Women on Board

Women’s rights around the world is an important indicator to understand global well-being.

A major global women’s rights treaty was ratified by the majority of the world’s nations a few decades ago.

Yet, despite many successes in empowering women, numerous issues still exist in all areas of life, ranging from the cultural, political to the economic. For example, women often work more than men, yet are paid less; gender discrimination affects girls and women throughout their lifetime; and women and girls are often are the ones that suffer the most poverty.

Many may think that women’s rights are only an issue in countries where religion is law, such as many Muslim countries. Or even worse, some may think this is no longer an issue at all. But reading this report about the United Nation’s Women’s Treaty and how an increasing number of countries are lodging reservations, will show otherwise.

Gender equality furthers the cause of child survival and development for all of society, so the importance of women’s rights and gender equality should not be underestimated.

"Progress"

It isn’t easy to change tradition overnight. However, a small example of successes include:

The gains made in South AfricaChildhood concerns in Latin AmericaPoor women gaining greater access to savings and credit mechanisms worldwide, due to microcreditA dwindling number of countries that do not allow women to voteincluding Bhutan (one vote per house), Lebanon (partial), Brunei (no-one can vote), Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (expected in 2010), and the Vatican City.Women gaining more positions in parliament throughout Africa. In many cases African countries have more women in parliament than some western ones.A protocol to protect womens’s rights in Africa that came into effect in 2005 (though many nations still need to sign up).An almost universal ratification of the women’s rights treaty, theConvention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

by Anup Shah