Women - The Facts
Information on the world's women.
If women are to be fully integrated into active economic, social and political participation in planning and decision making of their societies it is imperative that their presence in demographic and other statistics is "unveiled" to provide a more valid base for programmes concerned with improving women's lot in the world ... To say that "women don't count" is often the literal truth, thus giving substance to the cliche that they are 'the forgotten 50 per cent' of the world's population.
-Gustavo Perez-Ramirez, Deputy Director, UN Population Division.
The trouble is that even accurate statistics and methodologically sound research most often fall on deaf ears. In this respect, statistics relating to women are similar to those of casualties of war. There seems to be an inability, particularly amongst politicians, diplomats and academics, to see the relevance or point of such information or even in a sense to hear it.
-Elizabeth Reid, Principal Officer, World Conference to UN Decade for Women.
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Apartheid by Sex
Family Planning
Inmost developing countries, more than half the married women aged 14 to 19 don't want any more children. But of those, only about half are using any modern contraceptive method.
Education
Two out of every three illiterate people in the world are women.
Food
Almost all the training and technology for improving agriculture is given to men ...
50 per cent of the agricultural production and all of the food processing is the responsibility of the women.
Health
80 per cent of health budgets are used to cure the illnesses of a minority through the training and equipping of doctors who are usually men ... 80 per cent of all illness in the Third World could be prevented by better nutrition, water supply, sanitation, immunisation and preventive health education - the responsibility for which is usually taken by women.
Population
Research and advice on family planning is usually directed towards women ... Decisions on family size are usually taken by men.
Figures extracted from the 'World's Women Data Sheet' published by the Population Reference Bureau in collaboration with UNICEF. Copies of the complete Data Sheet may be obtained by writing to the PRB at 1337 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20036, USA (price $ 1.00 or equivalent).
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
