Hope for our nation’s transformation lies in how well we invest in our teenage girls - their education, health, and employment prospects.

This was the message of the international observance of World Population Day last July 11. In Manila, around 2,000 people – mostly teenage girls and some boys – from different schools, communities, and institutions came together to celebrate the teenage girl at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

Why the emphasis on teenage girls?

Around 10 million of the 102.4 million Filipinos are girls aged 10-19 years old, and they face more and greater challenges than their male counterparts.

Among those challenges, according to United Nations Population Fund Country Representative Klaus Beck, is how, in many societies, girls who reach puberty are deemed by their families and communities as ready for marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth – robbing them of a chance to pursue a future of their own choice.

“Young girls are often denied basic human rights such as the right to health, right to education, and even the right to choose if and when they want to get married and, if so, to whom,” said Mr. Beck.

In the Philippines, 13.6 per cent of all 15-19 year old girls are either pregnant or have a child. By the age of 19, almost four in 10 girls are, or will soon be, mothers. Without education, their future can be derailed, and they may never realize their full potential.

“But when you are empowered, when you have the means and the information to make your own decisions in life, you are more likely to realize your dreams, your full potential. You thrive and prosper, your community thrives and prospers, and your country thrives and prospers,” Mr. Beck added.

A girl asks a question during the open forum.

Advice from Vice President Leni Robredo: Yourself first

In a message delivered by her daughter, Vice President Leni Robredo offered advice for the young girls in the audience: put yourself and your studies first.

“Embrace the soft power of your femininity,” she said in her keynote address, delivered by eldest daughter Aika Robredo. “There is strength in being a girl... as they say, you save a girl and you save a generation.”

To further illustrate, the vice president referenced a study commissioned by UNFPA in collaboration with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on the demographic dividend in the Philippines: a phenomenon that could propel our country into becoming the 17th largest economy in the world by 2050.

“In our nation today, the numbers show that the youth – all of you – will become a major social and economic force in the next 45 years. As majority of our population enters the ages of 15 to 24 years old, and they become ‘effective workers’ more than ‘effective consumers,’ the number of people who are employed and earn more income overtake the number of people who are dependent on them.”

Also present during the event were Sen. Win Gatchalian, Health Undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo, Commission on Population Executive Director Dr. Juan Antonio Perez, and National Youth Commission OIC Chair Earl Saavedra. All showed solidarity in emphasizing the need for policies and investments in health and education that will empower the youth, creating conditions that will enable them to exercise their rights and consequently, bolster and speed up economic growth.