World November 2005

Gender Equality - at Many Levels. [World] Norden is in the process of finding new models and methods for increasing equality between men and women. The ministers for equality affairs have asked the Nordic Council of Ministers to look at the possibility of implementing the gender aspect in budget policies. This means that the gender and equality perspectives should be considered before a budget comes into force. "It is both exciting and interesting, and I hope that the OECD will join the project," said Secretary General Søren Christensen of the Nordic Council of Ministers. In that respect, this could be one of the results of the conference "Gender Mainstreaming - Competitiveness and Growth", organised by the OECD and the Nordic Council of Ministers November 23-24. The conference brought together 25 ministers and 350 participants from all over the world. The economic growth of society depends on gender equality, and the objective should be to equalise the differences between genders when it comes to choice of education. The biggest opportunities on the labour market of the future will be in the areas of IT and social affairs. The distribution of gender in these areas, however, is highly unequal. Today, 90% of the working force in the IT business are men, while 84% of the workers in the health and social sectors are women. The challenge is to find initiatives that can change this trend, said the ministers.

Women 'Race Worst Abuse at Home'. [World] A new international study of domestic violence says it is the most common form of violence against women. The study by the World Health Organization surveyed 24,000 women in 10 countries, among them Japan and Brazil, Ethiopia and Bangladesh. It found that one in six women have suffered abuse, and that violence was more prevalent in poorer countries. It also found that women in poorer countries were more likely to think the violence was justified.

One in 6 Women Suffers From Domestic Violence-WHO. [World] One in six women worldwide suffers domestic violence -- some battered during pregnancy -- yet many remain silent about the assaults, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. In its first global study, the WHO also said physically- or sexually-abused women were more likely to suffer longer-term health problems, including distress and suicide attempts. The United Nations agency called for changing behavior through education programs and training more health workers and police to investigate signs of mistreatment. "Women are more at risk from violence involving people they know at home than from strangers in the street. There is a feeling that the home is a safe haven and that pregnancy is a very protected period, but that is not the case," WHO's director-general Lee Jong-Wook told a news conference. "Domestic violence remains largely hidden."

Interview with UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women. [World] Yakin Ertürk, a sociology professor at the Middle East Technical University in the Turkish capital, Ankara, was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its Causes and Consequences, in August 2003. Since then, she has visited a number of countries, including, El Salvador, Guatemala, Russia, Iran, Sudan, the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), Mexico and most recently Afghanistan. In a special interview with IRIN to mark the international 16 days of activism on violence against women that begins on Friday, Ertürk said that the rule of law had been women's best friend globally, but that violence against women persisted everywhere, even in developed democracies, partly because so many abuses occur in the private sphere.

For Too Many Women, Silence Equals Death. [World] As the world observes the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Friday, women and girls are being bought and sold, harassed and raped, beaten and killed. "Since the 1995 World Summit in Beijing, some progress has been made to protect women's rights at the state and international level, but still it's a long way to go for full recognition of women's rights as human rights," says June Zeitlin of the U.S.-based Women's Environment and Development Organization. The group says that while the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has now been ratified by 179 countries, several global trends -- including increased militarization, the dominance of neo-liberal economic policies and rising fundamentalist movements -- have created an environment hostile to the advancement of women's rights. Studies by United Nations agencies to understand the tragic proportions of the problem of gender violence are filled with shocking statistics. U.N. researchers say the number of women bought or sold into prostitution worldwide ranges anywhere from 700,000 to 4,000,000 every year. Of them, between 120,000 and 500,000 are sold in Europe alone. Many are beaten not only by pimps and customers, but by the police officers charged to protect them. And, a new study by researchers working for the Swiss government suggests that, based on population data from various parts of the world, 16 to 50 percent women are facing physical assault by an intimate partner.

UN Report Says 90M Girls Are Excluded From Schools. [World] According to the United Nations, some 90 million girls are being excluded from primary schools around the world. The U.N. report says the girls face outdated stereotypes defining a female's place as in the home and social pressures for early marriage. The U.N. Children's Fund says 46 countries are failing to get as many girls as boys into school.