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TRANSITIONS TO ADULTHOOD In many cultural settings, adolescent girls have narrow social networks and few places where they can gather to meet with peers, form new friendships and alliances, receive mentoring support, and acquire new and valued skills. Girls’ lives become increasingly restricted to the domestic sphere—nominally in order to protect them from dangers outside the home. While parents are concerned about the well-being of all of their children, they tend to control their daughters’ movements more tightly than their sons’—in some instances for good reason. Fearing the watchful gaze of males, the temptation of unapproved or unsanctioned activities, or general violence in the community, parents often protect their daughters by sequestering them at home. As a result, girls’ mobility is restricted, thereby narrowing their options for full participation in public life. Adolescent girls are often invisible and unwelcome in public spaces. Subjected to familial pressures to protect their “marriageability” and to carry out onerous domestic responsibilities, these girls have few safe spaces in which to continue their social and economic development. Likewise, communities are deprived of the energies and talents of young females who are at a critical life stage—a time when they are young enough to be optimistic about their future and eager to learn and grow. Council research aims to identify effective strategies to increase safe mobility and social opportunities for girls within their communities. Projects
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