Governments have made commitments and passed new laws to improve the situation of girls; but the laws are not consistently or fully implemented.

Good progress has been made in increasing primary school enrollment for girls; but their dropout rate remains high.

Although public awareness about violence against girls is increasing, sexual and physical abuse, within and outside the family, remains a prevalent and serious problem in all regions of the world.

These are some of the conclusions reached in the Report, "Clearing a Path for Girls" written and published by the NGO Working Groups on Girls. Based on responses to a survey by 248 NGOs in 87 countries, the Report aims to assess progress in relation to Section L, the separate section on girls in the Beijing Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China, 1995. The Conference and Section L represent a turning point for girls. The Report addresses government commitments, global and regional trends and many examples of specific NGO programmes.

Government Commitments and Progress

Section L represents a global and public acknowledgment by governments of widespread "discrimination against girls from... their childhood and into their adulthood". NGOs from the field report that many governments have made commitments to improve the situation of girls. The majority of these commitments, they say, are broad declarations to "mainstream gender" or "eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl child". Most followup actions fall into a few categories including: adoption of new laws and policies; appointments of new ministers; creation of new commissions and organizing workshops. NGOs report the large gap between legislation and enforcement and that the newly appointed ministers are rarely women. In many cases they say that the visible progress at the national level does not reach the grassroots populations. The surveys also reveal varying levels of government cooperation with NGOs and their programmes, ranging from meaningful collaboration to indifference or outright resistance.

Global Trends and Patterns:

While expected regional differences have surfaced in the surveys, global trends are striking. Education and violence surfaced as the two prevailing issues.

Education overall is viewed as the area where the greatest progress has occurred. In developing countries, especially, most of the progress is in primary education, in sharp contrast to spotty or no progress in secondary education, math and science, gender sensitivity of curricula and teachers, and, especially, retention in school of adolescent girls. In industrialized countries, NGOs address gender sensitivity in the classroom, discrimination in sports and, in some cases, in science and technology.

Violence is seen as the most serious problem in all regions and varies regionally from interfamilial sexual and physical abuse, to female genital mutilation, infanticide, early marriage, and commercial sexual exploitation. Surprisingly, the impact of armed conflict is barely mentioned.

Health and Nutrition are reported to show progress in most regions, although teenage pregnancy is a wide concern throughout. Few references are made to HIV/AIDS, despite evidence showing sharp increases among women and adolescent girls.

Economic Exploitation have drawn frequent comments from NGOs, who cite minimum age labour laws, but also say that there is little political will to implement them. Moreover, enforcement of legislation does not reach the majority of girls who perform invisible work.

Negative Cultural Attitudes and Practices emerge as a highly critical area of concern within Asia and Africa especially, but also among immigrant populations in some European countries.

The issue of "poverty and patriarchy" is highlighted by reports from every region, respondents pointing out the strong links between economic conditions and systemic and systematic discrimination against women and girls.