Girls and women are linked by stages of development and they are also linked by a stark reality. In many countries, women are still very much girls when they marry and raise a family, do the workload of adults and are deprived of their right to development. The violation of a girl's right to education forecasts a very limited, often grim future for women.

In industrialized as well as developing countries, many girls do not escape the devastating lifelong consequences of discrimination which often leads to teenage pregnancy, prostitution, homelessness, gender-insensitive classrooms, sexual harassment and demeaning images in the media.

As women advance, we must not leave girls behind. The burden we drop on the road to progress cannot fall on the shoulders of those who follow in our footsteps. For girls to take their rightful place in society with dignity and equality, they need to develop their full potential as human beings and contributing productive members of society. Only then will the vicious cycle of discrimination and disadvantage be broken.