Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Attempted assassination of Congolese Nobel Prize nominee

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 07:20 AM PDT

Armed men have attempted to assassinate Congolese gynecologist Dr. Denis Mukwege at his home.  

Mukwege was a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2009 for his work treating victims of sexual assault.

When he narrowly escaped gunshots, one of his security guards was tragically killed in his place.

Mukwege told the Guardian he was saddened by the loss of his employee:

“The man worked with me a long time – it’s a terrible loss for me and all my family.”

As no robbery occurred, police suspect that the motivation of the crime was Mr Mukwege's campaign against mass rape.

“It upsets them when we denounce their crimes,” Mukwege told BBC Afrique after the attack.

And that is exactly what Dr Mukwege had been doing.

Last month, Mr Mukwege gave a speech to the United Nations in which he criticised the international community for allowing “16 years of the destruction of women.”

He insisted on “urgent action” to find those responsible and  ”bring them to justice.”

He also called for “unanimous condemnation of the rebel groups.”

He ended his speech by saying “I have the honour to say that the courage of women victims of sexual violence in the Eastern Congo will in the end overcome this evil. Help them restore peace!”

It is clear from interviews that Dr Mukwege was aware his life could be in danger.

In 2010, he told The Guardian that he had become aware of rumours suggesting his home would be attacked.

Upon hearing that their doctor was at risk, his patients – three disabled girls – arrived to protect him.

He told The Guardian, “this is what I feel all the time from those who come to the hospital – the desire to keep loving, to keep giving, even when someone has tried to strip you of all your dignity and values. You cannot abandon people like that.”

In the Democratic Republic of Congo mass rape is a tool of warfare for rebel groups .

In 2010, UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict Margot Wallstrom branded the Congo the “rape capital of the world“. And Doctor Mukwege himself said that all sides in the Congo had "declared women their common enemy”.

The gynecologist’s team has performed surgery on over 20,000 female rape victims.

Among the Doctor's other achievements is a safe house where patients receive training in new skills.

Unsatisfied with medicine alone as a cure for Congo’s ills, Mukwege became an activist.

New York Times journalist Nicholas D Kristof described Mukwege as his hero and added “I hope the UN force in Bukavu will protect Dr. Mukwege and the Panzi Hospital for the time being. I hope foreign ambassadors will visit his hospital to show solidarity.”

Eve Ensler, founder of the V-Day movement, who also works in the Congo, described Dr Mukwege as “one of the great men of the world."

She pleaded ,”let Dr. Mukwege be the great doctor he is in the country he adores, with the women he cherishes, in the forests he loves. The forests that used to be free and safe.”

Congolese police have yet to identify the four assailants.

Women’s sport still failing in UK

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:00 AM PDT

Women’s sports still lack funding and media coverage, a charity has reported.

The Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) announced last week that women’s sports are still largely unpopular across the UK.

This is despite the success female athletes at this year’s summer Olympics.

Currently, women’s sport only receives 5% of media coverage and a dismal 0.5% of commercial sponsorship.

In particular, the BBC and Channel 4 came under direct fire from an All Party Parliamentary Group meeting in Westminster last week.

WSFF chief executive Sue Tibball said, ”The BBC and also Channel Four have a public duty to broadcast for the entire community, but the BBC in particular has been trying to compete against other channels in their coverage of sports, rather than encouraging diversity and equality.”

”The BBC should be looking at their remit and broadcasting women’s sport and a broader range of sports beyond male football,” she added.

Tibballs also announced that the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics, “were the greatest Games for women ever.”

“The achievements of Jessica Ennis, Sarah Storey, Kath Grainger and so many others have taken support for women's sport to new heights, and made 2012 a landmark year for women's sport,” she said.

However, there is a fear that the enthusiasm that surrounded these female athletes for so many months is rapidly dissipating.

“Currently we have a media that values male achievements over females' and a prevailing culture where girls grow up wanting to be thin rather than active and healthy. This has to change or the Olympic legacy will have failed for women,” Tibballs added.

The Foundation also argued that girls needed to be encouraged to partake in sports in and out of school.

“81% of people think that the female athletes at London 2012 make better role models for young girls than other celebrities,” said Tibballs.

“This is great news. However, we need to make sure that young girls and women are given more opportunities to see their female sports heroes in action to inspire them to get active.”

Olympic gold medal-winning rower Helen Glover has also recalled her personal experiences about fighting ‘peer-pressure’ at a young age:

“I was also frustrated at how much seemed available to the boys,” she told the Telegraph.

“When you get to an age when you're in your mid-teens so many girls drop out. You get to the stage where you can't actually make a whole hockey team.

“Boys have got rugby and football teams at mid-teen level – for boys there's quite a strong social aspect to these sports. For girls, when they start getting into boys they start getting body conscious, and drop out of sport."

Glover added that it was this kind of peer-pressure and under-funding that almost prevented her from partaking in sports at a competitive level.

Sports broadcaster Claire Balding also welcomed the Foundation’s critique, calling for broadcasters to show more women’s coverage, even if it was only one news item a day.

Women struggling to close gender gap

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 03:00 AM PDT

This years Global Gender Gap Report has claimed that only 20% of the world’s women hold some form of political power.

In addition, only 60% of the global economic gender gap has been closed.

Commissioned by the World Economic Forum (WEF), the report utilises a ‘framework’ that tracks differences in the resources available to women and  men, in economics, politics, education, and health, and countries accordingly.

According to WEF, “The rankings are designed to create greater awareness among a global audience of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them.”

The WEF then scores countries using a percentage, 100% indicates complete gender equality.

The Nordic regions are  the most fair for women overall, having closed their gender gap at 80%. Iceland ranks the highest, closely followed by Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Yemen currently holds the widest gender gap of the 135 countries studied at 47%, with Pakistan following closely behind.

For Pakistan, the root causes for such a low ranking are a combination a huge economic and educational disparity.

Only 22% of women participate in the labour market and only 7%  have their own businesses.

The overall female literacy rate is also low at just 40%.

Co-author of the report, Saadia Zahidi, said, “There are different things that need to be done in different places, but there’s a lot that can be shared between countries and companies.”

“For instance, despite struggling economies, the Nordic countries have remained consistently in the top ten.

Zahidi noted, "But the reason this occurs is because they've completely closed the gaps in health and education – but the region continues to be number one in political empowerment and economic participation as well."

Founder and Executive Chairman of WEF, Klaus Schwab said, "The key for the future of any country and any institution is the capability to attract the best talents."

"In the future, talent will be more important than capital or anything else. To develop the gender dimension is not just a question of equality; it is the entry card to succeed and prosper in an ever more competitive world."

The USA has fallen from 17th place in 2011 to 22nd, suggesting that their gender gap is closing at a slower rate than other countries.

The UK has also slipped from 16th last year to 18th place.

Read the full report on the WEF homepage here.

Day of Action for Malala and the 61 million

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:02 AM PDT

Call for international day of action for the millions of children worldwide denied education.

In his position as UN Special Envoy for Global Education former British prime minister Gordon Brown is heading a campaign that aims to give all children access to school by 2015.

And he is calling for November 10 to be a day of action, after the shooting of 14 year old Malala Yousufzai and the global reaction to her story.

Around the world vigils and protests have been organised, with crowds holding signs which say ‘I am Malala’ – and Malala’s name and face have become a symbol for the universal struggle for the right to education.

Malala is one girl. In Pakistan, Malala’s home, 5 million children are not in school. Of those 3 million are girls.

Globally, 32 million other girls have no access to school.

Globally, 61 million children have no access even to primary education.

Malala was shot by members of the Taliban, who oppose education for girls throughout the region. Since the end of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, huge strides forward have been taken towards re-allowing girls’ education, but their attendance faces aggressive opposition.

In April this year the water supply at a girls’ school  was poisoned, and in May another had a toxic poison released into the classrooms. Both attacks are believed to have been carried out by Taliban insurgents.

But these attacks are not anomalies, nor do they only occur in Afghanistan. Attacks on schools by religious or political groups have been reported in Thailand, India and Yemen.

Whilst the attacks on education in these instances are politically or religiously motivated, around the world there are a plethora of other obstacles to attending school for millions of children.

It is estimated that each year 10 million girls are forced into marriage, and domestic duties end their school life.

Over 15 million children around the world today are in forced labour - they too are denied access to basic primary education.

Other barriers to education include poverty, natural disasters and war.

But the UN Education First initiative reports that only 2 per cent of all humanitarian aid goes towards education.

On November 10 Gordon Brown will be visiting Malala’s native Pakistan. He will meet the president of Pakistan, and intends to hand over a petition to ask for changes in Pakistan’s government to be made that will enable more and universal access to education in the country.

But he hopes that this day of action will be about more than just Pakistan.

He is encouraging supporters to mobilize – with local events and social media campaigns – to stand alongside Malala and support her in her desire for global access to education.

The global petition, which you can sign here, will also be handed to the United Nations in an act to show the support that has been galvinised for the 2015 deadline.

Alongside the petition is a powerful video produced by the Education Envoy, which brought tears to my eyes.

If you are reading this, then the likelihood is that you – like me – have had the extraordinary privilege of an education. It is something that we easily take for granted.

But given its importance, all children should have the right to education.

That so many millions are denied it should cause us outrage.

The plight of Malala has got the media to focus a great deal of attention on the issue, but denial has long been a reality for children the world over.

Let us make now the time that change happens.

The numbers may seem insurmountable, but we can all begin to play a part in reducing them.

As Gordon Brown says: “Change is possible. Indeed it is not only possible - it is the only alternative”.