United Nations
The Forty-ninth Session of the Commission on the Status of Women
New York
March 7th, 2005
Ten years ago, national delegations from around the world were drawn
to the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. As a
result of the meeting a document entitled; "Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action" was presented to the General Assembly.
At the ten year anniversary of that event delegates, including a representative
of A Woman's Voice, once again convened in New York to evaluate the
progress made by the various governments. Have the issues affecting
women, who represent one half of the world's population, improved? In
reports from women in 150 countries representing every region of the
world there is little to celebrate. Many women worldwide are actually
worse off than they were ten years ago. Clearly, most advocates agree
there remains a long way to go when it comes to solving the international
issues.
A Snapshot at the Current Statistics
- One woman every hour dies as a result of a dowry related crime in India.
- 78,000 females, mostly but not limited to developing countries will undergo female genital mutilation annually.
- Trafficking of human beings continues to represent triple digit sources of income for organized crime and governments.
- Women continue to be considered of less value by society, regarded as second class citizens, victims of human rights abuses, and rampant domestic violence.
- Defenseless women and children are the poorest of the poor and persist as the victims who suffer the most from war, disease and famine.
- Women and girls are most at risk from HIV/AIDS, because of sexual subordination and the stigma attached to victims. The crisis affects 20 million women.
- Women are still mostly absent at decision-making levels in governments and business.
- Governments have failed to protect millions of refugees and asylum-seekers.
- The countries of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and West Asia still deny women their voting rights.
- Illiteracy rates remain higher for girls than boys; and inequality persists at advanced levels.
- Women still lack inheritance and property rights in many countries.
- Average life span for women in Afghanistan is forty four years.
- Every day seven Afghan women and seven hundred children die during childbirth due to a lack of medical facilities in rural areas.
Conclusion
In the coming years governments will be considering a series of major
proposals aimed at reforming the UN. Equally important is the question;
will the leadership develop the political will to implement a cohesive
approach to achieve the much needed economic, social and political transformation
to benefit one half of the world's population?
Time will tell.
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