Every municipality must have an equality plan 5/6

If a municipality wants to be attractive and attract new inhabitants, to entice young people with high skills and education levels, then we also need to show that we are innovative. A lack of gender equality is not innovative! Today’s new graduates are young people who take gender equality for granted and we cannot be perceived by them as ‘slow’ or ‘backward’. This means that every municipality must work...

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Ecuador: Pillars of Democracy

Session 117 of the UN committee on civil and political rights (CCPR) Members of civil society  participating in the events with shadow repo...

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Good mothers can also have a full-time job 4/6

! Striving for power and leadership does not come naturally to many of us. We must change these attitudes. We must cheer on success in politics and in the workforce, not just in sports, if we are to have a robust workforce able to compete with the rest of the world.  In the southern part of Norway, women are still expected to devote the majority of their time to their families; to take most of the...

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Women in politics 3/6

Politicians have power and play an important role in society, so why don’t more women play an active part in politics? We need more women who are willing to make a difference by getting involved at both the local and national level.  It is vital to involve members of nomination committees in this debate to make them see the importance of getting women on to their party lists at election time. My...

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Our country is the whole world

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Both left- and right-wing parties must pay attention 2/6

It is extremely important that both left- and right-wing parties pay attention to gender equality. I have noticed a big change in public attitudes towards this issue. Those who previously regarded work on gender equality as unnecessary and pointless now see the importance of making it a priority. So my plea to all those working on this issue is to do whatever you can to make conservative parties ‘pick...

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COMFORT WOMEN - SEXUAL SLAVES OF JAPANESE IN WORLD WAR II - CALL FOR JUSTICE

This photo was taken by US army after they protected Korean CW From 1928 until the end of World War II, about 200,000 Asian women were forcibly drafted into sexual servitude by Japanese Imperial Army as “comfort women”. Survivors demand justice, compensation, apology & Japanese Gov. to admit its guilt. To date the Japanese Government has refused all their demands. The story of Pak Kumjoo, one...

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A renewed focus on gender 1/6

  I must be honest and confess that gender equality was not a topic that interested me at the beginning of my political career. I was not passionate about it at all. It was an issue that had long been ‘owned’ by the socialist parties and was often associated with radical 1970s’ feminists who were referred to often in the media and in discussions. This was not a group that I could identify with – hence...

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The role of the European Union 5/5

Research on alternatives is therefore emerging. The EU’s key role is to be less blinkered in its economic thinking and to be open to the work and findings of feminist and heterodox economists. It should also reinvigorate the gender mainstreaming of policies and broaden this analysis in order to assess the impact on different social groups, including class, race, and migrant status, to name but a few. To...

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Priorities for the future 4/5

Since the original Treaty of Rome, the EU’s commitment to gender equality has waxed and waned over the years, being stronger in periods of economic growth and labour shortage and withering away in periods of low growth, crisis and austerity (Smith and Villa, 2013).  Perhaps the high point for gender equality policies was the decision in 2000 to enshrine gender mainstreaming in the Lisbon Treaty,...

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What implications does this have for the future gender equality agenda? 3/5

Since the original Treaty of Rome, the EU’s commitment to gender equality has waxed and waned over the years, being stronger in periods of economic growth and labour shortage and withering away in periods of low growth, crisis and austerity (Smith and Villa, 2013).  Perhaps the high point for gender equality policies was the decision in 2000 to enshrine gender mainstreaming in the Lisbon Treaty,...

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Gender equality in times of inequality, crisis and austerity 2/5

Contemporary Europe is emerging slowly and unevenly from the deepest recession ever recorded. Following a coordinated and expansionary response to the crisis in 2008, member states experienced a sovereign debt crisis and subsequently, from 2010 - simultaneously yet without collective coordination - embarked on austerity policies to reduce the size of the public sector deficit and debt (Bettio et al 2012).  To...

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ACTION ALERT FOR DR. HOMA HOODFAR IMPRISONED IN IRAN #FREEHOMA

FREE HOMA TOOLKIT IS ATTACHED. Dr. Homa Hoodfar, a highly respected university professor at Concordia University, Montreal has been arrested and detained in Iran's notorious Evin prison on Monday 6, June 2016.  Hoodfar, 65, is an internationally renowned and widely published anthropologist who studies a range of issues related to women’s roles and status in Muslim contexts.  Born...

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Shahenda Maqlad. Prominent rights activist of peasants from Egypt dies

 Thanks for your  life dear Shahenda Maqlad .  We have here an interview of 2013  that teach us about their valuable contributions  :  “Tell us Shahenda, the mother of the saddened voices, what’s the color of Qanater prison? What’s the color of your prisoner? What’s the color of the friends with you who light up the gardens with light? Our country is a big prison...

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Gender equality in times of inequality, crisis and austerity: towards gender-sensitive macroeconomic policies. 1/5

“Equal pay for equal work is a founding principle of the European Union, but sadly is still not yet a reality for women in Europe.” Former EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding made this remark on European Equal Pay Day - February 28 2014 - 59 days after the start of the year.  She chose this date to mark the end of a period in which, given the gender pay gap (16.4% - EC, 2014a), women effectively...

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Elderly women living alone: an update of their living conditions

CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS  To avoid increases in gender disparities and in poverty risks, it is necessary to assess the potential gender impact of changes in pension and welfare systems.  Addressing the specific needs of women living alone asks for the individualisation of social rights, irrespective of household and marital relations both in pension and assistance policies and developing...

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Neglect of older persons’ needs

Globally, many politicians neglect long-term care (LTC ) needs of older persons and assign a very low priority to public support provided through social protection – despite the dramatic ageing of the world’s population (PNUD et al., 2014) and the growing number of older persons with physical or mental incapacities in need of LTC. However, currently, very few countries provide such protection or are planning...

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Right to sexual and reproductive health indivisible from other human rights

The right to sexual and reproductive health is not only an integral part of the general right to health but fundamentally linked to the enjoyment of many other human rights, including the rights to education, work and equality, as well as the rights to life, privacy and freedom from torture, and individual autonomy, UN experts have said in an authoritative new legal commentary*. Yet, the experts from...

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WOMEN AND GIRLS: CATALYSING ACTION TO ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY

The five proposed core commitments are aligned to all Core Responsibilities outlined in the Secretary General’s Agenda for Humanity: • Commitment 1: Empower Women and Girls as change agents and leaders, including by increasing support for local women’s groups to participate meaningfully in humanitarian action. • Commitment 2: Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductiv...

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Bibata Ouédraogo

Bibata Ouédraogo is an activist committed to the promotion and protection of women’s rights, including sexual rights and reproductive rights and the right to maternal health in Burkina Faso. Bibata Ouédraogo is an activist committed to the promotion and protection of women’s rights, including sexual rights and reproductive rights and the right to maternal health. Her work focuses on community outreach on...

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