women – Stop Child Labor – The Child Labor Coalition

Of the 160 million children trapped in child labor, 63 million are girls. [source]
29 million women and girls are in modern slavery—71 percent of the overall total of enslaved individuals. [source]
Women represent 99.4 percent of the victims of forced labor in the commercial sex industry. [source]
Women and girls represent 84 percent of the victims of forced marriages, now categorized as a form of modern slavery. There are an estimated 15 million individuals in forced marriages. [source]
Worldwide, there are an estimated 75.6 million domestic workers—76.2 or approximately 3/4 are women. [source]*
129 million girls are out of school, including 32 million of primary school age, and 97 million of secondary school age. [source]
89 percent of girls complete their primary education, but only 79 percent complete their lower secondary education and only 61 percent complete their upper secondary education. [source]
In low-income countries, only 63 percent of girls complete their primary education. [source]
At the end of 2023, there were an estimated 117.3 million forcibly displaced people, including 43.4 million refugees—half are women and girls. [source]
More than 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where FGM is practiced. [source]

Data updated by Tesa Hargis, June 2024.

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

Of the 152 million children trapped in child labor, 64 million are girls [source].
73 million children are trapped in hazardous child labor—27.8 million are girls.
29 million women and girls are in modern slavery—71 percent of the overall total of enslaved individuals [source].
Women represent 99.4 percent of the victims of forced labor in the commercial sex industry [source].
Women and girls represent 84 percent of the victims of forced marriages, now categorized as a form of modern slavery [source]. There are an estimated 15 million individuals in forced marriages.
Worldwide, there are an estimated 67 million domestic workers—3/4 are women [source].
132 million girls were out of school in 2016 [source].
9 in 10 girls complete their primary education, but only 3 in 4 complete their lower secondary education [source].
In low-income countries, less than 2/3 of girls complete their primary education [source].
42 million people have fled their homes because of armed conflicts; 50 percent are women; 10 million are estimated to be girls and young women. [source]
In 2017, there were an estimated 68.5 million forcibly displaced people, including 25.4 million refugees—half are women and girls. [source]

Child sugarcane worker. Photo by Noah Friedman-Rudovsky. Courtesy of Green America.

10 Facts about Women and Girls (2024)