[Wigsat-l] Progress of the World's Women

[Sophia Huyer]

UNIFEM’s new progress report on women in the world 2008–2009

UNIFEM’s biennial flagship report ‘Progress of the World’s Women  
2008/2009: Who Answers to Women? Gender & Accountability’shows that  
realising women’s rights and achieving the Millennium Development  
Goals depends on strengthening accountability for commitments to women  
and gender equality. The report demonstrates that for women’s rights  
to translate into substantive improvements in their lives, and for  
gender equality to be realised in practice, women must be able to  
fully participate in public decision-making at all levels and hold  
those responsible to account when their rights are infringed or their  
needs ignored.

The publication presents clear evidence that women’s empowerment and  
gender equality are drivers for reducing poverty, building food  
security, reducing maternal mortality, safeguarding the environment,  
and enhancing the effectiveness of aid.

One of its main findings is that service delivery that responds to  
women’s needs is the litmus test of government accountability. In sub- 
Saharan Africa women spend 40 billion hours each year collecting water  
– the equivalent of a year’s worth of labour by the entire workforce  
of France. Globally, maternal mortality is declining at a rate of just  
0.4% a year – compared to the 5.5% needed to meet MDG 5. Health  
services are often too distant and too costly to access, agricultural  
services are geared towards male farmers, and government services are  
sometimes based on the assumption that the applicant is an employed,  
literate or propertied man.

For more information and access to the full report, visit: www.unifem.org/progress/2008
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