The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs has released the latest annual World Economic and Social Survey.
The 2007 Survey analyses the implications of population ageing for social and economic development around the world, while recognizing that it offers both challenges and opportunities. Among the most pressing issues is the future reliance of an increasingly larger older population on a smaller labour force. Paralleling increased longevity are the changes in intergenerational relationships that may affect the provision of care and income security for older persons, particularly in developing countries where family transfers play a major role. Societies must also fully recognize and better harness the productive and social contributions that older persons can make and reduce the barriers that can currently prevcent them from doing so. The Survey argues that the challenges are not insurmountable, but that societies everywhere need to put in place the policies required to confront those challenges effectively and to ensure an adequate standard of living for each of their members, while respecting and promoting the contribution and participation of all.
To view the publication, visit: http://www.un.org/esa/policy/wess

Source: UN Development Policy and Analysis Division UN-DESA

The European Commission has launched an online public consultation on anti-discrimination in Member States and at EU level to help the Commission plan new measures to tackle discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, belief, disability, age or sexual orientation in areas beyond the job market. This initiative comes in the midst of the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All – which aims to raise people’s awareness of their rights to equal treatment and promote a broad debate on the benefits of diversity to society.
“We want to hear the views of as many people as possible on how to take on discrimination effectively in areas such as healthcare, education and housing,” said Vladimír Špidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. “The EU already has some of the most extensive anti-discrimination laws in the world. But we want to make sure that protection against discrimination is focused where it is most needed and that the right balance is struck between everyone involved – be they individuals, employers, public authorities or associations.” (more…)

The UN Division for the Advancement of Women is launching an online discussion on “Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women” from 18 June 2007 to 19 July. Contributions are invited from all interested parties and will feed into the preparation of the 52 nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), taking place 25 February to 7 March 2008 . They will also serve to inform the development of global policy in this area.
The theme of the first week is “Public finance: Using budgets for promoting gender equality.” Each theme kicks off with an initial set of questions to frame the discussion.   A different set of questions will be introduced at various points during the week in order to guide the discussion and to encourage suggestions and recommendations.
The themes are:

Week 1: 18 June-24 June 2007
Public finance: Using budgets for promotinggender equality

Week 2: 25 June – 1 July 2007
Bilateral and multilateral assistance: The way forward for promoting gender equality

Week 3: 2 July – 8 July 2007
Funds and Foundations: Mobilizing private and public resources for gender equality

Week 4: 9 July – 15 July 2007
The last week will be devoted to emerging issues, wrap-up and recommendations for future action.

In 1999, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, challenged business leaders to join an international initiative – the Global Compact – that would bring companies together with UN agencies, labour and civil society to support universal environmental and social principles. The Global Compact’s operational phase was launched at UN Headquarters in New York on 26 July 2000. It calls on businesses to align strategies and operations with “universal” principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption .
Today, thousands of companies from all regions of the world, international labour and civil society organizations are engaged in the Global Compact, working to advance ten universal principles derived from The Universal Declaration of Human Rights , The International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work , The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and The United Nations Convention Against Corruption. Companies include major operators from a wide range of sectors, such as British Telecom, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Deutsche Bank, L’Oreal, Grupo Inditex (Zara), Coca Cola Company, Royal Dutch Shell, Carrefour, Nestlé, etc.
For further information on the Compact, its principles and activities, see http://www.unglobalcompact.org

At a conference on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the UN headquarters in New York, one of which is the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, Sheikha Haya stated that governments around the world can play a crucial role in helping to lift women and their families out of poverty by introducing more gender-sensitive policies that offer greater employment, taxation and investment opportunities for women, especially those who want to be entrepreneurs. By introducing gender perspectives to fiscal and monetary policies, governments can provide opportunities for women to create their own economic and social empowerment.

“Gender-sensitive policies assist women entrepreneurs in accessing markets and obtaining reasonable interest rates for loans, as well as promote decent employment opportunities, fair taxation, and investments in infrastructure,” Sheikha Haya said.

Ms. Haya emphasized that experience from developing nations in Asia, Latin America and Africa showed that when women are given the chance to succeed through small business loans or increased educational opportunities, they take it, benefiting themselves, their families and their local communities.

She noted that 13 million entrepreneurs worldwide have advanced thanks to microfinance, using the small loans to increase their income and lift their families out of poverty. Yet an estimated 200 million families still do not have access to affordable credit.

The conference was organized by Women Together, a non-governmental organization (NGO).

For full report, see http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=22545&Cr=millennium&Cr1=development”

The European Women’s Lobby will be presenting the results of its “Who cares?” campaign and petition, together with an open letter, to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso on the occasion of International Families Day. The campaign has highlighted the European Union’s strategy and commitments in relation to care services for children and people with additional support needs. Lack of care services continues to be a major obstacle to gender equality in spite of the commitments made in Barcelona, 2002, by all Member States of the European Union to improve the situation.
Without economic independence, women cannot participate fully in social, political and cultural life. As responsibility for care in the home still falls to women in the majority of cases, without adequate services provided by governments they will continue to be economically dependent and vulnerable to discrimination and violence.
The open letter demands that the European Commission clarify its intentions on the achievement of the childcare targets adopted during the Barcelona Council; universal and affordable provision of care services for older, disabled and other dependents, and the strengthening of EU legislation on the reconciliation of work and private life for women and men.

To read the open letter click here (more…)

On the occasion of the International Day of Families, 15 May 2007, four social NGOs are reminding the EU that any definition of families should reflect the diversity of families which exist in European societies. Increasingly, the traditional concept of family is challenged by the evolution of society. The number of teenage pregnancies, single-parent families and families based on same-sex unions is on the rise in the EU. A failure to acknowledge their existence, and respond to the particular challenges they face, in policy and legislation amounts to discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, age, nationality, religion, disability and sexual orientation.

Definitions of families and family policies should extend to quality publicly funded care for dependents and state benefits which recognise families in their diversity. Caring duties and costs must not fall solely on families and in particular women. Member states must take responsibility for the well being and the full integration of dependents.

Source: EWL Press release. For full text click here (more…)

At the recent CSW at the United Nations in New York, women’s groups further discussed proposals to reform existing structures in the UN in relation to women’s rights. In order to facilitate a more coherent approach to women’s rights across the UN and to strengthen gender mainstreaming, the proposals - ‘gender architecture’- basically consist of the amalgamation of three main bodies: the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), to create a women-specific entity to be known as the Office on Gender Equality and Advancement of Women. The Office would be headed by an Executive Director at the level of Under-Secretary General. In an open letter to the UN Member States and the UN Secretary General on behalf of the NGO Linkage Caucus, FEMVision was one of 150 women’s organisations who demanded that UN Member States and the UN Secretary General now commit to “sustained and significant funding”; structures for meaningful and ongoing participation within the UN, particularly of women’s grassroots groups; the implementation of the gender equality architecture and a timeframe for implementation.

The new legislation, which includes a variety of political, social, labour and institutional measures was passed with the support of all parliamentary groups with the notable exception of the right-wing Partido Popular (People’s Party). The law incoporates European Union directives on gender equality in the workplace and the elimination of sexual discrimination and harrassment and increases women’s access to benefits and to public employment.

From now on, political parties will be obliged to present electoral lists of candidates containing no less than 40% and no more than 60% of either gender; a great step towards parity. It was this point, however, which caused the abstention of the PP. Spokespeople for the right-wing group claim that the legislation undermines political parties’ constitutional right to freely designate their candidates and is thus an attempt to modify electoral laws without the explicit consent of the two major political parties.

The new law demands equal representation of women and men in all areas and at all levels of the Public Administration and provides greater access to Social Security benefits for both employed and unemployed women. The Spanish government has also sought to bring this same parity to the private sector. All companies with over 250 employees will be obliged to negotiate gender equality plans to protect their female employees from discrimination in the workplace and ensure their presence in the boardroom. In addition, companies with higher equality standards and strong anti-discrimination track records will be given preference in public tenders. The law is not an empty threat; in 4 years’ time there will be a strict review to verify the degree to which these measures have been applied and a tougher policy will be adopted if necessary.