When she was pregnant with her seventh child, Mona met her long-ago classmate, Hari, now 20, in the street. He believes Mona never had any control over her own life. If Mona were given the opportunity of education to build a future she would not become the slave of tradition and the society. Lack of power also leaves them vulnerable to sexual abuse, including incest and rape. The most vulnerable and the least powerful are girls who are disabled, homeless, caught in the turmoil of war, or in other ways on the fringes of society.
Young women learn their status from the start.
In many places, negative attitudes and prejudices hold back moves to help adolescents. This is especially true for girls. Traditions such as mutilating girls' genitals are symptoms of wider prejudice against women. Learning more about the rights of women and girls is part of helping people understand more about gender equality. These rights are spelled out in laws and declarations agreed to by nearly every country in the world in one form or another, as in the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.