Every second, three girls experience sexual violence. One in five girls will face sexual violence before she turns 18.
Experiencing sexual violence in childhood has lasting physical, mental, educational, and economic consequences that carry into womanhood. The effects don’t disappear—they shape a woman’s life.
To protect women, we must first protect girls. To protect girls from sexual violence, we must understand the specific challenges they face. Quality, disaggregated data plays a crucial role in understanding the drivers, nature, and consequences of violence against girls.
We need age-disaggregated data to understand how girls’ experiences of violence change as they grow up and context-specific data to capture the specific nuances of girls’ experiences of violence wherever they are in the world.
Together for Girls and our partners* recently launched first-of-its-kind figures on the prevalence of childhood sexual violence, with specific figures on girls’ experiences of sexual violence. This evidence is crucial to showing decision-makers what must be done to keep girls safe and build societies that put them in the best position to lead healthy, fulfilling lives as women.
Another critical tool to drive action to protect girls and women is the world’s largest source of data on violence against children, the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS), which provide critical insights into the lifelong consequences of sexual violence against girls.
The lifelong consequences of violence against girls
Ending violence against girls – especially sexual violence – would have a profound impact on global health, education, and GDP. It would give girls the opportunity to grow into the best versions of themselves, free from lasting effects of violent experiences.
It affects girls’ health, relationships, education outcomes, and careers, following them into their adulthood and reverberating across entire societies.
Research into the impacts of sexual violence against girls has found that it is a significant risk factor for schizophrenia, conduct disorder, bipolar disorder, bulimia, self-harm, substance use disorders, anxiety, depression, abortion and miscarriage, HIV/AIDS, STIs, asthma, and type 2 diabetes. Harmful social and gender norms place girls at greater risk. Girls, and especially adolescent girls, are disproportionately affected, both by their peers and adults.
This is a global problem, happening in every country in the world. For instance, VACS data shows that girls aged 18-24 who experienced sexual violence in childhood report higher rates of mental distress than those who did not experience sexual violence in childhood.
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Similarly, the suicidal ideation rates are higher among women aged 18-24 who experienced sexual violence in childhood than those who did not.
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Rates of early pregnancy as a result of sexual violence in childhood and adolescence are also high in many countries.
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Data from the VACS also show the devastating impacts on girls’ access to education and education outcomes as a result of sexual violence. VACS findings from around the world show that girls who experience sexual violence – both in and outside of school – often subsequently miss school.
Additionally, the impact on girls’ learning outcomes has often been found to be more severe. Girls who drop out of school after experiencing violence are more likely to marry as children or have early pregnancies.
This can have significant negative consequences for the rest of their lives, not only in terms of lower earnings in adulthood, but also for their maternal health and the health of their children, their ability to make decisions within their household, and the risk of experiencing intimate partner violence.
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The likelihood of exhibiting risky sexual behaviors in youth, including infrequent condom use, having multiple sexual partners within a year, and lack of HIV testing, are also exacerbated by girls’ experiences of childhood sexual violence.
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By collecting data on violence against girls, we are protecting the next generation of women
The wide-ranging impacts of violence against girls, while daunting, also showcase all the different avenues we can take to address this issue and support girls so we can prevent violence, provide them with the opportunity to heal, and ensure they have access to justice.
The VACS and other sources of evidence on violence against girls – specifically sexual violence – shed light on the scale, nature, and consequences of this global scourge. They provide crucial insights for decision-makers into what needs to be done to keep girls – and therefore women – safe.
Gathering quality, disaggregated, and context-specific evidence on violence against girls is rooted in the certainty that this issue is preventable, and is a critical step to understanding this global scourge.
When we keep girls safe, we are protecting an entire generation of women and creating healthier, safer and more just societies.