Summary
- Teenage girls drop out of school, deal with pregnancy-related conditions, give birth at their tender ages and finally become mothers with little or no hope of ever going back to school.
- The men responsible for the teenage pregnancies go on with their lives as usual, finish school, get employed and start their family with another lady.
- If girls can school, get into the work force, then get kids later and most probably in a family set-up, the likelihood of them being poor is much lower even if they are separated or widowed in future.
- As older women who have gone past the teenage, it is our duty to ensure that we empower the girls with all the information they need
When the Founder of Dear Little Sister Foundation told me that she was just about to launch a book meant to mentor young girls against the menace of teenage pregnancies, it was a ‘wow moment’ for me in that finally, there is someone bold enough to speak to our younger sisters about sexuality issues and warn them of what lies ahead just in case they become pregnant before the planned time.” Such thoughts have been in minds of many other older women who fear to bring them out or don’t know the best way to put them across.
I once got a chance to engage a group of female students from one of the public universities in this country. They were so eager to know how they would make sure that they don’t end up in compromising situations with their male counterparts in a manners likely to lead to unplanned pregnancies.
What came up out of the discussions was that in as much as it’s a societal responsibility to ensure that our girls do not become pregnant before the planned time, the load of it all seems to be on the girls themselves, their mothers, older sisters or generally women. Across the years, the blame on teenage pregnancies seems to be skewed towards women. The consequences also seem to affect the women more than it would do to men. Somehow, even the men responsible for the teenage pregnancies seem to go on with their lives as usual, finish school, get employed and even start their own families where they now plan to get kids. On the other hand the teenage girls have to drop out of school, deal pregnancy-related conditions, give birth at their tender ages and are finally forced to become mothers with little or no hope of ever going back to school.
According to a recently released World Bank Report, Kenya Gender and Poverty Assesment2015/2016, Kenyan women between the ages of 25-60 are more likely to live in poor households than men. Poverty rates are higher among women who are separated, divorced or widowed. The same report states that girls who drop out of secondary school are more likely to be married and to have given birth than girls who still attend schools. This can be interpreted to mean that if girls can school, get into the work force, then get kids later and most probably in a family set-up, the likelihood of them being poor is much lower even if they are separated or widowed in future.
As older women who have gone past the teenage, it is our duty to ensure that we empower the girls with all the information they need to make sound decisions especially on their sexuality which has a huge effect on their future. Let’s be the ambassadors to these young girls.
Every girl has a right to a bright future!
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