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Improving Women’s Status Aids Children

A report issued by the international child assistance organization asserts that children’s lives can best be saved by supporting policies and programs that improve the lives of their mothers and elevate women’s status in society.

The report, entitled “State of the World’s Mothers,” stresses the importance of health care, education, economic opportunity, food security, and after-school supports to mothers, and advocates five key policies to help improve women’s status:

1) Raise the legal age for marriage and ensure that pregnant girls may remain in school.

2) All adolescents should be educated about sexual and reproductive health issues.

3) Expand or strengthen laws which protect girls from rape and forced prostitution.

4) Institute programs that encourage women to open businesses.

5) Grant development funds to countries based on their efforts to raise women’s status.

Report authors detail how women’s status directly impacts their children’s well-being, giving examples from mothers in the United States, Bolivia, Vietnam, Mali, Lebanon, and Nepal.

Sources:

Save the Children - May 3, 1999

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