Discussion topic

Women in the world

5/5/2008 9:11:08 AM

The world population is greater than 6.6 billion in 2008, and nearly 50% are female. Even though there as many women as men in the world, socially and economically, women are still far behind in terms of equality.

Women are responsible for 2/3 of all hours worked, but earn only 10% of the world''s income. Of the people living in absolute poverty, approximately 70% are women. With less than 1% of the world''s property, women produce 50% of the food.

In some regions, especially in Africa and Asia, women’s rights are either non-existent, ineffective. Crimes against women still present one of the biggest challenges for the women’s rights movements everywhere. Worldwide, 25% of women are raped during their lifetime, 25% to 75% are regularly beaten at home, and 10% to 50% have been physically abused (depending on the country.) Over 120 million women have undergone female genital mutilation.

Women have less access to education than men. They account for 2/3rd''s of the world''s illiterate adults. Girls account for 2/3rd''s of the children without any access to education. India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Egypt are responsible for over 66% of the illiterate adults (785 million) in the world. South and West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab states, have extremely low literacy rates, where approximately one-third of the men and half of all women are illiterate.

Equality between men and women is also far from being a reality in the politics. Only 12% of parliamentary seats worldwide are occupied by women.

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