Global

Women's equality and the important role of women in every field of human endeavour has been acknowledged through international instruments, national constitutions and by societies across the globe.

The rights of all people, regardless of gender, sexuality, race, religion, has been acknowledged under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Further, governments have acknowledged the rights of women under the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Under this Convention, Governments are obliged to implement concrete programs to put into practice three main principles, the principle of equality, the principle of non-discrimination and the principle of State obligation.

In Latin American and Caribbean countries, poverty and inequality have been long-standing problems, and the momentous economic and social policy changes over the past two decades have done little to correct these trends. The most effective means for reducing class- and gender-based poverty and inequality would be citizenship-based entitlements to basic (i.e. allowing basic subsistence) income support, health care, and education. In advanced industrial societies, public spending is an extremely important instrument for the alleviation of class- and gender-based poverty and inequality, and it could potentially play a similar role in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, responsible, that is, non-inflationary financing of such programs, requires a sound system of taxation, something that is scarce in developing countries, including in Latin America and the Caribbean. Systems of taxation on their part have important implications for class and gender equity. This chapter explores changes in the systems of taxation in four Latin American and Caribbean countries - Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Jamaica - from the point of view of their gendered impact.

The ACS has released results from its ACS Women Members Survey, which revealed women in the ICT sector still feel undervalued, have fewer careers opportunities compared to men, and feel the need to achieve better work life balance.

Although 70 per cent of women believed they received equivalent pay to their male counterparts, the remainder felt this was not the case, and many more respondents felt they did not get the same recognition or promotion opportunities as their male colleagues.  

HIV infections among women and girls have risen in every part of the world in recent years. The numbers point to a fundamental and startling reality-the HIV/AIDS pandemic is inextricably linked to the brutal effects of sexism and gender inequality, most pronounced in Africa.

Consider these statistics: The latest reports from the UNAIDS (Dec. 2007) show 33.2 million people are living with HIV throughout the world. Sub-Saharan Africa has more than two-thirds (22.6 million) of the total number of HIV infections. Sixty-two per cent (14 million) of those infected are women and adolescent girls. Seventy-five per cent of all HIV-positive women in the world are African.

Why are we allowing women and girls to die from this preventable and treatable disease? What is a woman worth in our world today?

This is the speech made by Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media about "Social Networking in Europe: success and challenges", at the Safer Internet Forum in Luxembourg, on 26th September 2008.

As women's groups and political activists intensify their global campaign for gender empowerment, there is a growing trend towards "gender budgeting" both among developed and developing nations.

Rawwida Baksh, team leader of Women's Rights and Citizenship at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada, told IPS the concept of "gender-responsive budgeting" has been in currency since the mid-1980s.

The Australian government was the first to introduce gender budgeting in 1984, followed by Canada in 1993 and South Africa in 1994. Since then, some 50 countries worldwide have adopted some form of gender-responsive budgeting, she said.

According to some estimates, the figure may be over 60 to 70 countries which have specifically earmarked gender-related funds in their respective national budgets.

More than half a million women still die each year in pregnancy and childbirth, often bleeding to death because no emergency obstetrical care is available, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.

Despite modest progress, particularly in Asia, the global maternal mortality toll remains stubbornly stable due to a lack of financial resources and political will, it said.

More than 99 percent of the estimated 536,000 maternal deaths worldwide in 2005 occurred in developing countries, half of them in sub-Saharan Africa, it said in a report entitled "Progress for Children: A Report Card on Maternal Maternity".

"One of the critical bottlenecks has always been access to highly skilled health workers required to deliver emergency obstetrical care, particularly caesarian sections," Peter Salama UNICEF's chief of health, told a news briefing.

Around 50 million births in the developing world, or about 4 in 10 of all births worldwide, are not attended by trained personnel, according to the report.

Rising food prices around the world are likely to drive poor women to trade sex for basic goods like fish and cooking oil, raising the risk of new AIDS infections, U.N officials said on Monday.

Delegates at a major AIDS conference in Mexico cited the cases of fisherwomen in the Pacific and women in Kenya desperate for food being forced to sell their bodies, adding to concerns of a new twist in the spread of the deadly pandemic.

"Food is such a basic need that you can see people really going to great lengths," said Fadzai Mukonoweshuro of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization in southern Africa.

Climbing food prices -- due to increased use of biofuels, the growing demand for grains to feed a booming Asia, droughts and market speculation -- caused 50 million more people to go hungry last year compared to the year before, the United Nations said.

The gender inequality among developers and supporters of free software is stunning. Less than 2% of us are women, according to studies conducted for the European Commission. Why? The evidence says we’re driving them away. There are even some pretty good published guidelines on how not to drive them away. What’s missing is a practical implementation strategy: here Terry Hancock presents ten relatively simple changes in how you run your project, to make it more attractive to would-be contributors—especially women.

This article provides you with links of social networks that can be used for social change.