapped in sexual slavery herself, she was given a girl as a gift by a customer eight years ago, moving from exploited to exploiter overnight. When the girl escaped, she bought a second, called Moni, for £137. “I paid £27 on cigarettes for the police, and they sorted all the paperwork,” she says, referring to the government-mandated certificates that state every sex worker is at least 18 and consents to engaging in prostitution. “Now the police charge more. It’s at least £450, which is very expensive, so the girls have to pay me back.” The younger the girl, the higher the bribe required by law enforcement, she adds.

These days, she makes about £187 every week from two girls, but says a third of that goes to local gang members who control the brothel.

A child waits outside their mother’s room while she works. Photograph: Allison Joyce

The money being made in this single brothel is an indicator of the vast profits generated by the global trade in women and girls. Sex trafficking is an enormously lucrative business.

Academic Siddharth Kara advises the United Nations and the US government on slavery and has shown through his own research that sex trafficking is disproportionately lucrative compared with other forms of slavery. He estimates that sex trafficking creates half of the total profits generated globally by modern slavery, despite only accounting for 5% of all trafficking victims worldwide.

He told the Observer: “The return on investment for sex trafficking is around 1,000% compared with much lower returns in exploitation for construction, agriculture or mining. The immense profitability of sex trafficking is … driven by the minimal expense associated with acquiring victims and the fact that the victim can be sold up to 20 times a day, generating tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars in profit per victim.”

Prostitution was legalised in Bangladesh in 2000, after the year-long detention of 100 sex workers by police sparked protests calling for the women’s freedom and equal rights. The women’s release heralded a new legal framework, but few protections.

Instead, the business of sexual exploitation has thrived in a country where women are oppressed in many ways. Across the country, one in five girls is married before her 15th birthday and only a quarter finish secondary education. Choice is a luxury few women here can afford.

While prostitution is legal, trafficking and forced labour are not. But poor enforcement of legislation in a country where women are easy prey means traffickers act with impunity. The Bangladesh government estimates that 100,000 women and girls are working in the country’s sex industry and one study reports that less than 10% of those had entered prostitution voluntarily. This investigation found hundreds of girls who spoke of being sold by strangers, family members or husbands without their consent.

In April the Dhaka Tribune reported that the conviction rate for people arrested in connection with trafficking is less than half a percent. While more than 6,000 people have been arrested in connection with human trafficking since 2013, only 25 were convicted. Last year only eight traffickers were convicted in Bangladesh.

 A girl of 14 waits for customers in a Jessore brothel. Photograph: Allison Joyce

While many girls sell sex from their homes or the street, more than 5,000 women and girls are split between 11 huge brothels countrywide. Some dating back hundreds of years, each brothel is registered with the government and monitored by the local police. Here, a triumvirate of powerful institutions – government, police and religion – watch over and approve the rape, enslavement and abuse of hundreds of thousands of prepubescent girls.

“The Bangladeshi police know everything that takes place in the brothels,” says Azharul Islam, programme manager of Rights Jessore, a local non-governmental organisation working to rehabilitate trafficked children working in the sex trade and return them to their families. “The brothel owners are involved in gangs, and our political leaders and law enforcement are involved in those gangs, too.” Corrupt government officials profit by accepting bribes and sexual favours in exchange for turning a blind eye to the abuse.

As part of this investigation, more than 20 underage girls in four of the brothels showed us their notarised certificates stating they were over 18. One girl admitted she was still 13. “It’s law enforcement, it’s the local mafia,” says Mahmudul Kabir, Bangladesh country director for the Netherlands-based NGO Terre des Hommes. “And it goes through the entire chain of power.”

The steady stream of women and children being trafficked into Bangladesh’s sex industry means that the girls are disposable to those making money out of them. The numbers killing themselves has reached a point where at least two brothels in central Bangladesh – Kandapara, on the on the outskirts of Tangail, and Daulatdia, on the banks of the Padma river – have had to built private graveyards to cope with the dead.

“There’s about one death a month,” says Shilpi, 57, who was sold to Daulatdia brothel in 1977. “It never used to be this many.” These days she conducts the funerals: washing each body before leading a team of 12 brothel guards through the thicket of weeds that shrouds the burial grounds; finally reciting a short prayer over the grave. She doesn’t know how many girls are buried there. She lost count after 100. “For a while, we tied a stone around their necks and threw the bodies in the pond,” Shilpi adds. “But sometimes they floated to the surface, so we had to find land.”

 A 15-year-old girl gets married. Many victims of trafficking said they were sold to brothels by their husbands, without their consent. Photograph: Allison Joyce

In Mymensingh, there’s no such graveyard – but not from lack of need. Instead, bodies are carried out to the countryside at nightfall; buried in unmarked graves by torchlight.

Public graveyards aren’t an option: the stigma that surrounds sex workers in Bangladesh forbids their burial in municipal ground. “Here we are shameful, bad women,” says Shilpi. “If a girl kills herself, people say it’s good riddance – it’s just a quicker way for them to get to hell.”.

Labonni has also tried to kill herself several times. “I’ll probably try again one day,” she says, sitting on the floor of the concrete cell that passes as a bedroom: her customers’ phone numbers are scratched into the wall. Meanwhile, she cuts herself daily.

Such deep-rooted mental health problems are endemic among Bangladesh’s bonded brothel workers, and make it harder for them to move on even when their “debts” are paid. Though there is little mental health support for the women, there is evidence that when it’s provided, it helps. One organisation working to rescue and rehabilitate underage trafficking victims is the Bangladesh National Women’s Lawyers’ Association. “When they first arrive at the home, they’re scared,” says BNWLA psychologist Sadia Sharmin Urmi. It takes consistent counselling to help them move forward, but within three months, she sees progress. “They know they are safe. That means a lot.”

For Labonni, the idea of ever getting help feels unlikely. “All my life, people tell me to have sex so that they can make money from it. How much do I have to earn to be free of this life?”

Escape now takes the form of daily video calls with her daughter, who lives with her elder sister in Dhaka. “I can’t raise her here and that hurts me, but I know she’s happy,” Labonni says. “One day, when she’s old enough, I would like her to know I’m her real mum.”

40.3million: The number of people living in some form of modern slavery across the world. More than half of the victims are in forced labour. Sex trafficking is a form of modern slavery that involves the use of coercion, abduction, fraud or force to profit from someone’s sexual exploitation.

99%: of the estimated 4.8 million sex trafficking victims across the world working in the sex industry are women and girls.

13,000: people are estimated by the UK government to be the victims of modern slavery in Britain today.

70%: of the world’s 4.8 million sex trafficking victims are in the Asia and Pacific region.

$150bn: The amount generated by the modern slave trade every year, according to UN estimates. Sex traffickers can earn up to £29,000 per victim.

(Source: The Guardian)

Punjab announced free education for girls from nursery to PhD

The Captain Amarinder Singh-led government in Punjab has announced free education for girls in government schools and colleges from Nursery to PhD.

Making the announcement on Monday Capt. Singh said free textbooks will be provided to all students in government schools from the next academic session.

Books will also be made available online from where students can download for free.

He also said that Nursery and LKG classes will be reintroduced in government schools from next year. Fulfilling another election promise Singh also announced free Wi-FI for 13,000 primary schools and all 48 government colleges.

According to the census of India 2011, the literacy rate in Punjab is 75.84% which is better than the national average of 73.0%. The total number of literates in Punjab is 1,87,07,137. The male literacy rate is 80.44% and female literacy rate is 70.73%.

(Source: India Times)

Muslim school will not allow girls to eat lunch until after boys have finished, Ofsted chief says

A Muslim school will not allow girls to eat lunch until after boys have finished, an Ofsted chief has told MPs.

Al-Hijrah school in Birmingham is still segregating boys and girls despite a Court of Appeal ruling in 2017 that found it was unlawful, according to Luke Tryl, director of corporate strategy at Ofsted.

Addressing the women and equalities select committee, he said that Ofsted inspectors are trying to hold schools account for discriminating against girls but feel “isolated” when their stance is not backed up by ministers.

“Our inspectors are going out and having to make some quite tricky judgements where there are those potential clashes [between equalities laws and religious freedoms],” Mr Tryl said.

“We perhaps don’t always feel we get the support we need from the rest of Government in pushing that forward.”

Al-Hijrah Primary School, Birmingham  CREDIT: BIRMINGHAM POST AND MAIL

He said that Al-Hijrah school was enforcing a “very strict gender segregation” which included “denying the girls to have their lunch until the boys had had theirs”. “And we had some very discriminatory texts for instance, encouraging violence against women,” he said.

Mr Tryl said that Ofsted welcomed the Court of Appeal's ruling that gender segregation within the school fell foul of equalities laws, but despite the case concluding in mid-2017 the school has still not de-segregated.

While Ofsted inspectors can highlight segregation in their reports, the power of enforcement falls to officials at the DfE.

Mr Tryl told MPs: "The Court of Appeal rightly said that schools needed a transition period where they were segregating and yet still we have not just Al-Hijrah but we have countless other schools, mixed schools which are segregating on the basis of sex.

"Similarly other schools who have refused to teach about sexual orientation issues. We have commented on reports but we haven't seen a change there.

"This is where I talk about the isolation. We go out there. We make these tough decisions and we often take quite a lot of criticism for the stance we take but we don't always see the enforcement action we would like to see."

Girls, aged five, slip out of nursery unnoticed into bitter Siberian winter

Two five-year-old girls who left their nursery in Siberia in bitterly cold temperatures unnoticed by their teachers have been found.

The two, who wanted to surprise their parents, suffered frostbite and hypothermia.

They walked home on one of the coldest days of the year in temperatures of -45C (-49F).

They were caught on camera as they slipped out - one clutching a cuddly toy and with no mittens on.

One girl is now in hospital in the regional capital, Yakutsk, with three fingers frostbitten, the Siberian Times reports.

Her mother, Evdokia Kutukova, said: "Three of her fingers froze hard. She is crying.

"The children are still in shock."

She noticed her daughter Lena had gone missing in the village of Namtsy when she went to the nursery to collect her and saw her coat was missing.

She raised the alarm with staff, and then it was noticed her daughter's best friend, who has not been named, was also missing. Her parents did not know where she was either.

But Ms Kutukova said the family's grandfather then called to say Lena had just arrived home, alone, in tears and frozen.

Her husband said a passing stranger had given their daughter a scarf, which had helped her.

"How cold it was without gloves, it's hard to imagine, and with a toy in her hand!"

The other girl got lost on the way home in the village in darkness and was found an hour later. She had taken shelter in a nearby house.

"Thank God, she [thought of entering] someone else's house," Ms Kutukova told the Siberian Times.

"It is good that she was not frostbitten, just extremely cold."

The girl suffered from hypothermia, but went home after being checked over by doctors.

The girls had never left the nursery by themselves before.

An investigation has been opened to find out how the incident happened.

(Source: BBC)

Sexual abuse of boys often overlooked by state laws, global study warns

Stronger support urged for young men affected by abuse as researchers find existing measures tailored towards girls

Sexual abuse of boys is “barely addressed” by the laws in many countries, according to a global study that warns of a lack of support for young male survivors.

The study, which examined child rape laws in 40 countries, found that just under half of jurisdictions lacked legal protections for boys. In many cases, laws were specific to girls and did not recognise boys as victims.

Researchers also identified a tendency for support services, including shelters and legal aid, to be geared towards women and girls.

“Often this is bundled up into an issue of violence against women, and therefore it is catering to girls rather than boys,” said Katherine Stewart, a consultant for Economist Intelligence Unit, which produced the report.

It is estimated that 18% of girls and 8% of boys globally have experienced childhood sexual abuse, according to a study conducted in 2011. However, abuse among boys is thought to be higher in some countries, such as Kenya, where a Unicef study found that two in every 10 men experienced abuse in childhood.

The shadows of schoolboys are seen on a classroom wall in Karachi. A global study of child sexual abuse identified Pakistan among countries failing to address the issue effectively. Photograph: Athar Hussain/Reuters

Social stigma, macho stereotypes and homophobia all contribute towards boys being less likely to report abuse, according to the report. The authors suggested that boys should be given tools and terminology that allow them to feel more comfortable reporting abuse or exploitation.

The report, which ranked countries according to how well they are confronting child sexual abuse and exploitation, warned that tackling abuse should be a global priority.

Greater internet access, combined with the growth of young populations in many countries, has increased the number of children at risk, the report said. Heightened instability due to armed conflict or climate change has also placed children in more danger.

According to the rankings, Britain, Sweden and Canada are the countries tackling abuse most effectively. Pakistan, Egypt and Mozambique were rated at the bottom of the list.

Across all countries, researchers found limited data on the prevalence of child abuse and exploitation. Only half of countries have produced or endorsed data on the proportion of the population that has experienced child abuse. Only five collect such data on child sexual exploitation, a form of abuse where a child receives gifts, money or affection in return for sexual activity.

In some cases, countries only collected data on girls who had experienced abuse, or did not specify the gender of the victim.

The report found that the UK had improved reporting among men, with cases in England and Wales climbing from 3,819 in 2006-07 to 12,130 in 2016-17, according to the Office for National Statistics. This was prompted by increased awareness following the #MeToo campaign and high-profile cases reported in the media, such as the child sexual abuse scandal in English football.

India was cited as having the best legal framework to protect victims, due partly to the 2012 Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, which focuses on protecting boys as well as girls from sexual violence. According to a government survey, more than 50% of children in India have experienced one or more forms of sexual abuse.

The report described child abuse as a largely silent epidemic. Research suggests 120 million girls have been subjected to some form of sexual abuse, but only a tiny proportion – 1% – of rape survivors have sought professional help.

The study was developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit with support from the World Childhood Foundation, Oak Foundation and the Carlson Family Foundation.

(Source: The Guardian)