Book excerpt: This book discusses regional and global discourses on the rights of children, especially girls. It focuses on social and government initiatives to address the marginalization of women and girls in societies across the world. It traces the root causes for the vulnerable positions of girls and women and the challenges associated with improving their access to opportunities, education, healthcare and socio-economic freedoms. It explores national and international initiatives for the welfare and development of the girl child and recent social, legal and policy developments towards uplifting vulnerable girls in largely patriarchal societies in India. It looks at debates over age and rights; the status of the girl child; the causes and consequences of being vulnerable; various aspects of welfare and protection and the cultural relativism and violation of human rights of girls and women. An important volume on human rights, this book will be of interest to students, researchers and practitioners of gender studies, sociology of the family, human rights, law and civil liberties, development studies, socio-legal studies, and sociology and social policy.