From the girl child to girls' rights

Within the development context, much of the new interest in girls has occurred under the rubric ‘the girl child’, which has become an increasingly common phrase on international and national platforms. This paper, based largely on field and documentary research across East, South and Southeast Asia, suggests that this platform has not translated into effective, sustained or transformative national programmes or local projects in support of girls. It also argues that the cause of girls might be served better by an emphasis on girls' rights embedded in frameworks that both gender entitlements and expectations of children and take campaigns directly into the familial environment.