The paper explores employment, education and poverty amongst Pakistani women within the context of women's rights guaranteed by the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Variations in opinion exist among region and employment status. By Karl Feld and Will Hayes, D3 Systems. The full paper can be found at http://www.d3systems.com/public/public/wimc.asp

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs are increasingly perceived as an effective tool for poverty alleviation. CCT programs have been highly successful in Latin American countries, and are increasingly perceived as a magic bullet for poverty reduction. Wellknown
programs that follow this approach include the Progresa (now called Oportunidades) in Mexico, Bolsa Escola and Bolsa Familia
in Brazil, Red de Proteccion Social in Nicaragua, Programa de Asistencia Familiar in Honduras, Program of A more...

An update on United Nations reform and the civil society campaign to reform and strengthen UN gender architecture. By Rochelle Jones.

On February 16 2006, the UN Secretary-General created a new High-level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the environment. This panel, consisting of 12 men and 3 women, was tasked with recommending changes to the UN via a “study of the UN’s operational activities [which] assessed how the UN system work more...

AWID Program: Where is the Money for Women's Rights? The Second FundHer Report: Financial Sustainability for Women's Movements Worldwide. By Joanna Kerr, 2007.

Building on the achievements/impact of our 1st FundHer Report, Where is the Money for Women’s Rights? Assessing the resources and the role of donors in the promotion of women's rights and the support of women's rights organizations, this report probes deeper into fundamental questions related to resource mobilization and movement-bu more...

Women are being locked out of the democratic processes in Ghana and argues that societies 'cannot claim to be committed to the principles and ideals of democracy and the universal values of equality' if groups within are marginalized.
This year, over ten million eligible Ghanaian voters will again exercise the power to choose a President and 230 members of Parliament. This election is extremely important in many regards. The electioneering process and its outcome will determine whether we will more...

For women's rights and women's empowerment groups, the 3rd High Level Conference on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, in September, and the U.N. Conference on Financing for Development in Doha, in December, are opportunities to advance financing for gender equality issues. They will be there to pressure their governments to make sure that national representatives in these summits are accountable and making the needed connections to develop a holistic development approach, from the local to the global. more...

Rural women have developed practices for the efficient and sustainable use of the resources available to them. Rural women make a tremendous contribution to food and agricultural production. They also play a crucial role in determining and guaranteeing food security and well-being for the entire household. Equitable, effective and sustainable agriculture and rural development cannot be pursued without an explicit recognition of these realities. In a global atmosphere of increasing poverty, food more...

ILO Report. The foundations for gender and youth employment are strongly determined in equal access to education for girls and boys. Good quality education remains a key pathway to increasing women’s opportunities and to educate a woman is to educate
families and societies. Without quality education chances of getting a decent job are low. Significant progress towards the goal of universal primary education has been made in most regions, with gender parity having been achieved in 118 cou more...

Despite efforts by the international community, gender stereotyping and employment barriers continue to affect millions of young women and men around the world, said the International Labour Organization today on the occasion of International Youth Day.
Five years after International Youth Day raised the issue of high unemployment and under-employment rates for young people, the ILO is calling for renewed attention on behalf of governments and social partners to avert the growing youth empl more...

ILO Report: March 2008. More women are working than ever before, but they are also more likely than men to get low-productivity, low-paid and vulnerable jobs, with no social protection, basic rights nor voice at work. The report shows that improvements in the status of women in labour markets throughout the world have not substantially narrowed gender gaps in the workplace.