Adolescent girls, aged 10 to 19, are our next generation of women, our future leaders, workers and mothers. The opportunities for adolescent girls globally; to be educated, to lead, to enter the workforce and to be treated as equal at all levels of society, will determine whether families can break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and whether countries’ economies prosper and grow

In so many ways empowering girls is the key to transforming families, communities and countries.

Yet the potential of adolescent girls to thrive is limited because they are girls.

All over the world girls are at risk because of their young age and their gender. They are at risk of being married before the age of 18. They are at risk of rape, violence and harassment from men and boys in every space they occupy, including their home, their school, their refugee camp and their city. They are at risk of being denied the opportunity to access a secondary education, to gain the skills and training they need to work and to exercise control over their sexual and reproductive health.

Today, there are close to 600 million adolescent girls living in the world with 500 million in developing countries. Importantly, more than half the global population of adolescent girls are on our doorstep, growing up in the countries that we provide aid and development to, and trade and engage with on foreign policy.

This report takes a deeper dive into Australia’s commitments to achieving gender equality for the next generation of women, looking at Australia’s high level strategies, Aid Investment Plans and regional and multilateral commitments, to measure how visible girls aged 10 to 19 are in Australia’s aid program.