http://www.thp.org/what_we_do/program_overview/empowering_women? gclid=CLi8yKbGv6oCFQR5fAodh1KJ2g The vast majority of the world's poor are women.

Two-thirds of the world's illiterates are female. Of the millions of school age children not in school, the majority are girls. And today, HIV/AIDS is rapidly becoming a woman's disease. In several southern African countries, more than three-quarters of all young people living with HIV are women. Studies show that when women are supported and empowered, all of society benefits. Their families are healthier, more children go to school, agricultural productivity improves and incomes increase. In short, communities become more resilient. http://www.southafrica.info/women/genderequity_140203.htm Gender equity: struggle not over Candace Freeman 14 February 2003 President Thabo Mbeki says although government is making progress in addressing gender equality, society still lags far behind in implementing the policy. Speaking during his State of the Nation address in Parliament, Cape Town on Friday, Mbeki said: "In the private sector and civil society, the campaign on the rights of women has started at least to form part of national discourse. "But society still lags far behind, in terms of actual implementation, particularly in mainstreaming gender issues on development and poverty eradication." Mbeki added that government will continue campaigning for the implementation of the National Framework for Womens Empowerment and Gender Equality. "We will soon introduce a system through which gender representation targets and content of programmes become part of the core performance criteria of every government institution and manager. "The challenge we all face as South Africans is to put our shoulder to the wheel to accelerate the pace of change," Mbeki said. In pursuing this challenge, women-owned businesses would receive additional support through the South African Women Entrepreneurs Network (SAWEN), which was launched last year. More financial and other resources are to be committed to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMMEs) and the cooperative sector, as the development and support of this sector of the economy is a main priority of government, said Mbeki. "We will table legislation amending the Small Business Act, among other things, to establish a nationwide advocacy body to act as the voice of this sector and to ensure that support to SMMEs is available at local level throughout the country." Source: BuaNews http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol22no1/221-enlisting-men-forwomens-equality.html From Africa Renewal, Vol.22 #1 (April 2008), page 6 Enlisting men for womens equality South African initiatives against sexual violence, gender inequities By Stephanie Urdang Johannesburg When an older man raised his hand to speak on the third day of a gender workshop in Hoedspruit, a rural community in northern South Africa, Bafana Khumalos heart sank. As the facilitator of the workshop, which specifically targeted men, he had already touched on concepts of manhood and how gender inequality contributed to the sky-rocketing HIV rates in South Africa.Mr. Khumalo

worried that the participant would deliver a lecture on how equality between men and women is contrary to African culture or how womens empowerment is dividing families. Older men are deeply respected in rural communities, and he knew this man had the ability to derail the workshop. Yesterday, after I got home, the participant began, I called my sons, I called my wife, and Iexplained to them what we are doing in this workshop. He told his children that things had to change in their home. No longer could their mother arrive home tired from a day of work and be expected to cook, clean, wash the dishes and clear up all on her own. It was simply unfair. From now on, he told his children, they would have to contribute to household chores. You have to start cleaning and tidying the house. You have to begin preparing dinner, so when your mother comes home she can see that we have all contributed. I cant learn to cook I am too old. But I am prepared to wash the dishes. http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1822/18220040.htm Volume 18 - Issue 22, Oct. 27 - Nov. 09, 2001 India's National Magazinefrom the publishers of THE HINDU MANY FACES OF GENDER INEQUALITY An essay by Amartya Sen. I. Seven Types of Inequality (1) Mortality inequality: In some regions in the world, inequality between women and men directly involves matters of life and death, and takes the brutal form of unusually high mortality rates of women and a consequent preponderance of men in the total population, as opposed to the pr(2) Natality inequality: Given a preference for boys over girls that many male-dominated societies have, gender inequality can manifest itself in the form of the parents wanting the newborn to be a boy rather than a girl. eponderance of women found in societies with little or no gender bias in health care and nutrition. 3) Basic facility inequality: Even when demographic characteristics do not show much or any anti-female bias, there are other ways in which women can have less than a square deal) Special opportunity inequality: Even when there is relatively little difference in basic facilities including schooling, the opportunities of higher education may be far fewer for youn(5) Professional inequality: In terms of employment as well as promotion in work and occupation, women often face greater handicap than men. A country like Japan may be quite egalitarian in matters of demography or basic facilities, and even, to a great extent, in higher education, g women than for young men. Indeed, gender bias in higher education and professional training6) Ownership inequality: In many societies the ownership of property can also be very unequal. Even basic assets such as homes and land may be very asymmetrically shared. The absence of claims to property can not only reduce the voice of women, but also make it harder for women to enter and flourish in commercial, economic and even some social activities. (7) Household inequality: There are, often enough, basic inequalities in gender relations within the family or the household, which can take many different forms. Even in cases in which there are no overt signs of anti-female bias in, say, survival or son-preference or education, or even in promotion to higher executive positions, the family

arrangements can be quite unequal in terms of sharing the burden of housework and child care.