World wide discrimination against women

In this document we quote just a few examples of the forms of discrimination women suffer in many countries, loosely listed under a number of 'headings'. The categories often overlap. Religious prejudice is often a root cause, as much as cultural prejudice.

Source: United Nations reports (2000 - 2003).

Conception and Child Birth
In developing countries, where only 53% of births are assisted by qualified personnel, close to 500,000 women die for reasons related to pregnancy or birth. Every year, women suffer 50 million abortions, of which 20 million are carried out in unsafe conditions, which cause the death of 78,000 women. Moreover, at least one fourth of the risky abortions affect young women between 15 and 19 years of age.	China & India Sex-selective abortions and female infanticide are common. Amartya Sen, the Nobel prize-winning economist, estimates that more than 60 million women are "missing" from the world as a result.
AIDS
As regards AIDS, the report said, women are rapidly catching up with men, and surpassing them in the number of infections: “In Africa, the number of HIV-positive women has surpassed that of men by 2 million."
Female Genital Mutilation
The ritual mutilation of feminine genitals affects more than 138 million women and girls especially in Africa and western Asia. Carried out without anesthesia and in precarious hygienic conditions, they often cause grave infections, hemorrhagic shock, and also death, increasing the risk of difficult births and death from birth.	Somalia Ninety per cent of girls still undergo female circumcision. An estimated 10 per cent die from hemorrhage, 25 per cent die in the long term from urinary and vaginal infections and complications during childbirth.
Sexual Slavery
It estimated that there are 2 million girls between 5 and 15 years who, every year, are introduced to the sex market.	Albania, Moldova, etc. Trafficking of women (and children) for prostitution is a huge industry. China Amnesty International reports that 15,000 women are sold to sexual slavery a year.
Crimes of 'honour'
Crimes of honour are crimes of violence committed against women to punish them for alleged sexual misconduct. Some 5,000 women are killed annually by members of their family for reasons of 'honour'.	India A woman is raped every hour, and every day 14 (!) are killed by the husband’s family. Jordan Every year between 25and 50 are victims of crimes of honour. Pakistan The number killed to avenge honour is about 1,000 a year
Domestic violence
Afghanistan Men and women have equal rights in Afghanistan, according to the new constitution. But violence against women in the home is common. Some women commit suicide by self-immolation. "Honour" killings also persist. Rape is rarely investigated by the courts. The law exempts from punishment a man who murders his wife because she has committed adultery. Women are prosecuted for adultery and sex before marriage.	Russia According to Russian women's group Stop Violence, 36,000 women a day are beaten by their husbands or partners, and 14,000 women a year are killed. Polls show 43 per cent of Russians consider a husband beating his wife to be a private matter, with one third advising the victim to think about why she deserved the beating. Pakistan Domestic violence, including rape, acid throwing, burning and killing is widespread.
Prejudice in religious law
Saudi Arabia Religious police enforce laws on dress codes, sexual propriety and behaviour. In 2002, 14 teenage girls died in a fire at a school in Mecca amid accusations that religious police obstructed rescue operations because they did not want the girls exposed to male strangers.	Nigeria In March 2002 Amina Lawal was found guilty by a Sharia (Islamic Law) court of adultery, because she had given birth outside marriage. The punishment of death by stoning was eventually overturned after huge international pressure.

Like many other 16 year old schoolgirls, Intisar Bakri Abdulgader of the Sudan is said to be shy and gullible. A victim of civil war and poverty, she was easy prey for an unscrupulous male promising a better future.

But unlike many other girls the world over, she may now have to pay an additional price for her crime of being tricked into sex and giving birth outside marriage. She faces a flogging which could kill her.

Last July, Intisar, a Sudanese who lives in the Kalakla shanty town of lean-to shacks just outside the capital Khartoum, was convicted by a local court of adultery and sentenced to 100 lashes. She escaped an immediate flogging only because she was seven months pregnant, but the sentence was upheld by an appeal court in August. The baby, named Dori, was born the following month.

Intisar, a non-Muslim from Yambio in the south of the country, is still governed by Sharia, Muslim law, that prevails in the north where, ironically, she fled for safety several years ago.

Under article 146 of Sudan's penal code, adultery is punishable by execution by stoning if the offender is married, or by one hundred lashes if the offender is not married. Adultery is defined as sexual intercourse with a man without being lawfully bound to him. The man cannot be punished. The father of the child is believed to be a 23 year old former policeman. Intisar's family say he told her he would marry her and take her to live abroad.

from a report by Jonathan Clayton in The Times, Friday, January 9th. 2004

In the field of economic development, the reports state that “women’s economic activity is underestimated, because it is often carried out in the informal sector, while better accounting could give impulse to investments and productivity. "If women in Kenya were given the same help as men, agricultural production would increase by more than 20%. If inequality in the labor market was eliminated in Latin America, there would be a 50% increase in women’s salaries and 5% increase in national production.

The reports cite the example of the “Asian tigers” as a model of development.Between the 1960s and 1980s, those countries experienced rates of annual economic growth that reached 8%; about 30% of that was a result of investments in the health and education of women.

According to the reports, a 1% increase in secondary school for women “increases economic growth by 0.3%.”