Women abuse must be rooted out
2000-09-20 15:32
London - Eighty million unwanted pregnancies and 20 million unsafe
abortions. Millions of beatings and rapes. Infanticides and
so-called "honour" killings.
This is what the world's women still endure each year, despite
major changes to their lot at the end of the 20th century,
according to a new UN report published Wednesday.
The report by the UN Population Fund said discrimination and
violence against women "remain firmly rooted in cultures around the
world", stopping many from reaching their full potential.
"Passed down from one generation to the next, ideas about 'real
men' and 'a woman's place' are instilled at an early age and are
difficult to change," the report said.
The State of World Population Report 2000 said girls and women
the world over are still routinely denied access to education and
health care - including control over their reproductive activity -
and to equal pay and legal rights.
The report pointed out that targets agreed by governments in 1999 included:
halving the 1990 illiteracy rate for women and girls by 2005;
halving the unmet need for family planning by 2005 and eliminating it altogether by 2015;
reducing youth HIV levels by one quarter by the year 2010; and
ensuring that by 2015, 90% of all births are assisted by skilled attendants.
In particular, providing family planning to everyone who wants it
"is a significant challenge", the report said. Currently, about
one-third of all pregnancies - 80 million a year - are believed to
be unwanted or mistimed.
In developing countries, only 53% of all births are attended
by professionals, translating into "the neglect of 52.4 million
women annually". Nearly 30% of women who give birth in
developing countries - some 38 million a year - receive no
antenatal care at all.
Each year, the report said, women undergo an estimated 50 million
abortions, 20 million of which are unsafe, resulting in the deaths
of 78 000 women and the suffering of millions more.
At the end of 1999, 34.3 million men, women and children had HIV or
Aids, and 16.3 million have died from the disease to date.
In
Africa, one of the centres of the epidemic, HIV-positive women
outnumber men by 2 million, the report said.
The report added that at least one in three women has been beaten,
coerced into sex, or abused in some way. One in four is abused
during pregnancy.
At least 60 million girls, mostly in Asia, are listed as "missing",
as a result of infanticide, neglect or other factors and "as many
as 5 000 women and girls are murdered each year in so-called
'honour' killings by members of their own families".
In addition, the report said, some 2 million girls aged 5-15 join
the sex trade each year.
Despite this, only $2.1 billion of the $5.7 billion per
year that countries agree is needed for reproductive health and
population programmes has been forthcoming, the report said.
But there has been some progress.
In India, male health workers have motivated other men to take an
interest in women's health and help with housework, the report
said, while in Mali, men's involvement in reproductive health has
led to support for women's employment.
And in Nicaragua, courses on gender and power have reduced violence
against women, the report said.
Mexico and Peru have passed laws to increase access to reproductive
health services and the Portuguese government now guarantees access
to family planning.
Botswana, China, Colombia, the United Kingdom and Vietnam have
increased penalties for various sexual offences and Bolivia no
longer requires that a woman be found "honest" to be considered the
victim of a sexual offence. Germany has criminalised rape by a
husband against a wife. - Sapa-AP
- AP