Did you know that
WPP facts
 Between
2001 and 2005, a total of 29 proposals from 25 different organizations
received financial support (small grants) from WPP. Approximately
2,189 people were trained in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia,
Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Georgia, India,
Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Nepal, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra
Leone, Thailand, the Netherlands, and the Philippines.
Between
2002 and 2005, a total of 29 women from 18 different countries were
trained during the WPP training of Trainers. They in turn conducted
52 gender-sensitive nonviolence trainings in their countries, which
reached 1,458 people (approximately one-third of whom we trained were
men and boys).
Global facts
Health
There are continuing
differences in lifetime risk of maternal mortality between developed
and developing countries. An African woman's lifetime risk of dying
from pregnancy-related causes is 1 in 16; in Asia, 1 in 65; and in
Europe, 1 in 1,400.
Women now account
for almost half of all cases of HIV/AIDS, and in countries with high
HIV prevalence, young women are at higher risk of contracting HIV
than young men.
Life expectancy
continues to increase for women and men in most developing regions
but has decreased dramatically in Southern Africa as a result of AIDS.
Work
Women now comprise
an increasing share of the world's labor force---at least one third
in all regions except in northern Africa and western Asia.
Self-employment
and part-time and home-based work have expanded opportunities for
women's participation in the labor force but are characterized by
lack of security, lack of benefits and low income.
More women than
before are in the labor force throughout their reproductive years,
though obstacles to combining family responsibilities with employment
persist.
Human Rights and Political Decision-Making
Physical and sexual
abuse affect millions of girls and women worldwide---yet are known
to be seriously under-reported.
In some African
countries, more than half of all women and girls have undergone female
genital mutilation and its prevalence is not declining.
|
Women and girls
comprise half of the world's refugees and, as refugees, are particularly
vulnerable to sexual violence while in flight, in refugee camps and/or
during resettlement.
Despite calls
for gender and equality, women are significantly under-represented
in Governments, political parties and at the United Nations.
Education and Communication
The gender gap
in primary and secondary schooling is closing, but women still lag
behind men in some countries in Africa and Southern Asia.
Two thirds of
the world's 876 million illiterates are women, and the number of illiterates
is not expected to decrease significantly in the next twenty years.
More women than
men lack the basic literacy and computer skills needed to enter "new
media" professions.
Women and Men in Families
Women are generally
marrying later but more than a quarter of women aged 15 to 19 are
married in 22 countries---all in developing regions.
Informal unions
are common in developed regions and in some countries of the developing
regions.
Population
Women are having
fewer children on average but with more women of reproductive age,
world population continues to grow.
Women represent
a large proportion of international migrants---an estimated 56 million
women out of a total of 118 million migrants.
Facts from:
The World's Women 2000: Trends and Statistics. Available from United Nations Publications (UNP).
For the UNP site, click here >
|
