If you were anything like us, age 10 was all about lip gloss, gel pens, and spelling tests. But while that may feel like the prototypical tween experience, it's not actually the reality for most 10-year-old girls.
Today, the United Nations Population Fund released its annual report on the state of the world population, and it highlighted the experiences of a particularly important—and vulnerable—segment of the world's population: Girls, age 10.
Of course there are a zillion different ways to be a 10-year-old girl in the world, but it's worth looking at the numbers (numbers that are more serious than "zillion," we promise) to get an idea of what life is like for many girls who are at that precarious tipping point between childhood and adolescence. Unfortunately, it's often less about the new Lip Smackers flavor than it is about struggling to find a way to not just grow up, but thrive as an adult woman.
Here's a more realistic description of the world's average tween girl:
She lives in a developing country, where the gender gap is wide.
Almost 90 percent of 10-year-olds live in parts of the world that are considered underdeveloped, and some 35 million girls live in countries where women and girls aren't considered equal to men. As they grow up, many girls are facing a double set of obstacles: first, because they are poor, and then because they're female.
She spends a lot of time doing chores.
And way more time than her brother probably does.
Ten percent of girls between the ages of 5 and 14 spend more than 28 hours doing household work every week—and 75 percent of them don't get paid for that work. Boys spend about half as much time on chores.
She'll probably experience violence at some point, and she's at risk for suicide.
A third of girls experience violence at some point in their lives. And the threat of that violence, plus the squashing of their ambitions, takes a toll on girls' emotional and mental health. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for adolescent girls.
She's probably not in school now, and if she is she'll likely drop out soon.
Around the world, over 50 million girls aren't in school—even though they should be. Sixteen million girls between 6 and 11 will never start school at all—that's twice the number for boys.
That's especially heartbreaking because education is the best way for girls to make a better life for themselves. And, even more than that, when girls get educated, they go on to make positive changes in their families, communities, and countries.
