Teach Your Children Well Judith Bruce, a global advocate for girls, highlights seven key things they need to stay safe. Ideally, girls would never find themselves at risk for sexual violence. And there is much that adults can do to ensure their safety. But it also helps to empower girls themselves. One place to start is by making girls aware of the risks they may face and encouraging them to speak up and get help if they feel threatened or experience sexual violence. Using ageappropriate messages, tell them abuse does happen and that if it happens to them, they should neither be ashamed nor afraid to talk about it—instead, they should report it immediately to family members, friends or trusted authorities. It is also helpful to ensure that girls have access to the information, resources and tools they need to prevent and deal with violence. With these things in their possession, girls can better protect themselves and be a central part of the prevention of sexual violence. Judith Bruce, a global guru on empowering young women, has drawn up the following list of seven specific assets all girls should have in their self-protection toolkit by age 12. Though she was thinking of young women in the developing world when she created this list, many of these suggestions are useful in the developed world (and for boys), too. Bruce is a senior associate and policy analyst at the Population Council’s Poverty, Gender and Youth program and a long-standing member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has worked for years on the ground in hotspots for violence against girls (such 16 Safe. Issue I
as in Haiti, after the 2010 earthquake) and says, “The subject closest to my heart is the six hundred million girls of the developing world.” Imagine if each girl could have:
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1 At least five friends she can trust and count on. 2 A slightly older female mentor who is not a member of her family. 3 A girl-only space/platform in her community where she can meet her friends or mentor. 4 Personal documentation—e.g. passport or birth certificate—in her possession for citizenship rights, health and securing a livelihood. 5 A ge-appropriate life skills such as health information and financial literacy (including: knowledge of contraception options, the physical risks of genital mutilation/cutting, budgeting and how to track income and spending).
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6 Incubator savings—funds to help her travel to and stay in a safe space if something happens. 7 A context-specific, age-appropriate safety plan, including knowledge of where to go in case of an emergency.