Selection from Girls' Adolescence in Burkina Faso: A pivot point for social change
By Martha Brady, Lydia Saloucou, and Erica Chong
"Introduction: Experiences in adolescence powerfully affect boys’ and girls’ adult lives, suggesting thatinterventions during the second decade of life have the potential to improve greatly their health andtheir social and economic status. During this time,boys and girls experience biological, social, andpsychological changes related to puberty and often undergomajor transitions in their lives. These may includeinitiation of sexual relations, marriage, childbearing, andincreased household and familial responsibilities. As aresult, adolescents increasingly have been the focus ofpolicy and programmatic efforts during the past decade;initiatives having been directed at improving schoolenrollment and quality, making health services more “youthfriendly,” educating young people about reproductive health, and more recently, addressing theireconomic concern. …
As closer attention is paid to the lives ofadolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, girls are found to beclearly disadvantaged, compared with their male counterparts. Girls lives are frequently confined to rigid domesticroles and responsibilities; they experience restrictedmobility and interaction with the wider community,inadequate schooling, insufficient opportunities to work forpay, early marriages arranged without their consent,early childbearing soon after marriage, and limitedcontrol over their reproductive health and fertility. This characterization of girls’ lives isparticularly true for adolescent girls in Burkina Faso. Nearlythree out of four girls aged 15–19 have not completedfour years of schooling, and 74 percent cannot read(INSD and ORC Macro 2004). Burkinabé girls face restrictions to their movements in the community, to theiraccess to resources such as land, and to theiremployment in the formal sector. Marriage frequently occursearly, and more than one-third of married girls findthemselves in polygamous unions as second or third wives,married to much older men. Once married, girls areexpected to bear children early. Girls in Burkina Fasotypically give birth within the first 20 months of marriage, anda girl who fails to bear children immediately aftermarriage risks rejection by her husband or his family. Thelow status of girls and women makes them especiallyvulnerable in the context of the HIV epidemic, although current national HIV rates remain relatively low. …
Understanding and recognizing girls’ realities is an important first step in planning appropriateand meaningful interventions for them. Laying thisfoundation is especially critical in Burkina Faso, wheregirls’ experiences are remarkably diverse. The lives andcapacities of Burkinabé girls are not only affected by age, ethnicity, schooling status, urban–ruralresidence, and parental residence, but also by their status vis-à-vismarriage. Girls who are unmarried, “promised,” engaged, or married face different constraints, havediffering needs, and merit specific program approaches. This report aims to fill gaps in our knowledge regarding adolescent Burkinabé girls so as betterserve the needs of this most vulnerable population.Section II presents a basic profile of Burkina Faso,providing the social, economic, and cultural context in whichadolescent girls live. Section III examines the existingdata concerning the major dimensions of girls’ lives,including living arrangements, schooling, work, mobility,and marital patterns. Section IV reviews laws andpolicies that affect adolescent girls and summarizes the major programs that have been launched for thispopulation. Section V concludes the report by suggestingresearch gaps, proposing policy initiatives, and providingtools for programmers to assess their own programs.”
UNITWIN Publishers' note: the authors acknowledge among others, Judith Bruce for her intellectual guidance and Michelle Skaer for her research assistance; both Judith and Michelle have also been collaborating with us on initiatives in Burkina!
Cover photo credit: Brenda Gael McSweeney
Text photo, courtesy Population Council
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