The Girl Effect campaign has a powerful message.

Top 10 Reasons to consider this social cause (statistics gathered from campaign):

1. The total global population of girls ages 10 to 24 — already the largest in history — is expected to peak in the next decade.

2. Out of the world’s 130 million out-of-school youth, 70 percent are girls.

3. Research in developing countries has shown a consistent relationship between better infant and child health and higher
levels of schooling among mothers.

4. An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school: 15 to 25 percent.

5. Medical complications from pregnancy are the leading cause of death among girls ages 15 to 19 worldwide. Compared with women ages 20 to 24, girls ages 10 to 14 are five times more likely to die from childbirth, and girls 15 to 19 are up to twice as likely, worldwide.

6. A survey in India found that girls who married before age 18 were twice as likely to report being beaten, slapped, or
threatened by their husbands as were girls who married later.

7. 75 percent of 15- to 24-year-olds living with HIV in Africa are female, up from 62 percent in 2001.

8. When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40
percent for a man.

9.We deserve a chance.

10. You have a daughter. Or a niece. Sister.