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2000 - Sexism and Globalization, 2000 Good Reasons to March

You will find in the following pages some statistics on violence against women and about poverty in the world.
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Today only 6 countries can boast the following: close to complete sexual equality in the area of secondary education, 30% representation of women in elected government positions, roughly 50% of non-agricultural jobs occupied by women.

In nearly 100 years, only 24 women have been elected as head of State, and 10.5% of all seats in parliament in the world are held by women.

Around 80% of the 27 million refugees around the planet are women.

Two thirds of the 300 million children who have no access to education are girls. .

Out of almost a billion people who are unable to read and write, two thirds of them are women.

Over 200,000 women die every year as a result of back street abortions.

Women produce 80% of the food in the poorest areas of the world; in some places, this figure is as high as 95%.

Officially, 110 million girls worldwide between the ages of 5 and 14 work, and this does not include domestic tasks.


The World March of Women targets violence against women
Violence committed specifically against the female sex is tolerated: the guilty are not punished; their crime is tacitly pardoned

Millions of women around the world, regardless of their socio-economic background, level of education, culture or religion, are victims of violence that has no other basis than gender. Only the form and intensity of the violence differs from one woman to another. Violence against women cannot be justified by custom, religion, cultural practice or political authority.

Violence committed specifically against women takes place within the family ("battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation") and in the community ("rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution"). Violence against women is too often condoned by States; at times they are even the perpetrators. It is strikingly visible in its organized form as a weapon of war during armed conflict.


DEMAND OF THE FRENCH COORDINATING BODY OF THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Que soient inscrites dans la loi et reconnues effectivement par l'application pratique de la loi, les violences domestiques (conjugales).

La législation doit intégrer notamment les violences psychologiques et économiques. Les violences dans le couple sont une infraction : pas d'utilisation de la médiation pénale

WIFE ASSAULT
- In Norway, one out of four women are victims of physical or sexual violence committed by a male partner.
- Every year, over 4 million women in the United States are victims of physical violence committed by a husband, lover or acquaintance.
- Every year in Russia, 14,000 women are killed by their husband or other male family member.

Some 20-50% of women in the world are, to varying degrees, victims of wife assault.

"HONOUR" CRIMES

"Whatever we call them, these crimes are committed all over the world. They happen whenever a man considers a woman to be his property and seeks to demonstrate this mistaken assumption by the abusive and cruel use of force."

Honour killing is an ancient practice whereby a man supposedly saves the family honour by killing any female relative who is suspected of having had sexual relations outside marriage, even if the woman was raped.

- In 1997, approximately 300 women were assassinated to save the family "honour" in one province of Pakistan alone.
- According to 1999 statistics, over two thirds of the murders committed in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, were so-called "honour" assassinations.
- In Jordan, there are roughly 23 murders of this kind every year.
- In Lebanon, around 36 "honour" crimes were committed between 1996 and 1998, mainly in small cities and villages. Reports indicate that the perpetrators were most often under 18, and were often proclaimed heroes in their communities.
- In Yemen, at least 400 "honour" killings were committed in 1997. In Egypt, 52 "honour" killings were reported in 1997.

Across the planet, an estimated 5000 women and young girls are victims of "honour" crimes each year. Sources:
-"Le vécu quotidien des femmes dans le monde," see
http://www.africaonline.co.ci/AfricaOnline/infos/fratmat/16SOC3.HTM


DEMAND OF THE TURKISH COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Sexual harassment and rape in custody as a means of torture should be taken as a crime against women

RAPE
"Rape is a crime of the patriarchy committed against women."

Women are most at risk for rape in their own homes and from their male acquaintances. Marital rape is considered a crime in only 17 States around the planet.

It is estimated that the incidence of rape is 50 times higher than what is reported. Evaluation of the proportion of reported rapes resulting in conviction varies from country to country-from at least 3% in South Africa to roughly 16% in the United States.

There are no reliable statistics on the global incidence of rape; those that do exist present a misleadingly low estimation of this social phenomenon.

UNICEF estimates that one in ten women in the world will be a victim of rape at least once in her lifetime.

Most published studies on the subject report that women are most often raped by a man they know.

According to national statistics in the United States, one woman is raped every 6 minutes.

Sources:
-Milanka Mirkovic-Krstic, "Viols et grossesses forcées en ex-Yougoslavie," see
http://perso.club-internet.fr/sexisme/livreviolence.htm
-"Rapport affligeant de l'Unicef sur les femmes victimes de violences", UNICEF.
-Noeleen Heyzer, "Ending the Epidemic of Violence Against Women". -"Women and Violence" United Nations information sheets, see
http://www.un.org


DEMAND OF THE TOGOLESE COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Mettre en application la législation sur les mutilations sexuelles

GENITAL MUTILATION

Excision consists of the removal of the clitoris and labia minora. It is practised in 40 countries, mainly in Eastern and Western Africa, the Arab peninsula and Asia, and increasingly, in immigrant communities in countries such as Australia, Canada, the United States and Europe.

Infibulation consists of an additional mutilation: the labia majora are cut off and the sides are stitched together from one end to the other. A tiny opening is left to permit the passage of menstrual blood and urine. Once married, the "infibulated" woman is cut with a sharp instrument to enable sexual activity. The opening is not nearly large enough, however, for childbirth. The opening is then increased; after the child is born, it is closed to its earlier dimensions, and so on.

In addition, various other forms of violence are wreaked on women's genitals "for cultural reasons or for therapeutic ends," such as piercing, perforation or cutting of the clitoris; scraping or cutting the vaginal opening; introduction into the vagina of corrosive substances or plants designed to provoke bleeding or to tighten or shorten the vagina (official definitions of the WHO).

The number of women victims of genital excision is estimated at 130 million around the world; every year, nearly 2 million more women are subjected to this custom, at a rate of 6,000 per day, or 5 little girls every minute.

Sources:
-Radhika Coomaraswamy, "Integration of women's fundamental rights and the specific approach: violence against women," Report by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, in conformance with the Addendum to Resolution 1997/44 of the Commission: Practices and policies undermining women's reproductive rights and constituting factors, causes and outright acts of violence against women.
-Marie-Hélène Franjou, "Les mutilations sexuelles féminines," in Femmes et violences dans le monde, Harmattan see
http://perso.club-internet.fr/sexisme/livreviolence.htm-Centre d'études juridiques de défense des droits de la procréation, Study on legislation regarding genital excision in the United States, October 1997, p. 2.


DEMAND OF THE CONGOLESE COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Que l'État congolais dirige des enquêtes pour étaler au grand jour la traite des jeunes filles dans certains milieux et prenne les dispositions pour y mettre fin ;

DEMAND OF THE LUXEMBOURG COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Que la traite de filles et de femmes, le proxénétisme et le "sexe - tourisme" soient poursuivis et condamnés sévèrement et que la lutte soit coordonnée au niveau mondial

SEX TRAFFICKING


"Implicit in the term "trade in women," used to describe both a domestic and foreign phenomenon, is that these women are already possessions."

The traffic in women and girls is reaching alarming proportions today, especially in Asia and more recently in Eastern Europe.

Almost 70 million women and children in Southeast Asia were victims of sex trafficking in the last 10 years.

Sex tourism to developing countries is an extremely well organized business in the United States and in many European and other industrialized countries. It operates between countries, often with the cooperation of border guards.

It is estimated that human trafficking generates $7 billion a year for organized criminal networks.


An estimated 4 million women and girls are bought and sold worldwide, either into marriage, prostitution or slavery.

Sources:
- Changing the World Step by Step: Mosaic in Tribute to Women's Struggles Worldwide, Under the direction of Martine David, (Montreal: World March of Women 2000/Fédération des Femmes du Québec).
- "Violence Against Women Facts," Win News, Winter 2000, cited by UNIFEM-Violence Against Women Around the World, United Nations Development Fund for Women.


DEMAND OF THE CHILEAN COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Queremos una educación de calidad que considere como iguales a niñas y niños, y que favorezca la autoestima y la asertividad de las niñas. Para ello exigimos:
-Incluir la perspectiva de género y el respeto de los derechos humanos en la formación del profesorado

SON PREFERENCE

Female infanticide is the assassination of a baby girl in the weeks following birth.

Son preference is the phenomenon where boys are valued above girls both socially and economically. We see various expressions of this: abortion of the female fetus, murder of a newborn, and preferential treatment of boys with respect to food, health care and basic education, while girls' needs in these areas are neglected. Although they are officially prohibited, prenatal sex selection tests are increasingly popular in China, India and the Republic of Korea.

Over 100 million girls are missing from population statistics globally due to the preference for male children.

Throughout the world, when parents think of limiting themselves to one or two children, they express the desire for at least one boy; thus, wherever the norm of one child per family is instituted, there is increased pressure to have a son.

DOWRY-RELATED VIOLENCE

In some countries, the bride's family must pay a dowry before the marriage takes place. Non-payment of the agreed upon sum may result in violence. Bride burning occurs when the husband arranges an "accident" (often an explosion at the stove), because he considers that the obligatory dowry (the presents received from his in-laws) was insufficient.

In India, an average of five women per day are burned for dowry-related motives, and many other incidents go unreported.

Sources:
-"Mme Bellamy dénonce la violence," see
http://www.unicef.org/
-Joni Seager, Atlas des femmes dans le monde
-Centre d'études juridiques de défense des droits de la procréation, Study on the frequency of legislation and policies concerning women's reproductive health in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1997.


DEMAND OF THE KOREAN COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

To eliminate violence against women, we demand that countries should make special efforts to eliminate the physical and sexual abuse of women by the public power and the US Army in times of war

RAPE IN WARTIME

"Armed conflict exacerbates what has been tolerated until now in peacetime: women's bodies still function as booty."

The employment of rape as a weapon of war is become increasingly evident.

Between 250,000 and 400,000 women were raped during the 1972 war of independence in Bangladesh. Accounts of the rape of women and girls in Rwanda between April 1994 and April 1995 range from 15,700 to 250,000.

During the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, tens of thousands of Muslim women detained in camps specifically set up for this purpose, were raped and forcibly impregnated. Gang rape, often followed by the massacre of the victims was committed on an even large scale during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Only recently, women of Chinese origin were the main targets during the riots in Indonesia in May 1998.

Today, the main victims of armed conflicts are civilians (women and children), not soldiers.

The United States, Russia, France, United Kingdom and China-all of whom detain the right to veto in the UN Security Council-are responsible for around 85% of all arms sales around the planet.

Sources:
- Leila Sebbar, "L'hymen, butin de guerre" (The hymen as war booty), see
http://perso.club-internet.fr/sexisme/livreviolence.htm
- Radhika Coomaraswamy, "Integration of women's fundamental rights and the specific approach: violence against women," Report by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, in conformance with the Addendum to Resolution 1997/44 of the Commission: Practices and policies undermining women's reproductive rights and constituting factors, causes and outright acts of violence against women.
- Andrée Michel, Les femmes et la paix à la veille de l'an 2000.

Sexist violence over a woman's lifetime
Period Type of violence
Prior to birth Physical assault during pregnancy, forced pregnancy (rape in wartime), sex selected abortion
Early childhood Female infanticide, psychological and physical violence, less access than boys to food and health care
Childhood Genital mutilation, incest and sexual abuse; less access than boys to food, health care and education; child prostitution and sex trafficking
Adolescence Date rape and battering, forced sexual activity due to economic circumstances, sexual abuse in the workplace, rape, sexual harassment and exploitation, sex trafficking.
Adulthood Wife battering and marital rape, dowry-related abuse and murder, murder by spouse, mental cruelty, sexual abuse at the workplace, sexual harassment, rape, abuse of disabled women, sex trafficking.
Old age Unfair treatment of widows and older people in general (especially older women)

L. Heise, "Violence Against Women: The Hidden Health Burden," working paper of the World Bank, Washington, DC, 1994





Poverty has a sex

"You want to know my definition of poverty?
The definition is right in front of you.
Look at me.
I live alone. I don't have enough food.
I have neither proper housing nor clothing.
There is no safe water nearby.
Look at my swollen legs.
I can't go to the clinic; it is too far to walk.
What definition of poverty do you think I can give you
That would be better than what you can see for yourself?"

Poverty is not inevitable, nor is the fact that women are the main victims. Women constitute 70% of the poorest people in the world.

The impact of current economic globalization is being denounced more and more, but women are not specifically mentioned. Yet the impact of global macro-economic policies is not the same for women as for men.


DEMAND OF THE MEXICAN COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Que se revisen y modifiquen, con la participación de las mujeres, las políticas macroeconómicas, especialmente las que han sido impuestas por organismos financieros internacionales como el Fondo Monetario Internacional, el Banco Mundial y la Organización Mundial del Commercio, entre otros, con el fin de promover una distribución más equitiva de los recursos: bienes, patrimonio, ingresos y servicios

HOW WEALTH IS DISTRIBUTED IN THE WORLD TODAY

The president of Nike has a personal fortune of US$4.5 billion, including an annual salary of US$1 million. An Indonesian woman working for Nike in one of the many subcontractors' factories dotted around the world (75,000 workers in all, of whom 70% are women between 17 and 21) earns the equivalent of US$360 per year. This means she has to work for 15 centuries to earn the president's annual salary!

A handful of individuals possess wealth comparable to the GNP (gross national product) of 56% of the world's population.

Out of a world economy of $30,000 billion, $24,000 billion is made in developed countries. This means that 20% of the planet's population controls 80% of its wealth.

The world population has reached almost 6 billion. According to the World Bank, 1.5 billion people were living on less than US$1 per day at the end of 1999 and roughly 3 billion people were living on less that US$2 per day.

70% of the 4.5 billion people living on less than US$2 per day are women and children.

Women and girls own less than 1% of the planet's wealth; they furnish 70% of the work hours and receive only 10% of the income.


DEMAND OF THE PERUVIAN COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Queremos empleos y salarios dignos. Para ello, exigimos mecanismos de fiscalización que sancionen el acoso sexual, la persecución a las embarazadas y las condiciones insalubres de trabajo

DEMAND OF THE BELGIAN COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Nous exigeons la suppression du temps partiel non-volontaire et imposé dans le cadre d'une flexibilité sauvage

WOMEN'S WORK IN THE FREE ECONOMIC ZONES

There are 850 free economic zones in the world. Here, innumerable manufacturing plants employ an estimated 27 million women and men. These production zones are characterized by high numbers of young women (90% of all workers), extremely low wages, long work days (between 12 and 14 hours), a total lack of social services and unpleasant and dangerous working conditions. In other words, minimum labour standards and basic organizing rights are non-existent.

After five years of factory work in Thailand and the ensuing damage to her health, a woman is no longer considered "profitable."

IMPOSITION OF PART-TIME WORK

The growth of part-time work in countries of the North may be compared to the soaring development of informal labour in the South where women are also over-represented. In both cases, these jobs are (especially non-public sector jobs, notably jobs in the business and service sectors) often unstable; poorly paid; with virtually no possibility of promotion or career development; with meager or non-existent fringe benefits. Indeed, in the fight against unemployment, industrialized countries mostly seem to be depending on "job sharing" through women's part-time labour.


DEMAND OF THE UKRAINIAN COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Recognition of unpaid domestic/and underpaid women's labour

DEMAND OF THE SWISS NATIONAL COORDINATING BODY OF THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Des mesures modifiant les schémas de répartition traditionnelle des tâches et abolissant la division du marché du travail en professions féminines et professions masculines (ségrégation horizontale), pour permettre aux femmes d'accéder à un choix élargi de métiers et professions assurant une meilleure qualité de vie;
à travail de valeur égale, salaire égal;
Le partage équitable des tâches rémunérées et non rémunérées

UNRECOGNIZED, UNPAID AND UNCOUNTED WORK

Nearly 70% of the work done around the planet is unpaid work: accomplished by women, it includes gathering food and living necessities, education and social relations, housework, gardening and field work.

Only a third of the work done by women across the globe is remunerated.

The remaining two thirds of the work is done without pay by women and it is absent from economic statistics. Exactly the reverse is true for men. The estimated value of unpaid work is $11 billion, or almost half of the total annual production globally.

According to the International Labour Office, women in "developing countries" contribute between 31 and 42 hours of unpaid work per week, while men only contribute between 5 and 15 hours.

Starting at the age of five, girls in "developing countries" work between 4 and 16 hours per days performing domestic tasks.

WOMEN'S RECOGNIZED LABOUR IS UNDERPAID

Unequal pay is often more deeply entrenched in industrialized countries. For example, in Kenya, average salaries for women working outside the agricultural sector represent 84% those of men, while in Japan, women earn only 51% of what men earn.

Around the world, women on average earn just over 50% of what men earn.


DEMAND OF THE MOROCCAN COORDINATING BODY OF THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Réduire la mortalité et morbidité maternelle en prenant des mesures pour augmenter le taux d'accouchement en milieu hospitalier

DEMAND OF THE CANADIAN COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Restore federal funding to health care and enforce the rules against the privatization of our health care system, beginning with Alberta

SANITARY CONDITIONS

It is estimated that over 585,000 women die every year due to preventable complications associated with pregnancy, birth or abortion performed under poor sanitary conditions. These are not simple accidents or natural occurrences; these deaths can be avoided by demanding action at the political, medical/health and legislative levels.

Some 99% of these high maternal death rates concern countries in the South; South Asia is at the top of the list, followed by Africa and Latin America. The proportion of women who die in pregnancy is 1 out of every 21 women in Africa versus one out of 10,000 women in Northern Europe.

In all countries of the South, a woman has 1 in 48 chances of dying from complications linked to pregnancy or childbirth, while in the industrialized world, she has one chance in 1800.

Throughout the world, complications linked to pregnancy are the main cause of death in young women

The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements - Habitat (UNCHS) states that in cities of developing countries, at least 600 million people live in unhealthy, even dangerous housing. Since women and children spend more time at home than men, they are the first to suffer from these harmful conditions


DEMAND OF THE CENTRAL AFRICAN COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

La fin des compressions budgétaires et des coupures dans les budgets sociaux et les services publics

DEMAND OF THE INDIGENOUS WOMEN OF PANAMA COORDINATING BODY FOR THE WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN

Nous exigeons d'être au préalable consultées puis pleinement associées à l'élaboration des politiques publiques concernant les peuples et les femmes autochtones dans les soi-disant plans de développement

BUDGET CHOICES

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimates that the governments of Sub-Saharan Africa pay their creditors in the North four times as much as they invest in health care for their populations. In the same world region, 20% of women suffer from weight insufficiency.

Comparison of spending on health care and on debt servicing
Country Spending on health care in 1990 (in millions of US $) Total debt servicing in 1990 (in millions of US $)
Nigeria 960 3 375
Kenya 375 720
Ivory Coast 334 720
Zambia 117 586

In Tanzania, people's yearly income is US$140 . One child in ten dies before the age of one, but every resident owes rich countries, the IMF or the World Bank, over US$250.

In the 1980s, 30% to 40% of Latin American countries' foreign debt was used for arms expenditures.

A few years back, the French Parliament voted to spend over 200 billion francs to purchase a complete fleet of Rafale fighter planes; earlier, they decided to offer an increase of only one billion francs to 300,000 nurses who had been on strike for a month.

In 1998, the United Nations and the World Bank estimated that US$225 billion per year would be needed to eliminate extreme poverty and furnish adequate environmental protection .

Global tax evasion is estimated at over US$292 billion per year.

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Last modified 2006-04-18 02:06 PM
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