Saturday, December 29, 2012

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 shout slogans during a protest calling for the respect of women's rights (13 August 2012)
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.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

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











Sunday, December 9, 2012

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.


Monday, December 3, 2012

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/

Monday, November 26, 2012

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


 



Sunday, November 25, 2012


                                        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

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

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