Women and girls account for three-fifths of the world’s billion poor people. Women account for two-thirds of the 960 million adults who cannot read, while girls account for 57 percent of the 75 million children who are not in school.

Koichiro Matsuura, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) director-general, said gender parity has yet to be realized globally as he renewed the organization’s call for achieving gender equality, including equal access to education, in yesterday’s celebration of International Women’s Day.

“The IWD 2009 is my tenth and last as director-general of UNESCO, and it is a matter of regret that although gender equality was enshrined in the United Nations Charter in 1945, and targeted as specific Millennium Development Goal (MDG 3) in 2000, it still remains an aspiration, rather than the reality in too many areas of public and private life,’’ Matsuura said.|

In his 2009 IWD message published on UNESCO’s website, the agency chief acknowledged the significant commitments made in terms of “equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including care-giving in the context of  the human-immuno virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome on the international front.

However, he noted that women and girls continue to assume a disproportionate share of responsibilities in the household and in care-giving.

“The public sphere and workplace continue to be based on male models of work and public involvement. This limits women’s access to economic, professional, and decision-making opportunities,’’ he added.

In terms of decision-making, Matsuura said not many of the world’s women participate in political decision-making. He cited the case at the Inter-Parliamentary Union where only 18.4 percent are women.

He said women also remain a minority in the highest positions: they accounted for only 4.7 percent of heads of state and only 4.2 percent of heads of government. Also, only 16.1 percent of women held ministerial portfolios.

In terms of economic decision-making, the director-general said that only 12 chief executive officers of Fortune 500 companies are women, while the number of women ministers of finance is “negligible.’’

“We need to make more systematic and concerted efforts to explore the underlying causes of unequal sharing of responsibilities between women and men in the public and private spheres.
 
Only then will we be able to identify and redress the consequences of such inequalities for the labor market, governance, and decision-making and to develop more effective policy responses,’’ he stressed.

Matsuura said gender equality-women empowerment is one of two priorities of the UNESCO under its medium-term strategy for the period 2008-2013. The other top concern is to achieve universal primary education.

He said the organization is implementing the priority goals through the priority gender equality action plan, a six-year plan with concrete actions, expected results, and budget allocations. At the same time, he said UNESCO is committed to achieve gender parity on decision- making levels within the Secretariat by 2015.
In the Philippines, women continue to lobby for equal rights despite having a woman chief executive.

In a statement, officials of the Congress of Teachers, Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND)-National said Filipino women continue to suffer prejudices and are still victims of various forms of harassment in the last six years under a woman president.

“Women in the country are now even more oppressed and disenfranchised under President Arroyo,’’ CONTEND said.

They claimed that the Reproductive Health Bill, a bill that seeks to empower women of their rights, could not be passed into law “because the President has a high regard for the Catholic Church.’’

Among other concerns that are adversely affecting the Filipina are the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Balikatan RP-US military exercises, human rights violations, including threats of physical assault, enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings, increasing unemployment and layoffs due to the global economic downturn, CONTEND said.

Of the 933 activists who became victims of violence in the hands even of those who should protect them, 107 of them were women.

08 RIGHTS

Mrs. Arroyo urged to sign
Magna Carta of Women

By ELLALYN B. DE VERA

The Commission on Human Rights, at yesterday’s observance of International Women’s Day, urged President Arroyo to sign into law the Magna Carta of Women to improve protection of the female population.

Last March 4, the Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives ratified a common version of the bill that has been pending for more than a decade.
Human Rights chairperson Leila De Lima said the Magna Carta of Women will specify the country's obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) where the Philippines is a signatory.

Once signed into law, De Lima said the Magna Carta of Women would cover a wide range of matters pertaining to women.
The CHR also called on all government branches to improve programs for the human rights of women, and strengthen the application of the Law against Violence against Women and Children.

In a statement that marked the UN Day for Women and International Peace, De Lima said “Women and girls, as human beings, have the equal right as men and boys to enjoy civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Because there are certain issues that are more problematic for women than men, there needs to be stronger protections for them.”

The CHR pointed out that the main issues threatening the human rights of women in the Philippines include domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, extrajudicial killings, unequal job opportunities, internal displacement due to armed conflict, health care including reproductive health, education and literacy, and proper treatment in the criminal justice system.

“Equality and non-discrimination are not achieved by having gender-neutral laws per se, or by having laws that are equally applicable to men and women, De Lima said.
“Instead, equality and non-discrimination are fulfilled by having laws that, in their implementation, allow both genders to live their lives in dignity and in full enjoyment of their human rights,” she added.

The CHR chief stressed that whether as victims, witnesses, suspects or even when already convicted, the specific needs of women have to be addressed in terms of proper facilities and gender-sensitive official personnel and procedures.
The CHR also called on the police, the judiciary and all pillars of the criminal justice system “to fully apply the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act or the Republic Act 9262 of 2004.

De Lima cited that some judges and police officers have been reluctant to apply this law, feeling that it is not applicable to Filipino families.
She added that there have been several cases of judges urging women to return to husbands who abuse them physically, emotionally or psychologically.