Presents the outcomes of a major 14-country project aimed at empowering girls and young women. Provides a discussion of their choices in life, comparing factors such as family background, health, education, employment opportunities and the use of and access to the internet.

MAARTEN VAN KLAVEREN is a researcher at the University of Amsterdam - Amsterdam Institute of Advanced labour Studies (AIAS), the Netherlands, and an economist. His research interests include low-wage work and he is the co- editor of Low-Wage Work in the Netherlands (2008). He has a track record in research on multinational companies and developing countries and has also written works on mining, electronics, textiles and clothing, and on the development of Suriname, South Korea, and South Africa. KEA TIJDENS is a researcher at the University of Amsterdam - Amsterdam Institute of Advanced labour Studies (AIAS), the Netherlands, and a professor of Women and Work, at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. She is a sociologist and scientific coordinator of the Wage Indicator web-survey on work and wages, currently operational in 65 countries. She has coordinated several European research projects and her current research interests relate to women's labour market re-entry, part-time work, occupational segregation, and the gender pay gap.