Social Change Formal Work Allows Growth of Bangladeshi Girls Employment in the garment industry in urban Bangladesh has created for the first time in the country a period of transition for young women, an interval for psychosocial growth and preparation for adult roles, according to a study by Council researchers Sajeda Amin and Ruchira T. Naved and their colleagues. In many ways, the lives of female garment workers form a contrast to tradition, which mandates that girls marry by their mid-teens and begin childbearing soon thereafter. Reporting in Endocrinology, Bagchi's team showed that suppression of calcitonin reduces embryo implantation in rats by as much as 80 percent. It also implies that calcitonin may play a role in at least some female infertility. In a recent commentary, Population Council associate Martha Brady sets forth an argument for sports programs as a way to empower and inform girls, a goal assuming prominence in the Council and other nongovernmental organizations concerned with women's rights and human development.
Girls are under tremendous pressure to begin sexual activity and childbearing early.
We must address the whole girl and give her the skills and knowledge she needs to exert more control over her life. The Population Council, Inc.