A Call for Action

by Professor Anne M. Teitelman

Patricia Bleznak Silverstein and Howard A. Silverstein Endowed Term Chair in Global Women's Health,  Assistant Professor of Nursing

Every day, girls ages 13, 14, and 15 are talked out of using condoms by older partners and end up with sexually transmitted infections or pregnant.  Sometimes, a partner secretly removes a condom before sex.  Sometimes, if the girl refuses sex after she finds out he gave her a disease, he forces her anyway.  These are the stories from my research of economically disadvantaged girls in urban communities. 

Young women in their 20s tell us about their reflections looking back on their teen years and say they didn't have anyone to talk to.  When younger, they let their partners make the decisions because they were afraid or though he knew more.  They didn't know what a healthy relationship was.  Looking back, they say young girls need the support of adults to help them find their way when they are facing such devastating consequences to their health.

This is important research evidence to collect.  It helps explain why adolescent females 15-19 have the highest rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia compared to all other ages, both males and females.  It helps explain how HIV is one of the leading causes of death for young adult women in the US likely infected during adolescence.  It helps explain why 82% of teen pregnancies are unintended.  So why is this important?  This research proves that when adolescent girls are held back, it ripples through all of society.  But if she can safely navigate through adolescence, not only will she benefit, but so will her family and community for generations to come.

So what can we do?  My research findings point to the need to provide girls with effective evidence-based interventions to buffer them from these experiences.  So in my NIH-funded study, my research team and I have created an advocacy and empowerment intervention for adolescent girls called Stand Up Together, in which we work with them on the knowledge and skills they need to practice safer sex, avoid unhealthy relationships and build healthy relationships.  We are now evaluating that intervention in a randomized clinical trial. 

Armed with new knowledge, new negotiation skills and an empowered voice, and a questioning view on gender scripts that limit equality, girls are able to make important changes in their lives.  But we have a lot more work to do.  These issues are global issues as well.  In a recent visit to South Africa, I talked about our adolescent girls here in the US with my colleagues in South Africa, and they were struck by how similar the issues were there.  We are now collaborating on a proposal to assess a village-wide intervention to reduce gender-based violence and promote safer sex.  As I move forward with my international research agenda, I am eager to develop other such global collaboration.  Because of support from generous alumni and friends like the Silverstein family, who established the Patricia Bleznak Silverstein and Howard A. Silverstein term chair in global women's health that now supports my research, we can further efforts to improve the lives of women, girls and their families and communities around the world.

Gender equality is of fundamental importance to advancing development around the world, and we are at a moment of exceptional opportunity.  Now is the moment to act.  And I quote, "If you want to change the world, invest in an adolescent girl."