We all know that women suffer in many ways. From gential mutiliation and being sold into slavery or prostitution simple discrimination persists on multiple levels.
Plan International yesterday released a report on the position of women around the world. Its damning! - to say the least. It is also a shocking indictment on the inaction of Governments to address, head on, the plight of many women.
CommonDreams [reproducing a piece from The Independent] reports:
"Almost 100 million girls “disappear” each year, killed in the womb or as babies, a study has revealed.
The report, “Because I am a Girl”, exposes the gender discrimination which remains deeply entrenched and widely tolerated across the world, including the fact that female foeticide is on the increase in countries where a male child remains more valued.
The report highlights the fact that two million girls a year still suffer genital mutilation, half a million die during pregnancy - the leading killer among 15 to 19-year-olds - every 12 months and an estimated 7.3 million are living with HIV/Aids compared with 4.5 million young men. Almost a million girls fall victim to child traffickers each year compared with a quarter that number of boys.
Of the 1.5 billion people living on less than 50p a day, 70 per cent are female, with 96 million young women aged 15 to 24 unable to read or write - almost double the number for males.
While many of the most shocking figures in the Plan International report relate to developing nations, sexual discrimination is still prevalent in the north.
In the UK, two women a week are killed by current or former partners. The country also has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe and having a baby at a young age means women are more likely to miss out on education and slip into poverty. There has also been a substantial rise in obesity in young girls in the UK."
Plan International yesterday released a report on the position of women around the world. Its damning! - to say the least. It is also a shocking indictment on the inaction of Governments to address, head on, the plight of many women.
CommonDreams [reproducing a piece from The Independent] reports:
"Almost 100 million girls “disappear” each year, killed in the womb or as babies, a study has revealed.
The report, “Because I am a Girl”, exposes the gender discrimination which remains deeply entrenched and widely tolerated across the world, including the fact that female foeticide is on the increase in countries where a male child remains more valued.
The report highlights the fact that two million girls a year still suffer genital mutilation, half a million die during pregnancy - the leading killer among 15 to 19-year-olds - every 12 months and an estimated 7.3 million are living with HIV/Aids compared with 4.5 million young men. Almost a million girls fall victim to child traffickers each year compared with a quarter that number of boys.
Of the 1.5 billion people living on less than 50p a day, 70 per cent are female, with 96 million young women aged 15 to 24 unable to read or write - almost double the number for males.
While many of the most shocking figures in the Plan International report relate to developing nations, sexual discrimination is still prevalent in the north.
In the UK, two women a week are killed by current or former partners. The country also has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe and having a baby at a young age means women are more likely to miss out on education and slip into poverty. There has also been a substantial rise in obesity in young girls in the UK."
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