Shes the First UW Global Awareness Program What

She’s the First {UW} Global Awareness Program

What is it? The Global Awareness Program (GAP) is a program created by She’s the First headquarters. Each college chapter has a representative and the chapters are divided into groups based on location. She’s the First {Wisconsin} has Ethiopia and Tanzania. Once a month, we have a Google hangout and have a discussion about the topic given by She’s the First and the articles we find.

This Month’s Topic: Child Marriage Effects of Child Marriage Include: • Premature pregnancy, maternal & infant mortality, health problems, illiteracy, poverty, and HIV/AIDS • More than 100 million girls in the developing world will be married during the next 10 years • http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=5 Cf 83 V 86 As. E&feature=share&list=PL 7565 E 5 BC 6 A 4 C 9 FE E

But there’s hope…. • Girls with a secondary education are up to six times less likely to marry young compared to girls with little or no education. • Education delays the age at which a woman marries, provides an alternative opportunity for girls than marriage, increases socioeconomic status and therefore can break the cycle of poverty for that woman’s family. • http: //youtu. be/1 e 8 xg. F 0 Jt. Vg

Further Discussion Here are the Facts: -In Tanzania, more than 55, 000 girls have been expelled from school because they are pregnant. -Tanzania has a high rate of teenage pregnancy, but not all of the pregnancies are from rape or child marriage. -Health care providers don’t give girls contraceptives if they are not married. -In Tanzania, it is illegal to have sex with a girl under 18, but girls can legally be married at 15. -In Tanzania, they believe they are helping the girls by showing them what can happen if they get pregnant.

• Do you agree with what these schools are doing by trying to make these girls an example? • What do you think of the law? Do you agree with it? Is it better than no law at all? • What do you think should be done for the girls in Tanzania that get pregnant as teenagers from consensual sex? • Do you think it’s right for these teenage girls to be arrested or forced to give the name of who impregnated them because it’s illegal to have sex with a girl under 18 years of age?

Want more? If you have further questions, would like the articles discussed tonight, or want more articles to read and discuss, email me! kjkey@wisc. edu