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What do "Gender
Issues" refer to?
Gender issues refer to any aspect governing the lives of
women and men as well as relations between them. Gender issues
must be integrated into all national policies to achieve
equitable development for women and men. |
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Gender issues
worldwide
In 1995, the Beijing Platform for Action recognized a set of
priority gender issues, or areas of critical concern, for the
advancement of women and the achievement of equality between
women and men. These areas of concern are: |
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Women and poverty |
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Inequalities and
inadequacies in and unequal access to education and training |
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Inequalities and
inadequacies in and unequal access to health care and related
services |
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Violence against
women |
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Effects of armed
conflict, or any conflict, including foreign occupation, on
women |
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Inequality in
economic structures and policies and unequal access to resources |
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Inequality in
power sharing and decision-making at all levels |
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Insufficient
mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women |
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Lack or respect
for and inadequate promotion and protection of women’s human
rights |
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Stereotyping of
women and inequality in women’s access to and participation in
all communication systems, especially in the media |
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Gender
inequalities in the management of natural resources and in
safeguarding the environment |
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Persistent
discrimination against and violation of the rights of the
girl-child |
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Gender issues
in the Arab countries
Countries participating in GSP regional workshops identified
priority gender issues that need to be incorporated in national
policies. These gender issues were identified in relation to
current gender policy goals as well as objectives that future
national programmes may assume.
Priority gender issues in the Arab countries are categorized
under four main headings:
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Economic life |
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Unfavorable labour
market conditions due to low economic activity and cultural
stereotypes that preference males |
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Limited
opportunities for career promotions |
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Wage
discrimination |
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Sexual division of
labour within the home and market place (women segregation and
job feminization) |
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Prevalence of
women working in the informal sector and extent of
under-counting of women’s work by conventional measures
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Education |
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Socio-cultural
heritage that reinforces gender discrimination within the home |
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Female drop-out
rate from the educational system and its augmentation among
women |
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Priority for men
in training and acquiring experience |
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Health |
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Domestic violence,
violence against women and female circumcision, and the need to
eradicate them through education and enforceable legislation |
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Law |
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Prevalence of
discriminatory legislation concerned with inheritance, marriage
divorce and pension collection |
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Inadequate
implementation of existing legislation due to lack of
enforcement mechanisms or bureaucratic inefficiencies |
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Absence of
measures and procedures conferring financial benefits or social
security for the least fortunate groups in society, often girls
and women |
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Absence of
measures curtailing child labour |
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Existence of
legislation inhibiting men/children to acquire the nationality
of the wife/mother |
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Media
representation |
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Limited
participation of women in radio and TV productions, possibly
leading to biased messages being transmitted to the public |
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