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THE WORLD'S WOMEN: 5 year UN Report
Women Face Hurdles Worldwide in Quest for Gender Equality
Where we live, in affluent and educated pockets of the developed world there can be a lulling sense – realistic or not – that progress towards gender equality has been moving apace. But what does the world picture really look like?
According to two new reports from two United Nations agencies, it’s is not all that rosy.
First, a bit of good news: women outlive men the world over. Ok, but consider this: women are still rarely employed in jobs with status, power, and authority, and women remain severely underrepresented in both government and the private sector. Not only that, violence against women continues to be ”a universal phenomenon.” All this is according to The World’s Women 2010, released Wednesday in conjunction with the United Nations’ first ever World Statistics Day.
The World’s Women compilation is published every five years and examines eight key areas: population and families, health, education, work, power and decision-making, violence against women, environment, and poverty. In his introduction to the report, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said “progress in ensuring the equal status of women and men has been made in many areas including school enrolment, health and economic participation. At the same time, it makes clear that much more needs to be done, in particular to close the gender gap in public life and to prevent the many forms of violence to which women are subjected.”
The United Nations Population Fund also released a report on Wednesday to coincide with the tenth anniversary of a landmark resolution by the UN Security Council which aimed to put a stop to sexual violence against women and girls in armed conflict and to encourage greater participation by women in peacebuilding initiatives.
War and disaster hits women hardest
The State of the World Population 2010 finds that “discrimination against women not only exposes them to the worst effects of disaster and war, but also deprives their countries of a prime engine for recovery.” As the reports says, “Women rarely wage war, but they too often suffer the worst of its consequences.”
Here are some of the startling statistics from both reports, which offer a lot to think about:
- Of the world’s nearly 7 billion people, men outnumber women by 57 million.
- Overall progress has been made in girls’ enrolment in primary school, showing an increase to 86% in 2007 from 79% in 1999. But parts of Africa had some of the lowest rates, with less that 60% of primary school age girls in school, and of the 72 million children worldwide who are not going to school, 54% of them are girls.
- Women comprised just 7 out of 150 elected Heads of State in the world last year, and only 11 out of 192 governments were headed by women. Women hold an average of 17% of seats in parliament.
- Of the 500 largest corporations on the world only 13 had female CEOs in 2009.
- Women pursuing higher education now outnumber men – making up 51% of college students.
- Women aged 25 to 54 are in the work force at higher rates than in 1990, yet women still earn between 70 and 90 per cent of their male counterparts.
- Despite maternity legislation, maternity continues to be a source of employment discrimination and many pregnant women the world over lose their jobs.
- Rates of women experiencing physical violence at least one in their lifetimes varies from 12% in Hong Kong, to 59% in Zambia, and one-tenth of women report having experienced abuse in the past 12 months in Costa Rica, the Republic of Moldova, the Czech Republic, and Mozambique.
- Genital mutilation is still widely performed, especially among the less educated, does appear to be decreasing slightly, especially among younger women.
- Sub-Saharan Africa recorded 270,000 maternal deaths in 2005 – half of the world’s maternal deaths, despite increases in the proportion of women receiving pre-natal care.
Paul Cheung, Director of the UN’s Statistics Division says The World’s Women 2010 is meant to be a tool for governments and policy-makers to advance gender equality worldwide. Let’s hope they do.
As The State of World Population 2010 asserts: “Governments need to seize opportunities arising out of post-conflict recovery or emerging from natural disasters to increase the chances that countries are not just rebuilt, but built back better and renewed, with women and men on equal footing, with rights and opportunities for all and a foundation for development and security in the long run.”
We have an obligation to women everywhere. We can do it stronger and more courageously if we Americans can rescue ourselves from residual medieval third-class nothingness.
FIRST, We Americans must seize this opportunity from chaos to gain OUR OWN EQUAL RIGHTS by working for the Equal Rights Amendment. We've tried everything else, ...
Why not outlaw sex discrimination via the US Constitution right now. We urge YOU to work with US to help pull women especially out of the ditch. Write us here. Write us at SandyO@passERA.org right now. Don't sit. MOVE with us.
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