Women Losing Ground in Economic, Political Equality UNITED NATIONS, Nov 2, 2011 (IPS) - While gender equality ratios

have improved in 85 percent of countries over the past six years, economic participation and political empowerment for women has failed to match the steady progress of health and education, says a new report by the World Economic Forum. The report, "Global Gender Gap", compiled by Ricardo Hausmann from Harvard University, Laura Tyson from University of California, Berkeley and Saadia Zahidi from the World Economic Forum, illustrates the gender-disparity gap between men and women across 135 countries. Using an international index and data from several organisations such as the International Labour Organisation, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Health Organisation, the report measures the percentage of the gap between men and women across economic, political, educational and health-based criteria. On average, health and education had the strongest rate of progress, with 96 percent of the health gap closed and 93 percent of the education gap closed. But economic participation only closed 59 percent of the gap and political empowerment closed a mere 18 percent of the gap. "While it is heartening to note that education and health gaps between the sexes seem to be getting overcome, the same is not true for gaps in economic and political participation and it is important to note that equal access to education does not in itself solve the problems of gender inequality," Yasmeen Hassan, global director at Equality Now in New York, told the IPS. "In fact, education systems may perpetuate and further entrench gender stereotypes and practices that promote gender inequality," she said. "I'm not surprised that many countries have regressed on gender equality. The global economic recession and rising fundamentalisms has resulted in a feeling of insecurity that manifests itself in a resurgence of patriarchal values and systems and a cutback of women's rights and freedoms." Growing change The World Economic Forum released the first report in 2006, to address the need for a consistent measure for gender equality to track a country's progress over time. This edition highlights trends from the past six years and analyses national policies to facilitate female workforce participation. According to the report, 20 percent of countries surveyed had mandated female corporate board representation and 30 percent had mandated political participation. "Smaller gender gaps are directly correlated with increased economic competitiveness," said Zahidi, report co-author and senior director and head of the World Economic Forum's Women Leaders and Gender Parity Programme. "With the world's attention on job creation and economic growth, gender equality is the key to unlocking potential and stimulating economies." Based on information from 60 countries, 88 percent of countries have legislation prohibiting gender-based workplace discrimination and less than 45 percent have a national benchmarking tool. Hausmann, a fellow report co-author and director of the centre for International Development at Harvard University, said the world had come a long way but there was still a long road ahead. "In Latin America, women have more schooling than men but marriage and motherhood are still not compatible with a fuller economic and political participation of women," said Hausmann.

Gender-based disparities Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, held the top four spots, having closed between 80 to 85 percent of their gender gaps, while Yemen was the lowest ranking country closing less than 50 percent of its gender gap. The gender gap worsened in Nigeria, Mali, Colombia, Tanzania and El Salvador. Mali, ranked 132, was positioned at 81 six years ago and the country's gender gap is now less than 60 percent and political empowerment is just 10 percent. While women hold less than 20 percent of all national decision-making positions, the report revealed some small steps of progression for some countries. Thailand, ranked 60th, elected its first female prime minister this year and remains in a good position with women making up more than half of tertiary-educated enrolments and high overall labour force participation. Burundi, ranked 24th, was the only country where the labour force participation rate of women was higher than men. In Africa, Lesotho ranked ninth overall on the list and was the only country to have no gap in education or health, joining Belize and the Philippines as the only other developing countries with the same result. Future action The report authors say the most important determinant of a country's competitiveness is its human talent - the skills, education and production of its workforce. With that said, they recommend policy makers to strive for gender equality in each country to maximise competitiveness and development potential, by giving women the same rights, responsibilities and opportunities as men. "Gender gaps close when countries recognise the economic and social imperatives. With the right policies, change can happen very quickly," said report co-author Tyson, and the Angela Chan Professor of Global Management, Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley, USA. While they don't want to set priorities for countries, the authors instead provide a set of data to track gaps on critical indicators for countries to set their own priorities within economic, political and cultural contexts, to seek out the best practices and role models to incorporate gender equality. "A world where women make up less than 20 percent of the global decision-makers is a world that is missing a huge opportunity for growth and ignoring an untapped reservoir of potential," said Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum. Hassan says the report needs to also address the women's empowerment within patriarchal systems - not just access. "What the report does not address is the existence of cultural practices and attitudes and discriminatory laws and policies that may discourage or prohibit women from participating in economic and political fields that continue to be more male dominated," she told IPS. "So while more women may have more equal access to education and healthcare, they may not be able or encouraged to participate economically and politically." (END)

Paola Ziritti is unthinkably brave to speak publicly about the "clinic." She endured physical assault, sexual abuse, and a constant battery of insults. Guards would even throw buckets of

cold water and urine on her. For two years, this was Paolas waking nightmare... because shes a lesbian. The "doctors" and guards at the clinic were trying to "cure" her. Paola lives in Ecuador, where these so-called clinics are terrifyingly common -- although the government shut down 27 this year, 180 clinics remain open, and most of the prisoners there are women. (Some gay men and transgender people are in the clinics as well, but far fewer.) Paola's parents knew they were sending her to a forced confinement clinic, but they had no idea how awful it would be. Once Paola's mother realized what shed done, she tried to get her daughter back, but the clinic said no. The process to free Paola took a year. A few incredibly courageous Ecuadorian women are fighting back -- they call themselves Fundacion Causana. The women of Fundacion Causana started a petition on Change.org demanding that Ecuadoran Minister of Public Health Dr. David Chiriboga Allnut investigate and shut down all 180 remaining clinics that torture women to "cure" them. Please sign the petition right now. Fundacion Causana does direct-service work on the ground to save women from the clinics, but they say it's not enough. They need the unbridled support of the Ecuadoran government to get all of the clinics shut down. So far, the government has only shut down a small cluster of clinics in one region of the country. Ecuador's government officials need to know that we are watching and will not stand idly by while women are imprisoned and tortured. Please sign Fundacion Causana's petition demanding that the Ecuadoran Minister of Public Health investigate and shut down every "clinic" that tortures members of Ecuadors LGBT community: http://www.change.org/petitions/fiscal-general-del-estado-close-fake-clinics-that-torture-lgbtin-order-to-cure-them Thanks for being a change-maker, Why this is Important

Dear President Viktor Yanukovych, dear Uefa President Michel Platini or his Representative, with deep sadness and horror I read about the planned and already started killing of dogs and cats in preparation for the UEFA European Football Championship 2012 in the Ukraine. Hundreds of dogs and cats are put in bags ALIVE to be carried to a crematorium to suffer until their death in Lysychansk or other places. I really have to ask you, how you can accept this? And Im sure this act of cruelty is well known to the relevant departments. Football brings people of all nations together to enjoy this sport where fairness play an important role. I dont think that what happens right now is fair. Not to mention the lot of football fans who have dogs and cats as their faithful companions. It is important to realize that it isnt a solution to kill stray animals because the responsibility for this situation are their former owners and the government lacking appropriate solutions like sterilization, animal shelters and so on. A change has to come and I beg you to do your best in stopping this insane act of animal cruelty, especially for the preparations of a GAME. Please dont let this happen anymore and urge the government and responsible person to find other solutions like finding good people willing to adopt a dog/cat or making a donation so that these dogs and cats could be treated(sterilization) or that they are given shelter. Just find some human way to end this! We are ALL gods creation and we should act like that. With respect, Patrick

1. Finally, the famous German newspaper "Bild" reports about the killings in the Ukraine. German football players of the national team are speaking out. Hope this one gets some attention! http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/nationalmannschaft/kaempft-in-der-ukrainegegen-hunde-killer-20918200.bild.html Mchel Ruanaidh 65 Bthar Mhic il Caislen an Bharraigh Mhaigh Eo 0877934982 A Chara, Is mise Mchel Ruanaidh
Mchel Ruanaidh 2011