Key gender fact
- Females in developing countries on average carry 20 litres of water per day over 6 km
- French minister defends 5-day baby leave
- High prevalence of child marriage in India
- Confronting medical issues for women
- Africa the worst hit by AIDS, by far
- An International Women's Day call for women to know their osteoporosis risk
- Toll of Malaria high for African women
- London 2012 - a chance to nurture strong female role models
- Being a woman
- Violence against women
- I want to go to school
- Men and women together for a better world: From Uzbekistan in Central Asia
- Closing the Gender Gap on International Women's Day - and Every Day
- It is now more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier in modern
- Sewing a better future on International Women's Day
- Pakistan's women struggle for recognition
- S.Arabia urged to halt floggings, give women rights
- Reporters stripped by S.Leone circumcision society
- Agree to differ over women bishops - Anglican leader
- Few women follow pre-pregnancy recommendations
- India grapples with high maternal death rate
- Olympics-Women's boxing takes step closer to Games inclusion
- Human rights still poor in Africa, US says
- Birth control knowledge lacking in developing world
- In hard times, more U.S. women try to sell their eggs
- Billie Jean King targets gender unity
- A drink a day poses cancer risk for women
- Are women the key to soft power?
- Why Isn't Anne Burras Famous?
- Baby-Boomer Women Have Experienced Gender Issues
- Cost of a life was worth $2.00
- The Alternative - Developing Culture of Peace
- Women's self awareness and leadership
- Women and Sport
- Being A Woman
- IWD in Kenya
- Women demand bigger say in UN climate talks
- Norway tops gender gap index, Yemen ranked worst
- Educating girls single most effective strategy for economic growth
- China sees more female than male suicides per annum
- 4 in 10 births worldwide not attended by doctor or health professional
- Number of women holding university qualifications overtaken men for first time
- Gender gap closing on health and education but not economics and politics
- Harassment forces Afghan girls out of school
- Women's rights key to Africa AIDS crisis
- Vodka for women said to fuel Russia's acoholism
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So what awaits the world of women?
48 different women total including cosmonauts, astronauts, payload specialists and foreign nationals have flown in space.
So women can fly to the moon but they can't have equality in the boardroom, parliament or society. Surely this is rather parochial?
President Nixon once said "I’m not for women in any job. I don’t want any of them around. Thank God we don’t have any in the cabinet ... I don’t think a woman should be in any government job whatever. I mean, I really don’t. The reason why I do is mainly because they are erratic. And emotional. Men are erratic and emotional, too, but the point is a woman is more likely to be.”
These comments were captured on audiotapes in 1971, and later made public through a Freedom of Information Act request. The comments are of course unfortunate statements from a man who did deal with foreign political leaders who were women such as Golda Meir of Israel.
But how far have women's issues and the gender agenda really come?
From the days of the suffragettes through to the modern Y generation of young women, the world has changed enormously for women. However, as many realise, the treatment of women varies from country to country. In some countries, women still need permission from their husband to work.
There are still many challenges and obstacles facing aspiring women leaders today all around the world. Women do two-thirds of the world’s work but receive only 10% of the world’s income and own less than 1% of land. Women in many cases are the primary care givers, and balancing the challenges of work and family are complex. Globally there is still a gender pay gap, a lack of women parliamentarians, and women's health overall around the world is worse than that of men..
It will be interesting to observe the outcome of the current economic climate on women's advancement. Will the gender agenda simply be a bull market luxury?
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This article has 7 responses.
1. Bella F. from United States wrote:
We've come a long way but we still have along ways to go! Education is Key. I cannot speak for the rest of the word, but I believe that as more women reach the higher positions in US government and break the glass ceiling things will change for the better. Look around at the mess MEN have got us into - women can't do any worse!
2. Joy Rose from USA wrote:
I feel so blessed to be living in a time when women of all races, ages and classes are working together to create different possibilities for peace and empowerment on the planet. We have much work to do but there truly is a groundswell movement. Please check out www.internationalmothersnetwork.org and MAMAPALOOZA! for music.
3. Tierney G. from United States wrote:
I think that we women are our own worst enemies, partly because we have so many balls in the air to juggle at once. I think that we need to make the time to fight for our own rights wherever we live. In order to do that, more articles need to be written and more media coverage about women's issues. I think that many women may believe, as I did, that things were fine. Not for a minute can we stop our fight for equality because things are not fine at all. The churches and religion are heavily to blame, women are treated like possesions by men. Maybe we should leave the male run churches and women should start our own!
4. James Shaffer-Bauck from United States wrote:
There has been some speculation as to whether we would be in the mess we are now if more women were in positions of influence in the corporate / government world. I believe that one of the keys to sustainability is more estrogen and less testosterone involved in decision making.
5. Simone Tredoux from South Africa wrote:
Blaming men for the mess the world is in, is a fob-off. Yes, there is the fact that men have ruled the world for a long time. But let's not forget who created these men with their own bodies, and then gave up their rights as creators by allowing their children to be brought up in systems and in cultures, religions and societies that blatantly disrespect them. Women are the ultimate creators of the highest order on this planet, if there is something wrong with the picture should they not be looking at themselves for the reason?
6. Berenice from Mexico wrote:
Cuando la mujer sea valorada desde su esencia no violando sus derechos de persona humana el mundo cambiara. Mujeres! Recuperemos nuestra dignidad y el lugar que nos corresponde en el mundo!
7. Elaine McEwen from Canada wrote:
We are not progressing as women because we are scattering our shot. We need to focus "in unison" on one issue and one issue only. Progress on all issues will come from that success. Personally, I think that issue is violence against women - no more enslavement, no more "legalized" rape, no more pedophilia (allowing Afghan men to marry 9 year old girls), no more withholding food for sex, and so on. One subject and one subject only - speak out against violence-against-women by men.
No more male-created religions endorsing the subjugation of women. Start educating women that religion and marriage are male-created frauds to ensure that they have access for sex. SPEAK OUT against violence against women - every day, all the time. Our voices are the only weapon we have. Use your voice - speak out and never shut up about it. It is only when it becomes too painful - too intolerable for men, that the men who rule the world will DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!