---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 21:05:47 -0700 From: Carol McRoberts <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [wa-afr] Fw: [women-csd] UNFPA: Report Paints Grim Picture For World's Women Subject: [women-csd] UNFPA: Report Paints Grim Picture For World's Women > > > UNFPA: Report Paints Grim Picture For World's Women > > United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Nafis Sadik > today > released the annual State of World Population 2000 report. The report, "Lives > Together, Worlds Apart: Men and Women in a Time of Change," paints a grim > picture > for women around the world, who frequently endure discrimination and violence. > > According to the report, systematic discrimination against women and > girls > around the world causes great suffering for both women and men, thwarting > efforts > to reduce poverty, stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, control population growth and > improve health (UNFPA release, 20 Sep). Key issues covered by the report > include > reproductive health care, gender-based violence and domestic abuse, and > women's > rights to privacy, freedom from sexual violence and voluntary choice in > marriage > and childbearing (UNFPA release II, 20 Sep). > "This year's State of World Population report has a very simple message," > said Sadik. "It could be summed up as 'The price of inequality is too high to > pay.'" Sadik noted that the broad base of evidence collected for the report > "shows that in countries all over the world, gender inequality, discrimination > and violence are holding back not only women but men, not only families but > communities and whole nations." > "This is a massive global violation of human rights," she stressed, > adding > that in the era of globalization, "gender equality and empowerment are taking > their rightful place in the discussion about human rights and human security" > (UNFPA release III, 20 Sep). > > Violence, Rights Violations, Health Problems Rife > According to the report, each year the world's women have 80 million > unwanted > pregnancies, undergo 20 million unsafe abortions, suffer millions of beatings > and rapes, are often killed at birth because of their gender and are sometimes > murdered in so-called "honor killings" (Sue Leeman, Associated Press, 20 Sep). > > In Bangladesh, violence against women is the worst in the world, with 47% > of all women violently assaulted by their male partners. In India, 40% of > women > suffer violence, followed by 29% in Canada, 22% in the United States and 20% > in South Africa (Reuters/ABCNews.com, 20 Sep). > The report points out that sexual violence is an expensive problem for > countries as it results in direct costs from health care, missed work, legal > help and law enforcement and shelter, and takes away one in five healthy years > for women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the industrialized world (UNFPA > release > II, 20 Sep). > In developing countries, only 53% of births are attended by medical > professionals > while almost 30% -- some 38 million each year -- receive no medical care after > giving birth (AP). Complications from pregnancy kill one in every 48 pregnant > women in the developing world (Times of India, 20 Sep). Unsafe abortions cause > the deaths of 78,000 women annually and suffering for millions more (AP). In > Argentina, unsafe abortion is the cause of more than a third of maternal > deaths > among adolescents (Roxana Fernandez, Buenos Aires El Clarin, 20 Sep, UN Wire > translation). > At least 60 million girls are "missing," mostly in Asia, as a result of > infanticide or sex-selective abortions, the report found, while an additional > 5,000 are murdered each year, most in the Middle East, by their own families > in honor killings (AP). Some women killed in honor killings are murdered for > having been raped (Times of India). > The report also stresses that the spread of HIV/AIDS is linked to social > as well as physical gender inequality. In Africa, HIV-positive women outnumber > men by 2 million, a figure linked to women's lack of the right to control > their > own bodies. > > Economic Discrimination Costs Society > Discrimination often obstructs economic participation for women, obscures > more productive alternatives for them and fails to support women's > responsibilities > and burdens, as women's economic participation is frequently in the informal > sector. In Kenya, for example, a separate study found that giving women > farmers > the same social and economic supports as men increased yields by more than > 20%. > > In addition, although women live longer than men, their unequal > representation > in economic spheres means that they are offered less support through public > pension schemes. > > Report Offers Hope For Change > However, despite these grim findings, the report asserts that there is > hope for change. The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of > Discrimination > against Women constitutes a first step (UNFPA release II, 20 Sep). > The report cites Sri Lanka as a model of the benefits of investing in > women, > noting that public health improvements have reduced maternal mortality, > socioeconomic > factors have improved girls' valuations in the family structure and increased > investments in girls' education have led to economic gains (Inter Press > Service/Terra > Viva, 20 Sep). > The report concludes the challenge now lies in mobilizing changes in the > power structures motivating the relationships between men and women -- changes > "no less sweeping than other changes already underway in urbanization, > globalization > and governance" (UNFPA release II, 20 Sep). > > > > > > -------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> eGroups eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. 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