I would like to discuss with you one of the most vital world problems. The problem is called ‘To be born a female.'
To be born a female is not a crime, but you would never know it by looking at the deplorable conditions of girls in many parts of the world.

Beginning from birth, girls experience the ‘apartheid of gender', their fundamental rights - to nutrition, health care, education, equality and often survival itself - restricted or denied. Girls are forced into early marriage and pregnancy risk higher rates of infection and death.
Unfair labour practices begin in childhood when the overworked and undervalued girl loses her childhood and her chance to prepare for the life. Sexual exploitation often accompanies child labour. Each year hundreds of thousands of girls - many more than boys - are forced into the degrading and risky sex trade as prostitutes.

Today's girl is tomorrow's woman, her future clearly mapped out in the stages of her life cycle. To ensure that the life