Women in Tunisia

Tunisia is the former colony of France and women were always veiled, uneducated and subjected to the domestic duties required by husbands and fathers.With the publication of Code of Personal Status in 1956, a new wind blows in Tunisia. In fact, they start talking about the abolition of polygamy, repudiation, forced marriage.

Dramatics conditions of women on this country have also pushed in 1993 to the emergence of the feminist movement. The movements claim equality between gender which women wouldn't more subjected to their husbands.

Tunisian women protest to demand equality 

Despite repeated willingness to change, nowadays, women's rights remain an open question. Bear witness to numerous protest movements and daily struggle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Tunisia

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19253289

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x-dsibXl3o

Domestic violence in Cameroon

     In Cameroon, the women are always considered as inferior. She has a second role, she can not take high position in the society, she can have only domestic occupation. Domestic occupation means the widespread violence. The husband has the "right" to chastise his wife and he wife cannot oppose any resistance because she "deserves" the punishment.
    But, the Cameroon has signed international convention defending women rights. That is why, recently, he receive some recommendation by the United Nation.
Fortunately, there are also some NGO defending women right. These NGO are working despite the fact that they have not basic training and knowledge of women's issues and international human rights documents beyond the Universale Declaration of Humen Rights.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztYcKgzvEAU

http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/iwraw/publications/countries/cameroon.htm

The status of women in Cameroon

Most violence against women takes place in the within the private sphere.
State responsibility arising out of acts by private individuals lies at the
heart of the gender-interpretation of the Convention against Torture. A
growing body of international human rights law has recognised State
responsibility for private acts when the state fails to exercise due diligence
in preventing, investigating, prosecuting, punishing and repairing human
rights violations. While it is obvious that not all violence against women
can be qualified as torture within the meaning of the Convention against
Torture, the mere fact that the perpetrator is a private individual rather
than a state official should not automatically lead to the exclusion of the
violence from the scope of the Convention against Torture as according to
its article 1, torture means not only acts of sever pain and suffering by the
a public official, but also at the instigation of or with the consent or acqui-
escence of a public official or other person acting in the official capacity.
Depending on the severity of the violence and the circumstances giving
rise to State responsibility, OMCT believes that violence against women
perpetrated by private individuals can constitute a form of torture or cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment.

Women in Cambodgia

Cambodia is a country emerging from conflict. The past decade has seen the government, civil society and international agencies work hard to advance the well being of Cambodians. However, women continue to face serious challenges. Many of women’s most pressing concerns in Cambodia relate to poverty and its impact on women. Frequent pregnancies and a high rate of maternal mortality are problems, and women’s difficulties accessing education and skills training are also obstacles to advancement. Women’s illiteracy hovers around 80%, while men’s is estimated to be about 40%. Domestic violence, though thought to be underreported, is widespread. Physical violence and economic hardship make women vulnerable to trafficking and exploitative prostitution. As both a receiving and sending country, Cambodia is a major centre in the regional sex trade.

In the recent past, Cambodia was a traditional society where women had a particular and defined role with a limited social life. There are various traditional codes of conduct for women as described in proverbs, folktales and novels on how women should behave. Here are some examples:

“Another flame is your husband who you stay with forever. You should serve well, don’t make him disappointed. Forgive him in the name of women, don’t speak in the way you consider him as equal. No matter what happen, we have to wait, to listen with the bad word (even if he say something bad you have to listen)”.

“Women are supposed to stay at home, and always behave quietly and sweetly,” otherwise it will bring bad luck to family.

Moreover, a famous proverb continually practiced in Cambodia says: ”A man is gold; a woman is a white piece of cloth.” When dropped into mud, piece of cloth never regains its purity regardless how often it is washed; however, the gold can be cleaned and it will always shine.

Education or schooling was never a priority for girls. This explains the lower rate of women’s participation in today’s labor market, on the other hand the illegal work is in bloom. It was considered useless or unnecessary to send the girls to school. There is a belief that girls should not learn much otherwise they will write love letters to boys or men. It was also believed that a woman’s duty was to stay home and treat her husband properly; there was no need to learn. These believes stemmed from an old proverb saying: "Women cannot do anything beside household work.”

From the above statements, we clearly see what is the Cambodgians widespread perception of woman: women don’t need education because sooner or later will come housewives, their duty is to be submissive to their husband and to serve him no matter what, anytime and anywhere. My question is: do you relate to this? Or do you believe that denying women to exercise their right of learning is  a measure taken by men who wants to feel that they are superior and thus aim to control them more easily?

source:Youtube

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cb.html

http://www.unwomen-eseasia.org/projects/Cedaw/countryprogramme_cambodia.html

http://futurechallenges.org/local/women%E2%80%99s-rights-in-cambodia-breaking-up-with-old-traditions/

NO MORE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

 

Yesterday was an important day for women in every part of the world, yesterday was the 25th November, it means the International Day to end violence against women.
Unfortunately violece against women is still a sad reality in our society and around the world. In Italy 113 women have lost their lives, 73 of them there has been their men; This phenomenon has  increasingly in a dangerous way in the european countries in the last years. The role of women in the society has changed a lot, women are more conscious of their abilities and they fight more and more for their rights.
  There are a lot of women that  still have to suffer violence at home or at work. I am not writing about women that live in Asia countries or Africa countries... I am reffering to women that live in Europe, in Italy.
Some stereotypes are really hard to die like women should not work because they have to stay at home or women should not have a salary higher than the salary  of a  men ... I think the problem is that some "men" ( they should not have the right to be called men) are not prepared to this world, to this society and believe they are allowed to decide about their wifes, girlfriends, daughters lifes. This is not admissible anymore.  
According to the Council of Europe that says : " statistics show that 12% to 15% of women in Europe face violence in the home every day". The campaign lauched to stop this cowardly violation of women rights is named :" Save from fear, Save from violence" , this slogan means that one of the biggest problems to avoid and fight violence against women is that women are afraid to say and to denouce their aggressors.
 I think that the first step should start from the families and them schools should be able to teach respect between women and men.


http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/11/25/international-day-end-violence-against-women-time-act.html

http://hub.coe.int/event-files/our-events/25-november-domestic-violence

http://www.un.org/en/events/endviolenceday/2012/sgmessage.shtml


 

                                        The Status of Women in Cameroon ( 1st Step)

An analysis of the legal and socio-economic and political status of women in Cameroon shows the link between the high levels of violence against women in Cameroon and their low status in all aspects of life. Besides the fact that laws relating to women’s legal status reflect social attitudes that affect the human rights of women, such laws often have a direct impact on women’s ability to exercise those rights. The legal context of family life, laws affecting women’s socio-economic status, women’s access to education, the labour market and politics contribute to violence against women and their access to redress and reparation.  
As a result of the ethnic diversity, one can not distinguish the Cameroonian woman in a gender profile. However, all ethnic groups give great importance to local traditions, which widely detrimentally affect the status of women and their enjoyment of human rights. Cameroon inherited two different legal systems; notably French law from the former Oriental Cameroon and British law from the former Occidental Cameroon, which coexist with local customary law. In addition to regional laws, there is a growing body of federal laws. While criminal  procedures remain distinct between East and West Cameroon, criminal law
itself was unified between 1965 and 1967 in one single Penal Code. Women in Cameroon experience high levels of discrimination, which despite Constitutional provisions recognising the human rights of women, is also enshrined in the law. No legal definition of discrimination exists. 
However, civil law offers a more equal standard than customary law, another source of law in Cameroon, which is far more discriminatory against women. The broad persistence of customary law infringes the human rights of women, particularly in the areas of marriage and inheritance laws. Customary law varies depending on the ethnicity of the parties involved and the region.
In cases where the two types of legal systems have equal weight, an individual can choose whether to bring the case before the statutory law courts or customary law courts. The traditional jurisdiction cites custom except when custom is opposed to law and order and good morals.The Supreme Court has sanctioned the primacy of contemporary law over traditional law.
However, due to the importance attached to traditions and customs, laws protecting women are often not respected. The United Nations has on several occasions expressed concern about the lack of progress made by the Government of Cameroon in reforming laws and combating practices that discriminate against women and girls and violate their human rights.



http://www.omct.org

Gender global statistics

The World's Women 2010 report shows that over the last decade in most countries, the availability of gender statistics on population, employment and parliamentary representation increased. Data quality varies from country to country, deficiencies are often found in data on maternal mortality, causes of death, professional education, access and use information and communication technologies, the informal sector and informal employment.

The United Nations issued a report "Women in the world 2010: Trends and Statistics”, a unique compendium of the last data record advancement of women around the world in eight key areas: family and population, health, education, work, power and decision making, environment and poverty.

When it comes to family and population, worldwidely, the number of men is about 57 million higher than the number of women. In 2010, some regions have recorded a "deficit" significant men, while other women. In general, in Europe there are many more women than men. In contrast, some of the most populated countries have a "deficit" of women. China has a ratio of 108 males to 100 females, in India 107, in Pakistan 106 and in Bangladesh 102.

In the education field, globally, the percentage of girls registered in primary school increased from 79% to 86% in the period 1999-2007. But West and Central Africa recorded some of the lowest rates, with less than 60%. At the beginning of the new millennium, about 105 million boys and girls around the world were not enrolled in school. This number decreased to 72 million in 2007, representing a decrease of 31%. Girls account for 54% of the percentage of children enrolled in primary school, down from 58% in 1999. The highest percentage of girls not listed the school was registered in the Arab States, being 61%. If high school enrollment, male domination has been reduced global scale, tipping the balance in favor of women, with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia.

In terms of employment, women aged between 25 and 54 years have a higher labor force participation than in 1990. Women's wages represent between 70% and 90% of their male counterparts salaries. Self-employment and family business contribution prevails in Africa and Asia, especially among women. These workers suffer from job insecurity or lack of safety measures in it. Women are still rarely employed in jobs with high status, power and authority in the traditional or occupied by men. Motherhood is still a source of discrimination in the workplace. Despite legislation in the field, many pregnant women lose their jobs and redundancies are therefore often claimed in court.

As for  power and decision making, positions of head of state or government remains difficult to obtain for women. In only 23 countries of the world women are a critical proportion - 30% - in one of the chambers of the national Parliament. Of the top 500 largest corporations in the world, only 13 are headed by a woman.

Regarding the environmental domain, women in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa have usually to deal with water supply. A round trip from the water source lasts an hour and 22 minutes in rural areas of Somalia and one hour and 11 minutes in rural areas of Mauritania. Most households in sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia using solid fuels for cooking or traditional stoves without chimney or hood, which disproportionately affects women's health.

Finally, looking at poverty, families whose headed by single mothers are more likely to reach poorer than just dealing father. Existing laws limit women's access to ownership of land or other property in most countries in Africa and in almost half of the countries in Asia. Elements of gender inequality inheritance rights were identified in 45 of the 48 African countries studied in 25 of the 42 Asian countries.

The report also shows that despite the progress achieved on gender equality in national parliaments, the average representation of women remains at 10% in North Africa, 14% in East Asia and 9% in the West, meanwhile in Oceania is reaching only 3%. The report highlights that women's representation in parliament has increased due to gender quotas. Eighteen of the twenty-three countries where the average representativeness recorded more than 30% have applied a model of gender quotas in national parliaments. The year 2009 showed that the percentage of female parliamentarians was an average of 21% in countries that have introduced gender quotas, while in countries where such measures were not taken proportion was only 13%.

http://www.unwomen.org/

http://datatopics.worldbank.org/gender/

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/Worldswomen/WWreports.htm

How the crisis is shifting the relations between genders

The last blows of the economical crisis have accelerated changes over the relationship among women and men. Women for the first time in history have in many ways surpassed men and both sexes are now trying to readapt to their new roles in society, family and at work.

There is considerable proof concerning the fact that men have been the first victims of these economical and social phenomena: the most-hit industries are chiefly male (e.g. construction, manufacturing, high-finance); the balance of the workforce is tipping towards women in many countries; women worldwide have started to leave their homes to enter the workforce thus achieving a financial indepence whereas men have become less influential as a workforce and as breadwinners.

The world we live in is still sexist but women have nowadays more chances at their fingertips.
In my opinion we all have to engage ourselves to improve our society.
I consider that men should get more involved in this debate in order to raise their awareness about the new equilibrium between sexes. This is the only way to create a balanced world.

The link below shows an extract from "The end of Men" by Hanna Rosin.
Though it is a bit long it is newsworthy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/30/hanna-rosin-end-men-extract?INTCMP=SRCH

Woman and politics

It is well known that, throughout human history, women did not have political rights equally with men, moreover, there were periods in which the woman was totally excluded from the political sphere: they didn’t even had the right to vote. Women still do not with have the right to vote or have voting restrictions placed upon them in a few countries. In Brunei both women and men have been denied the right to vote or to stand for election since 1962. In Lebanon there is partial suffrage. Proof of elementary education is required for women but not for men. Voting is compulsory for men but optional for women. In Saudi Arabia there is no suffrage for women. The first local elections ever held in the country occurred in 2005. Women were not given the right to vote, to stand for election or to bring appear before a judge without male representation

But with feminine movements, this would change the fate of women in politics. There are many countries in the world that have instituted a quota system to ensure a minimum number of women elected to office. In the last 40 years, women have managed to obtain key positions in the policy of a country. Some examples are: Margaret Tatcher (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (president of African Union), Angela Merkel (Chancellor Germany), Dilma Roussef (President of Brazil), Doris Leuthard (President of Swizerland), Mary McAleese (President of Irland) ,Cristina Kirchner (President of  Argentina), Laura Chinchilla (President of Costa Rica), Tarja Halonen (President of Finlanda), Dalia Grybauskaite (President of Lituania), Roza Otunbayeva (President of Kîrgîzstan), Pratibha Patil (President of India), Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (President of Liberia).

Today, though few but their number is growing because of the awareness that women aren’t only increase the visual field of ideas in terms of the world in general, but also help in a  better representation of the female sex. For that I wonder: How can a man be able to support well our rights if he isn’t placed in situations we are facing?

Women occupy only 18% of parliamentary seats around the world. Regional averages of the percentage of women in parliament vary greatly:

• Nordic countries - 41.4%
• Americas - 21.8%
• Europe (excluding Nordic countries) - 19.1%
• Asia - 17.4%
• Sub-Saharan Africa - 17.2%
• Pacific - 13.4%
• Arab states - 9.6%

In my opinion, equal access of men and women to power, decision-making and leadership at all levels is a necessary precondition for the proper functioning of democracy. Equal participation of men and women in political affairs makes governments more representative of the composition of society; it makes them more accountable and transparent, and ensures that the interests of women are taken into account in policy-making.

http://www.iwdc.org/resources/fact_sheet.html
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/eql-men/index.html

http://www.unwomen.org/2012/11/during-first-official-trip-to-japan-michelle-bachelet-calls-for-womens-full-participation-in-politics-and-the-economy/

 

On the path to equality

Newspapers and TVnews daily report shocking data on women's condition around the world.
Our societies have plenty of woeful stories related to gender inequality and violence but this week there is a good news as well: African women are finally increasing their visibility.
Indeed, African women have started to reach positions of power in the last years and sixteen countries have now a higher percentage of female parliamentarians than the UK and other European countries.
This process is predicted to bring the need of more equality among women and men at the top of the political agenda and, even though the increase has yet to become a trend, it proves that things have started to change for the better.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2012/nov/05/africa-leading-the-way-for-women

Gendercide in China and India 

This week I decided to share with you the huge problem that women in China and India have to face every day. The most shocking question is that they don’t have even  more the right to born just because they are girl.

In China exists the one child policy which allowed every family to have only ONE child and to become pregnant the new mums need a birth permit. The consequences of this policy are terrible for the baby girls;

One of the reasons can be found in the cultural preference for boys , but it means that now there are 37 million more men than women living in China. In some places in China there are 130 boys born for every 100 girls .

It Is also important to know that in China to be pregnant without a birth permit is a crime and so if the Family Planning Police find a women in this condition they are allowed to force her to have an abortion .

I think that is awful  that a state provides for such inhuman  penalties.

In another country in Asia there is a similar problem, unfortunately gendercide in India is still a sad reality.

The main reason for this massacre is money ; baby girls are killed because they will become too expensive  for their families , in the Indian society is still alive the tradition of dowry  : “ amounts of dowry have become higher and higher” . This tradition is not  only related to the lower classes of the society .

Even thought the use ultrasound technology to determine the sex of a child is illegal , there are a lot of clinics that offer this kind of technology .

The gendercide of girls will become more and more a problem in the future and not just because men will not be able to get married but also because the world will be deprived of thousands of women and therefore also minds .

In the links below you can find videos, information , and petitions to stop this massacre. 

( Caroline Bastos) 

http://www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org/index.php?nav=cases&nav2=wujian#anchor

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/women-pregnant-girls-pressured-abortions-india/story?id=15103950#.UJ_BHeSzKSohttp://www.itsagirlmovie.com/

Tawakkol Karman - rings a bell?

Gender relations and women's rights are contested areas in contemporary societies representing nodal points in the discourses on modernity and tradition. Both internationally and nationally, the question of relations between men and women is closely linked to development, becoming more and more one of its key indicators. Therefore, at the state level and in most other areas of the public sphere, "gender policy" is a major problem for the XXI century is a complex arena of controversy.

Today I wanted to talk about a person who played a decisive role in changing the mentality of women in Yemen. 

Yemen is an Asian Muslim country where women's rights are a controversial issue. Over time, the government of Yemen had numerous attempts to adopt policies in favor of women but most often not enforced but the process was slow and cumbersome due to deeply rooted traditions, often women are those who refuse to stand up and revolt against unorthodox treatment they are subjected to, they prefer to indulge situation.

Main problems facing Yemeni women are child marriage, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, rape, sexual exploitation, exclusion from the public sphere, school drop. Social and economic indicators for developing countries, as in the case of Yemen, show consistently that those who bear the burden of hardship in poor communities are women and, most often, efforts to modernize discriminatory laws and their implementation bet on certain states, are aggravated by cultural barriers very well established.

Tawakkul Karman, dubbed  “The Iron Woman” and “Mother of the Revolution”, the first Yemeni woman and the second Arab women who won the Nobel Peace Prize. She has played a leading role in the opposition protests in Yemen in 2011 that started in January after revolts in Tunisia and Egypt sparked the Arab Spring. She lead many of the protests in Yemen for democracy and human rights, especially among women. Is a journalist, a senior member of Al-Islah political party, human rights activist and leading the group "Women Journalists without Chains" who co-founded in 2005. Her act led to the mobilization of hundreds of women protested on Yemen capital's main market claiming their rights and demanding the establishment of a democratic regime. However there are many things to accomplish in terms of women's rights in Yemen.

My question is: What do you think about women in Yemen, they engage in battle for emancipation? Or do you think they are indulging situation?

  Ramona Nichitean

source: Youtube.com
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ym.html 
http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/05/09/yemen-s-women-out-shadows
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/yemen/news/article.cfm?l_id=493&objectid=10701520

Foreword

Gender became an analitycal category such as race, social class, religion affiliation, ethnicity and so on.  Briefly, when it comes to gender issues, we refer to a variety of  difficulties faced by women when in comes to economical, political and social aspects –  difficulties embodied in what we call “discrimination”. Over the centuries, women of all races and social categories were discriminated on the assumption that they are inferior (intellectual and physiological) then men. Even if it happens in family (women are not allowed to speak or have no acces to education) or outside the family (women were not allowed to vote or no right to take a political position) women had and still have to fight heavy battles since the past events have repercussions upon present and are hard to refute.

Fight against women discrimination started centuries ago when writers like Poullain de La Barre (De l’egalite des deux sexes, 1673), Mary Astell (Serious proposal to the ladies, 1697), Marquis de Condorcet (Progress of human mind, 1790), John Stuart Mill (The subjection of women, 1869) understood the importance of women and began to support the promotion of women’s rights and women’s empowerment by changing dogmas, overcoming traditional position occupied by women in family, church, society, policy. Over the years this trend gained momentum therefore, nowadays the gender problem is among the main goals of  one of the most important international organizations, United Nations (Millenium Development Goals : 1.eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, 2.achieving universal primary education, 3.promoting gender equality and empower women, 4.reducing child mortality rates, 5.improving maternal health, 6.combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other deseases,7.ensuring envinronmental sustainability, 8.developing a global partnership for development).

A considerable step in supporting women emancipation was when the Economic and Social Council of the UN organization established its Commission on the Status of Women, as the principal global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women.  Among its earliest accomplishments was ensuring gender neutral language in the draft Universal Declaration of Human Rights[1]. 

In 1979, the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which is often described as an International Bill of Rights for Women.  In its 30 articles, the Convention explicitly defines discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. The Convention targets culture and tradition as influential forces shaping gender roles and family relations, and it is the first human rights treaty to affirm the reproductive rights of women[2].

On 2 July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously voted to create a single UN body tasked with accelerating progress in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The main roles of UN Women are[3]:

• To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms.
• To help Member States to implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society.
• To hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.

Gender equality is not only a basic human right, but its achievement has enormous socio-economic ramifications. Empowering women fuels thriving economies, spurring productivity and growth. Yet gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society. Women lack access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage gaps. They are too often denied access to basic education and health care. Women in all parts of the world suffer violence and discrimination. They are under-represented in political and economic decision-making processes. For many years, the UN has faced serious challenges in its efforts to promote gender equality globally, including inadequate funding and no single recognized driver to direct UN activities on gender equality issues[4].

UN Women was created to address such challenges. It will be a dynamic and strong champion for women and girls, providing them with a powerful voice at the global, regional and local levels.

to be continued.

Ramona Nichitean

---

[1] http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/women/

[2] Idem

[3] http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/about-un-women/

[4] Idem