A member (2nd R) from the British Chamber of Commerce in China (BritCham) poses with beneficiaries from Plan International China's girl program at the event celebrating the International Day of the Girl Child on October 13. [Women of China/Jin Jin]

China Children and Teenagers' Foundation (CCTF) and Plan International China jointly organized an event to mark the fourth International Day of the Girl Child on October 13.

At the event, organizers shared reports on social issues related to girls to improve the public's awareness of issues affecting them, and explored how to better improve gender equality among both adults and children through media and by encouraging social responsibility.

The foundation released a development report on Chinese girls' education, based on the latest survey carried out with its partners in five Chinese provinces.

The report analyzes the current situation and needs of girls regarding school education, family education, safety, vocational development, environmental health and mental health, as well as the influences of factors such as regional difference, gender, ethnicity, wealth, schooling and families, and how they impact on girls' education development and needs.

According to the report, disadvantaged girls, especially so-called "left-behind" children (those whose parents have left them in their rural hometowns to work in cities), as well as physically-challenged girls and impoverished girls, are more likely to suffer from gender inequality.

At the event, Plan International China released the ninth report on global girls on the theme of "The Unfinished Business of Girls' Rights", which collected both negative and positive viewpoints and discussions on girls' current situations, drawn from the experiences of people from different walks of life around the world.

The report recognizes the efforts that groups have made to improve girls' and women's situation and urges officials to integrate the unfinished business of complete gender equality into China's current social structure using the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda as a guide. In this way the publishers of the report hope to promote the wider role of gender equality in ending poverty, bringing economic benefits, realizing sustainable social development and enhancing ethical development.

Representatives of girls and young women benefiting from Plan International China's special program and CCTF's Spring Bud Project—an initiative to help poverty-stricken girls, or those who are at risk of dropping out, to finish school—were invited to share their understanding of gender equality and girls' rights at the event.

Plan International China is an international development NGO that has worked in the country since 1995 and is recognized as a world-leader in child-focused, integrated community development.

(Women of China)