World
Project '1000 Women' Disappointed Over Not Getting Nobel Peace
Prize. [World] The initiators of
the project ''1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005'' are disappointed not to become
the recipient of the coveted prize, which has gone to the UN nuclear watchdog, IAEA, and
its head Mohamed ElBaradei. ''Of course, we
are disappointed as we had hoped very much that the 1000 women would be recognized for
their untiring and courageous work in the cause of peace,'' said the initiator and Swiss
politician Ruth-Gaby Vermoth-Mangold. ''But we
are also proud that within less than three years we have brought attention to the
outstanding work done by these women in the cause of promoting peace.'' Congratulating the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) and Mohamed ElBaradei, she said despite disappointment, there was a feeling
of happiness also for the success of the 1000 women and the recognition of their
commitment to peace. In January this year,
1000 women (representatives of many thousands of such women) from more than 150 countries
were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. These
women have committed themselves worldwide to working for more human security, justice and
rights. ''It's a pity. The Nobel Peace Prize
for the 1000 women would have been a compelling symbol of peace politics - of which the
world is sorely in need!'' said politician Monika Stocker, Vice-President of the project. |
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Women's Mortality Rate Not Improving in Developing Countries.
[World] The United Nations Population Fund
says that in the developing world, almost 530,000 women each year die from complications
of pregnancy and childbirth--one every minute. For every woman who dies, it says that
millions more suffer serious injury or disability. Maria
Jose Alcala, author of the new UN report, says most maternal deaths are preventable
through universal access to health services. "Women
continue to die and suffer because they are poor, because they are female, and because
they don't have access to reproductive health services, to life-saving care that we take
for granted in wealthier countries. This is
morally and ethically indefensible." The
report says major reductions in numbers of deaths have taken place in countries with low
to moderate levels of maternal mortality. Yet
little progress has been made in the past two decades in countries where maternal
mortality is high. The report adds that
reproductive health problems, including HIV and AIDS, are a leading cause of death and
illness in women aged 15 to 44. In the worst
affected countries of |
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Women Transforming Power? [World] History will undoubtedly reveal that the
quest for gender equality and justice was one of the defining events of the twentieth
century. Beginning with struggles for women's
suffrage in the early decades, the women's movement for equality generated sufficient
impact that by the end of the century, the majority of the world's nations had pledged to
eradicate gender discrimination through instruments such as the Convention on Elimination
of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (
CEDAW), the
Beijing Platform for Action and the UN's Security
Council Resolution 1325. As feminists expanded and deepened their
understanding of the roots of gender discrimination, they realized that women's access to
power and decision-making authority in the public realm is as critical to achieving gender
equality as changing power relations in the private sphere of households and
relationships. |