14/1/2005
World Moves Towards Gender Parity In Basic Education, UN Says

The target of reaching equality in basic education for girls and boys is being met in much of the world, but girls and women still face inequality in the labour market, in domestic violence and in vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, said the UN this week.

Rachel Mayanja the UN's Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, told the 23-member UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that girls and women were being denied decision-making roles, were being left in abject poverty and were vulnerable to being trafficked. Educational opportunities were being equalised in many countries and probably would be nearly met by 2005, except in sub-Saharan Africa and southern and western Asia, she said.

Discriminatory laws remained on the books in some countries, as did laws whose outcome was discriminatory. As parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 179 countries are obliged to find practical ways to achieve gender equality, Ms. Mayanja said. Eight governments - Algeria, Croatia, Gabon, Italy, Laos, Paraguay, Samoa and Turkey - are scheduled to report to the Committee on measures that they have taken to provide women with equal opportunities.