June 03, 2011: Women, Poverty, Crises, and Human Rights
On 3 June, in conjunction with the 17th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), the Women’s UN Report Network (WUNRN) organized a panel discussion on “Women-Poverty-Crises-Human Rights” in Geneva. Co-sponsored by NGLS, the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL), the NGO Committee on the Status of Women in Geneva, and the Worldwide Organization for Women (WOW), the event aimed to explain the linkages between women, poverty and economics from a human rights perspective.
Today, considerably more than half of the world’s poor are women. This situation is maintained by systematic discriminatory practices and inequality, whether in access to education, health care, employment, land, financial resources, clean drinking water and sanitation, or to decision-making processes. The various crises (food, fuel, climate, economic, financial) that in recent years have reversed many development gains in both developed and developing countries have had a disproportionate impact on women.
In her contribution to the meeting, presented by Lois Herman (WUNRN), the UN Independent Expert on the Question of Human Rights and Extreme Poverty Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, gave a human rights and gender perspective in relation to the successive food, fuel and financial and economic crises. She highlighted in her contribution that without a doubt, those who have suffered most because of these crises are women.
You may link to the entire article on the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service website through the link below.