UN: Women denied representation, making war on poverty hard to win
- From: "MCP" <gf010w5035@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2006 07:57:40 GMT
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article349915.ece
Bwaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! us poor wee wimmins have it all harder!
Millions of women around the world, including those in the UK and other
Western countries, are being denied effective representation because of
the low numbers of female politicians, judges and employers, the United
Nations has warned.
Campaigners say that unless urgent action is taken on the status of
women, the Millennium Development Goals on reducing poverty, infant
deaths and standards of education will not be met.
To mark International Women's Day, the UN has published a report that
says rates of female participation in governments across the developed
and developing world are still appallingly low. The report says that for
women to be adequately represented in their country, at least 30 per
cent of parliamentary seats should have a female representative.
In Britain, only 18 per cent of MPs are women, while only 8 per cent of
MPs in Arab countries are female. Just 20 nations - including Rwanda,
Mozambique, Guyana and Burundi - have reached or exceeded the 30 per
cent mark and only three countries (Chile, Spain and Sweden) have
complete gender parity in government.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, said: "The rate of
progress overall is slow. Women are every bit as affected as any man by
the challenges facing humanity in the 21st century - in economic and
social development, as well as in peace and security - often they are
more affected."
He added: "The world is starting to grasp that there is no policy more
effective in promoting development, health and education than the
empowerment of women and girls, and no policy is more important in
preventing conflict, or in achieving reconciliation after a conflict has
ended."
United Nations figures also show that 70 per cent of the world's 1.2
billion people who are estimated to live in poverty are women and
children. A woman dies every minute from complications arising from
pregnancy and childbirth, and HIV rates are now rising faster among
women than men. Charities say that 700 million women are living without
adequate food, water, sanitation and education.
Even in the developed world, women face endemic discrimination.
Full-time female workers in Japan earn just 51 per cent of the wages of
their male counterparts, while only one in five managers in Italy is a
woman and just 14 per cent of the seats in the US Congress are taken by
women.
In a speech to mark International Women's Day in Britain, Lady Barbara
Thomas Judge, who chairs the UK Atomic Energy Authority, said that girls
still suffered from discrimination in schools and work. She told a
conference organised by the Aurora Network for women in business that 30
years after the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act in the United
Kingdom, women account for half of the working population but for just
one in four managers, 9 per cent of the judiciary and 10 per cent of
senior police officers.
Lady Judge highlighted the fact that only 14.5 per cent of people
employed in the fields of technology and engineering are women, despite
evidence that when they do enter the professions, female engineers earn
more than men. "Research indicates that those girls that are interested
in maths and science are channelled into medicine, nursing and
veterinary science because these are perceived as "caring" professions,"
she said.
"Girls have few role models that show that women can be engineers and
there are few companies that provide work experience for women in
engineering. If we are to survive as a leading nation in this global-
ised world, we must utilise this country's intellectual capability to
the fullest extent."
Julia Häusermann, the president of the human rights charity Rights and
Humanity, said: "We have much to celebrate on International Women's Day.
"All over the world, women are making progress in political
participation, economic empowerment and increased access to education.
But wherever we turn, poverty, violence and Aids have a woman's face.
"The empowerment of women is the single most effective tool for
development. There is increasing evidence that securing women's rights
benefits not just women and their immediate families, but the wider
society and national economies."
Women's Day in brief
* Women are better prepared for retirement than men, according to
research. Only 16 per cent of women expect to rely on state pensions,
compared to 22 per cent of men. One in five women have already consulted
their bank about their retirement plans, compared to only 16 per cent of
men, a survey for HSBC found.
* An End Violence Against Women campaign by the Fawcett Society today
reached its target to get 200 MPs to back an Early Day Motion which
calls for the Government to take more action on the issue.
* The Birds Eye View Film Festival, launched today at the NFT, is a
female film festival,which features short films, documentaries and
feature films, including the Oscar- nominated Badgered by Sharon Colman.
* The yachtswoman Dee Caffari, who left Portsmouth 107 days ago in an
attempt to become the first woman to complete the Aviva Challenge -
single-handedly sailing against prevailing winds - is expected to finish
in May.
* The National Archives in London has digitised more than 7,000 records
of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in the years from 1917 to 1920 for
Women's Day.
.
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