Evening with EMpower Women - Being an Adolescent Girl in India

Posted 22 July 2016 in EMpower News   |   Share

On July 18th in London, Nisha Dhawan, EMpower’s Senior Program Officer for India and Regional Advisor for Asia, spoke at the event Evening with EMpower Women - Being an Adolescent Girl in India! Nisha talked with 30 female EMpower supporters about the realities that adolescent girls face growing up in India.

One of the major issues facing the 113 million adolescent girls living in India is the stigma around menstruation, which affects livelihoods, education and active engagement in society. In India, around 23% of girls aged 12-18 drop out of school after they begin menstruating and 31% of girls and women miss an average of 2.2 days of work per month when they menstruate. This is due to many factors such as cost and lack of access to sanitary napkins, social stigmas and lack of bathroom facilities.

EMpower grantee partners in India are addressing the issue of adolescent health through their education and livelihoods programs.

A huge thank you to Citi for hosting and sponsoring the event!