Table of Contents

• 1 The 2009 MENA-OECD Business Forum
• 2 The Women Business Leaders Summit
• 3 MENA 100: Awards ceremony of the MENA 100 business plan competition winners
• 4 Launch of the MENA-OECD Business Council
• 5 High-level meeting of the MENA-OECD Responsible Business Network

The 2009 MENA-OECD Business Forum

• Strengthen public-private dialogue through high-profile debates between business and government leaders
• Generate new business opportunities and sector-specific contacts, and
• Foster exchange and learning in areas such as leveraging technology for business, competitive clusters, or responsible business conduct

The Women Business Leaders Summit

• fostering greater awareness of the benefits of entrepreneurship among women
• realising policy reform to remove gender-related obstacles to entrepreneurship
• facilitating the exchange of best practices between MENA and OECD countries on fostering women’s entrepreneurship

MENA 100: Awards ceremony of the MENA 100 business plan competition winners

Launch of the MENA-OECD Business Council

High-level meeting of the MENA-OECD Responsible Business Network

Leading Women in Bio-Technology

• Susan Desmond-Hellman - President, product development, Genentech. Widely considered the most powerful woman in biotech, Desmond-Hellmann came to Genentech in 1995 after having designed the studies that got Taxol, a breakthrough chemotherapy, approved at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Within a year, Desmond-Hellmann became the company’s chief medical officer.
• Stephanie A. Burns, Chairman, chief executive, Dow Corning: Burns rose through the ranks as a scientist at Dow Corning, becoming chief executive in February 2003. Today she oversees a company whose silicon-based technologies are inside a wide range of products, from baby wipes to highways. Under Burns' watch, revenues are up 14% last year to $4.4 billion, profits rose 24%. In 2007 Burns joined the board of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline
• 23andMe Inc. USA, Linda Avey, Co-Founder and Co-President 23andMe is a privately held biotechnology company that is developing new ways to help people make sense of their own genetic information. Its mission is to be the world's trusted source of personal genetic information. 23andMe was co-founded by Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki. Recipient of "Technology Pioneer" award at the World Economic Forum in Davos 2009.
• Prof. Andrea Pfeifer, CEO of AC Immune. Recipient of "Technology Pioneer" at the World Economic Forum in Davos 2009. AC Immune develops innovative therapeutics against Alzheimer's disease

References

• OECD, Biotechnology Statistics 2006
• http://www.boston.com/business/specials/bio2007/articles/gender_gap/
• http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/11/biz-07women_Susan-Desmond-Hellmann_83I6.html
• http://www.nature.com/bioent/bioenews/072005/full/bioent873.html

See also

• [Pagelink infos="Women in Science|Women in Science"]
• [Pagelink infos="Gender Equality in Indian Women Scientists' Association|Gender Equality in Indian Women Scientists' Association"]

On the 3rd of December the European Institute of Gender Equality (EIGE) unveiled the winners of this year’s “Women Inspiring Europe” competition, to appear in the first of the “Women Inspiring Europe“Calendars.

The EIGE's Director, Virginija Langbakk, opened the session in Brussels and provided the attendees with a presentation of the Institute’s premises, goal and objectives to become a centre of competence on gender equality with reliable information.

Virginija Langbakk recalled the EIGE’s event on 22nd of November where some of the key stakeholders on Gender Equality where gathered in Vilnius to discuss the implementation of the EU Commission’s new EU Gender Equality strategy. Viviane Reding, European Commission Vice-President, was also present and unveiled the Institute’s official logo which was awarded to a French primary school teacher.

‘The European Commission Strategy on Gender Equality is the roadmap for the Institute’s work and therefore, it will set the priorities of the Institute’s concrete tasks, Virginija Langbakk said.

Virginija Langbakk explained the new cooperation agreement among European agencies signed with the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EUROFOUND) and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA ).

A Joint Meeting of the Networking Task Force (NTF) and the Journalists’ Task Force (JTF) on the development of EIGE’s Resource Pool took place as an opening session before the disclosure of the Women’s awards.

The Director of the Institute, members of the Institute from the communication, stakeholders and network coordination units, officials of the European Commission and European Insitutions, journalists, gender equality and policy experts and half of the awarded women were present at the EIGE’s event.

The Journalists’ Task Force aims to further awareness-raising on promoting gender equality among EU citizens through various means for communication, including media relations, public relations, marketing and information technology. The Networking Task Force will support with its advice and expertise in the development of this Network as well as strengthening and establishing cooperation with relevant Stakeholders and Partners. Both meetings between journalists, networks and gender experts sought for discussion, collection of positions and ideas to further the mission and values of the EIGE.

A call for the inclusion of more men as role-models advocating for women’s rights and enhancing the role of men on promoting gender equality was among the most agreed and discussed topics.

The EIGE Journalists’ Task Force (JTF) is an ad hoc advisory body, which foresees meetings at least three times annually. The functions of the JTF are to: -Provide advice to the Institute’s management and staff in relation to priority issues for communications and suggest strategies to achieve positive outcomes; -Discuss emerging technologies and developments in Communications and identify potential relevance to the Institute’s projects and activities; -Provide a commentary on relevant research to assist in the development of coordinated and unified positions; -Act to bring information from stakeholders to the attention of the Institute and to disseminate information from the Institute to stakeholders, to its networks and to the general public (whenever activities or projects are relevant).

The EIGE Networking Task Force (NTF) is an ad hoc advisory body, which foresees meetings and ad-hoc basis. The European Parliament’s and the Council’s Regulation on establishing the EIGE states the ambitious task of setting-up and coordinating a European Network on Gender Equality. The functions of the NTF are to: -Provide advice to the Institute’s management and staff in relation to the establishment of the European Network on Gender Equality; -Assisting the Institute’s efforts in identifying the needs of stakeholders and their expectations towards EIGE; -Support the development of cooperation methods with all relevant and interested parties;

The winners of this year’s “Women Inspiring Europe” competition, to appear in the first of the „Women Inspiring Europe“ Calendars are: Francesca Brezzi(Italian- Philosopher), Lena Olving (Swedish-Chief operating officer of Saab), Seyran Ates (German- lawyer and writer), Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka (Polish- Politian), Satnimira Hadjimitova (Bulgarian- gender expert and trainer), Michaela Miroiu (Romanian- Feminist and Philosophy Professor), Chrissie Wellington (English- athlete of triathlon), Cristina Gallach (Spanish- journalist and spokeswoman to Javier Solana), Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo (Portuguese- Prime Minister of Portugal in 1979), Rita Vella (Maltese- disable rights activist), Comfort Momoh (English- nurse campaigning against female genital mutilation), Vaili Maria Jämsä (Finish- vice-president of the local council’s social board).

With facts and figures accompanying each woman’s profile, the calendar sheds light on issues such as ageing, widowhood, disability, discrimination in the workplace, the challenges faced by immigrant women, which in some cases include also abuse against their personal integrity and freedom. What the calendar shows, through the statistics it publishes, is the extent of the challenges faced by women (and how much more needs to be done to make Europe a better and more inclusive society), but also how a single woman’s efforts can make such a huge difference, no matter where she lives, her upbringing or her level of education.

Chosen as inspirational figures by an international panel of experts among several hundred candidates, each of them has made a mark by breaking stereotypes, producing innovative ideas and contributing to society and to other women in particular.

The “Women of Europe“ initiative, an ongoing project that looks for women from all over Europe acting as role-models, and as sources of inspiration for others, was launched on 8th March 2010. For 2012, the Institute continues to encourage nominations of women active in all professional spheres, who set positive examples for women in Europe. The nominations for the Women Inspiring Europe Calendar 2012 will be open from 1 December 2010 to 31 May 2011. For further information about the activity and for 2012 nominations please consult the following web page: www.eige.europa.eu/women-inspiring-europe

Further information on the European Institute for Gender Equality, EIGE, can be found on www.eige.europa.eu

References

http://genderequalityboard.wordpress.com/

External links

http://www.eige.europa.eu/women-inspiring-europe

Table of Contents

• 1 About
• 2 Wikigender and World Statistics Day
• 3 Wikiprogress and World Statistics Day
• 4 See also, in Wikiprogress
• 5 External Links

About

Wikigender and World Statistics Day

• Data and Statistics on Wikigender

• [Pagelink infos="Gender statistics|Gender Statistics"]
• [Pagelink infos="Gender Statistics: 1975 and Beyond|Gender Statistics: 1975 and Beyond"]
• [Pagelink infos="Use of Gender Statistics|Use_of_Gender_Statistics"]

• [Pagelink infos="United NationsECE Gender Statistics Database|United NationsECE Gender Statistics Database"]
• [Pagelink infos="United NationsECE/WBI Statistics Training|United NationsECE/WBI Statistics Training"]
• [Pagelink infos="United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute for Statistics|United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute for Statistics"]
• [Pagelink infos="Composite indicator|Composite Indicator"]
• [Pagelink infos="Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base|The Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base"]
• [Pagelink infos="2009 Social Institutions and Gender Index|2009 Social Institutions and Gender Index"]
• [Pagelink infos="Gender Statistics of Chinese Taipei|Gender Statistics of Chinese Taipei"]

• [Pagelink infos="Global Rape Statistics|Global Rape Statistics"]

Wikiprogress and World Statistics Day

• Wikiprogress for World Statistics Day

See also, in Wikiprogress

• Statistics
• Wikiprogress.stat
• List of national statistics office websites by country
• Progress eXplorer
• New ProgBlog post

External Links

• 11-13 October 2010: 3rd Global Forum on Gender Statistics
• World Statistics Day Official site
• OECD World Statistics Day site
• UNStat Calender of Events for WSD
• National Statistics Day
• OECD.Stat

Violence against Women Programme

• Urgent appeals: OMCT reports and denounces individual cases of torture against women to relevant authorities so that they may prosecute the public or private actors of these acts of violence and put in place reparation and rehabilitation mechanisms for victims.
• Alternative reports: OMCT publishes Alternative reports and other publications for the United Nations’ committees, particularly for the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
• Research: OMCT participates in the studies conducted by the United Nations on violations perpetrated against women.
• Lobbying: OMCT works within international bodies so that gender issues be integrated into the various UN and regional mechanisms for the protection of individuals.
• Training: OMCT hosts workshops with NGOs and State representatives on the issues related to violence against women.

References

• The World Organisation Against Torture website, http://www.omct.org/

1. Strengthen and maintain a vast solidarity movement of all women and grass-roots groups so that the March constitutes a gesture of affirmation by women of the world.
2. Promote equality and justice between women and men, among women themselves and between all peoples.
3. Continue building and reinforcing a vast process of popular education so that all women can analyze for themselves the causes of their oppression and discrimination, and the possible alternatives.
4. Highlight the common demands and alternatives issuing from women’s movements worldwide, on the local, national, regional and international levels, relating to the issues of poverty and violence against women.
5. Exert political pressure on governments and multilateral political institutions (e.g., the UN) so that they institute the changes necessary for improving the status of women and women’s quality of life worldwide, including a disarmament and peaceful conflict resolution policy, and an end to all forms of impunity and corruption, the use of rape as a weapon of war, occupations, foreign military presence and the imposition of political/economic blockades. Challenge and denounce the international financial, economic and military institutions (IMF, NATO, WTO, WB, transnational corporations, cooperation agencies that impose conditions on women’s struggles, etc.) that are responsible for impoverishing and marginalizing women and intensifying the violence committed against us; and formulate proposals for alternative institutions.
6. Convince the general public, other social sectors and social movements to support and institute the changes necessary for improving the status and conditions of women and women’s quality of life the world over.
7. Develop and implement feminist actions and proposals that denounce the economic and financial institutions that promote the exploitation and degradation of our resources, climate change and the loss of our biodiversity. Struggle for the self-management of our environmental resources based on a development model that respects the basic needs of present and future generations.

Main Areas of Action

• The Common Good and Access to Resources
• Peace and demilitarisation: A Collective "Peace and demilitarisation" plays an efficient role in the March. Its mandate is to develop a WMW policy in this area; ensure the participation of the WMW in actions to oppose militarism and armed conflicts, etc.; and produce materials on these issues. Coordination: the regional coordinating body of the African Great Lakes Region (Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo).

• Women`s Work: There is one Working group on feminist economic alternatives which mandate is, among other things, to further feminist analysis about economic alternatives, maintain dialogue with closely allied networks, update the World March’s demands platform and draw up action proposals.
• Violence Against Women: One Working Group has the mandate to fight against Violence against Women and sexual trafficking. The priority of this working group is sex trafficking. Its mandate is to further advance the discussion to support our action strategies linking the local and international levels, especially those that target violence prevention and support for women to leave violent situations; study the relationship between neoliberal globalization and violence against women.
• Fight against poverty

References

• http://www.marchemondiale.org/

• ensuring capacities for gender analysis and planning;
• mainstreaming gender in corporate functions, for example gender responsive results-based management planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation;
• disaggregating data and conducting gender analysis; and
• establishing accountability for mainstreaming gender.

References

• WHO website

Table of Contents

• 1 Mission
• 2 Objectives
• 3 Advocacy Work
• 4 Sources

Mission

Objectives

Advocacy Work

References

• Women's Aid Organisation of Malaysia

Objectives

The meeting is being jointly organized by UNESCO and the Federal Government of Nigeria from June 21-24, 2010. The aim of the Abuja meeting is to contribute to halving adult illiteracy rates by 2015 (Education for All (EFA) Goal 4) with a special focus on girls and women in both the E-9 countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan) and in other countries which E-9 countries can support through South-South cooperation.  Making a measurable and positive impact on these population groups within the E-9 countries will also contribute to sustainable human development and poverty reduction.

The objectives of the E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting are as follows:

•   Facilitate the sharing of experiences and knowledge to better understand the relationship between literacy and development;
• Identify issues, trends and challenges in providing literacy for out-of-school children, youth and adults, and ways of overcoming obstacles;
• Explore strategies to improve and scale up effective literacy programmes;
• Provide an arena for sharing time-lined national and collective commitments to scaling-up of literacy programmes for out-of-school children, youth and adults while improving literacy acquisition through non-formal education;
• Encourage South-South cooperation in the field of literacy, as well as on EFA in general, among E-9 countries as well as between E-9 and other countries.
  

See the following for more information:

www.unesco.org/en/efa/international-cooperation/e-9-initiative/8th-meeting/about-the-conference/

www.unesco.org/en/efa/international-cooperation/e-9-initiative/8th-meeting/main-theme/

• Australia: Women make up 12.8% of the Australian Defence Force (with 15.1% in the Royal Australian Air Force, 14.6% in the Royal Australian Navy and 10.5% in the Australian Army) and 17.5% of the reserves. However, only 74% of the total number of available roles in the Australian armed forces are available to women. Despite this, using 1998-99 figures, the ADF had the highest percentage of women in its employ in the world.
• United Kingdom: Female personnel currently make up around 9% of the British armed forces. The seizure of Royal Navy sailor Faye Turney in 2007 by the naval forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard led to some media comment on the role of women and mothers in the armed forces. The commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces is a woman (Queen Elizabeth II) though her position is only nominal.
• Canada: In 1970 the government created a set of rules for the armed forces designed to encourage equal opportunities. These included the standardization of enlistment criteria, equal pay and pensions, and allowing women to enroll in all aspects of the Canadian armed forces and making it possible for women to reach any rank.
• Germany: Germany was forced to change its restrictions of women in combat roles the armed forces in 2000, after a ruling by the European Court of Justice. In 2001, the first 244 volunteers were admitted to train for combat roles.
• The United States of America: Women enlisted soldiers are barred from serving in Infantry, Special Operations, Artillery, Armour, and Forward Air Defense, however female officers can hold staff positions in every branch of the Army except infantry and armor. Women now comprise more than 12% of the armed forces.

References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_military
• http://www.fas.org/man/crs/92-008.htm
• http://www.nato.int/issues/women_nato/index.html