by Anastasia Moloney
"From girls being coerced to have sex in exchange for school books to being forced into marriage, violence against girls is seen as an accepted part of being female, a report said on Monday.
The study by U.K.-based children's charity, Plan International, interviewed 301 teenage girls and boys in Colombia, Uganda and Spain, about gender roles and stereotypes.
'The horrifying testimonies of girls reveal that almost every single experience for them – be it at home, school, in public transport, or on social media – is a reminder that they are judged to be inferior to boys,' said Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, head of Plan International.
'Violence in particular has become so normalised that it is seen by many as an accepted part of being female,' she said in a statement.
A third of all women experience physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives. An estimated one in five will be a victim of rape or attempted rape, says the United Nations, and high rates of femicide and domestic abuse grip many countries.
The Plan International study found gender discrimination starts in the home, where expectations about girls' behaviour are reinforced by their parents, brothers and the wider family."
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