[Congressional Bills 103th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.J. Res. 302 Engrossed in House (EH)] 103d CONGRESS 2d Session H. J. RES. 302 _______________________________________________________________________ JOINT RESOLUTION Designating 1994 as the ``Year of the Girl Child''. 103d CONGRESS 2d Session H. J. RES. 302 _______________________________________________________________________ JOINT RESOLUTION Designating 1994 as the ``Year of the Girl Child''. Whereas girls are the most neglected, deprived, and mistreated human resource worldwide; Whereas girls are frequently condemned to a cycle of poverty, illiteracy, unwanted pregnancy, and poor health; Whereas girls across the developing world are fed less, withdrawn from school earlier, forced into hard labor sooner, and given less medical care than are boys; Whereas numerous studies indicate that girls are handicapped not only by the perception that they are temporary members of a family, but also by the belief that boys will be the chief breadwinners and, therefore, are more deserving of scarce resources; Whereas parents in some regions of the developing world resort to infanticide rather than use the family resources to raise girl children; Whereas girls in some regions of the world become pregnant at the onset of puberty and continue to become pregnant at intervals that damage their health and increase the chances of complications during pregnancy; Whereas girls with at least a 7th grade education have \1/2\ as many pregnancies as girls with less schooling; Whereas studies indicate that infant deaths decline by 20 percent when girls in developing countries have as little as 4 to 6 years of school; Whereas the World Health Organization estimates that improved education for girls and family planning services for women (including girls) would reduce maternal deaths by 15 to 33 percent; Whereas the World Fertility Survey indicates that a girl's age at marriage increases with the number of years she has spent in school and that she is more apt to marry at 22 than at 17 with even as little as 7 years of education; Whereas girls in the United States still receive an unequal education in our Nation's schools, by any measure--test scores, curriculum, or teacher- student interaction; Whereas girls in the United States and abroad are exploited as the victims of sexual abuse and child prostitution; and Whereas the most recent study of child sexual abuse in the United States shows that, of the cases reported, 23 percent of the victims were boys and 77 percent were girls: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That 1994 is designated as the ``Year of the Girl Child'', and the President of the United States is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation calling upon all United States missions in foreign countries, all United States diplomatic personnel, the Secretary of Education, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to encourage equality for girls in health care, education, and all phases of family and community life. Passed the House of Representatives May 11, 1994. Attest: Clerk.