#BringBackOurGirls: A look at the lives of Nigeria's hardworking young women

It's been three weeks since more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped in northeastern Nigeria by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. A global social media campaign — #BringBackOurGirls — has since taken off calling for their return. And now, the U.S. is sending in reinforcements to help find the young women who officials fear could soon be sold into slavery.

With the world's attention on the West African nation, let's take a look at what life is like for Nigeria's girls. Nigerian women are "the nation's hidden resource," the British Council in Nigeria declared in its 2012 "Gender in Nigeria Report." They tend to be better educated than their male counterparts, and make up a majority of the rural workforce.

And yet, the country's yawning gender disparity means women are reportedly five times less likely to own land than men, and hold only a handful of the country's decision-making positions. The report ultimately concluded that investing in girls today will improve productivity and growth, as well as lead to a more peaceful, healthy, and skilled workforce in the future.

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With that in mind, here is a glimpse of what it is like to be female in this diverse African society: