Who, What, Where HIGHLIGHT – Ageing and Gender

Transcript

APRIL 2014
Volume 123
Who, What, Where
6 April International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
7 April World Health Day
22 April International Mother Earth Day
28 April World Day for Safety and Health at Work
HIGHLIGHT – Ageing and Gender
Ageing is not only a biological factor,
but has strong social and economic
components. Inequalities do not
disappear, sometimes they are
stressed or even exacerbated by the
passing of time.
This month's focus collects a number
thinkpiece describes the results of the
CogitoStudy, now published by the
Max Planck Institute for Social Law
and Social Policy on a confirmed
higher productivity of older workers.
An article on lifestyles and middle
age, including a witty checklist of the
of articles that will provide you with
"top 40 signs of getting on" follows.
more insights on the gender aspects
Last but not least, read a male
of ageing. The first article features an
perspective on ageing on pages 28&
interesting study on Afghan older
29.
women and introduces a lifespectrum approach. The second
APRIL 2014
Volume 123
Who, What, Where ...............................................................................................................................1
6 April International Day of Sport for Development and Peace ............................................. 1
7 April World Health Day ................................................................................................... 1
22 April International Mother Earth Day .............................................................................. 1
28 April World Day for Safety and Health at Work ................................................................ 1
HIGHLIGHT – Ageing and Gender ......................................................................................................1
The Centre and the ILO.......................................................................................................................4
Interview with Sara Falcão Casaca ....................................................................................... 4
Summer School on Gender Economics and Society - ITCILO Campus, Turin, Italy - 7 – 11 July
2014.................................................................................................................................. 5
ILO Global Business and Disability Network and Better Work ................................................ 7
ILO Lisbon celebrates IWD 2014 with a focus on the relationship between Portugal and ILO
during the 1970 decade! .................................................................................................... 7
UN & WOMEN ......................................................................................................................................8
Women of the UN Working to Make a Difference .................................................................. 8
UNESCO ............................................................................................................................. 8
Imaging Equality: Your Voices on Women’s Human Rights ................................................... 9
What's new on the web.................................................................................................................... 10
Women in business: le nouveau portail de l'entrepreneuriat féminin à Bruxelles ................. 10
Gender Equality, Women’s Rights and Women’s Priorities: Recommendations for the
proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Post-2015 Development Agenda 10
African Women’s Decade 2010-2020 ................................................................................ 11
European Commission's programme of exchange of good practice on gender equality ....... 11
An In-depth Look At The Funding Landscape For Women’s Rights And The Powerful Impact
Of Resources In The Hands Of Women’s Organizations ...................................................... 12
Maroc: lancement d’un portail dédié à l’égalité de genre ................................................... 13
What are they doing? ....................................................................................................................... 14
Une femme commissaire pour la première fois en Afghanistan .......................................... 14
Les ABC de l’égalité. ......................................................................................................... 14
ALBANIA - SWORN VIRGINS - FEMALES AT EARLY AGE TAKE ON MALE SOCIAL IDENTITY FOR
LIFE.................................................................................................................................. 15
No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project - Women & Girls ................................................ 16
NONPROFIT CHALLENGES - WHAT FOUNDATIONS CAN DO ................................................ 17
EGYPT - FIRST WOMAN ELECTED TO LEAD MAJOR POLITICAL PARTY ................................... 18
Gender Issues ................................................................................................................................... 19
Stéréotypes ...................................................................................................................... 19
UK PROJECT BASED IN FIVE PRIMARY SCHOOLS ABOUT GENDER STEREOTYPES .................... 19
Focus on – Gender and Ageing....................................................................................................... 20
EMPOWERMENT OF AGEING WOMEN .................................................................................. 20
Study: Older employees are more productive than younger ones ........................................ 25
International Training Centre of the ILO
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Relax...you’re not middle-aged until 53 ............................................................................ 26
Inequalities, health and well-being ................................................................................... 28
The European Male Ageing Study ...................................................................................... 29
On-going and/or coming Gender Programmes/ Conferences / Events: ................................... 30
Next Generation Women Leader ........................................................................................ 30
12th edition of the European Business Summit .................................................................. 30
Grants/Funding opportunities/Awards/Fellowships/ .................................................................. 30
Vacancies .......................................................................................................................................... 30
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, IFC To Raise Up To $600 Million to Support Women
Entrepreneurs .................................................................................................................. 30
EDGE Funders Alliance ...................................................................................................... 32
Post-doctoral researcher (3-year 100%) ............................................................................ 32
Post-doctoral researcher (3-year 100%) ............................................................................ 33
PhD researcher (4 year 100%)............................................................................................ 33
One Year Replacement Teaching Position in Gender and Literature/Cultural Studies ........... 33
Call for Teaching Portfolios for Visiting Lecturer Positions in the Near Future ..................... 34
Torna La Nuvola Rosa per colmare il divario di genere in Italia ........................................... 34
THE ITALIAN CORNER...................................................................................................................... 35
Le donne dell’India ........................................................................................................... 35
Poets’ Corner .................................................................................................................................... 38
DOLORES ......................................................................................................................... 38
Quote for the Day:............................................................................................................................ 39
JUST FOR FUN: .................................................................................................................................. 40
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The Centre and the ILO
Interview with Sara Falcão Casaca
Professor of Sociology at the Lisbon School of Economics & Management, and
resource person for the Centre’s activity on “Gender and organizational change”,
31.3-4.4.14
Your background is as a researcher
on gender relations in the labour
market, new forms of work
organization, gender and well‐being,
and work and employment flexibility.
Can you tell us a little more about
this work?
This is indeed my main area of
research. I am a sociologist and teach
at the School of Economics and
Management at the University of
Lisbon, so my specialization is in
areas that have some relation to the
core academic work of my own
institution. My PhD was in Economics
and Organizational Sociology. In
2000, when I started the process, I
decided to analyse the key dynamics
in the Portuguese labour market from
a gender perspective. Portugal is
really fertile ground to explore
gender issues.
Female participation in employment is
relatively high, much higher than in
other southern European countries.
Participation rates are significantly
high when women working on a
largely full-time basis become
mothers and have small children.
However, the welfare state benefits
they received specifically at that time
in terms of childcare facilities were
very low (and it is still below family
needs). The dominant models of work
organization are far from being
family-friendly (except in some
exceptional cases), and most women
are still the ones bearing the burden
for caring and domestic activities.
Therefore, the well-being of women
is very much affected by these
multifaceted dimensions of their
lives. Moreover, the quality of their
employment is very low, and the
trend towards greater labour market
flexibility has given rise to new forms
of labour segmentation across gender
lines too.
This means that, despite their overqualification compared to men and
high levels of labour market
participation, they are found in the
most precarious occupations that are
less challenging, lower paid, and in
less protected jobs.
These are the issues I have been
exploring, and the gender-sensitive
perspective has always been there…
Full text available on the Centre’s
website in:
English http://www.itcilo.org/en/com
munity/news/interview-sara-falcao
Français http://www.itcilo.org/fr/com
munity/news/intervies/?set_language
=fr
Português http://www.itcilo.org/pt/c
ommunity/noticias/entrevista-com-
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a-sra-sara-falcaocasaca?set_language=pt
Español http://www.itcilo.org/es/com
munity/news/entrevista-con-la-srasara-falcao-casaca?set_language=es
Italiano http://www.itcilo.org/it/com
unita/notizie/intervista-a-sarafalcao-casaca/?set_language=it
Summer School on Gender Economics and Society - ITCILO Campus,
Turin, Italy - 7 – 11 July 2014
There
is
now
a
widespread
recognition of the importance of
gender strategies in order to
promote growth and development
and to improve welfare systems.
This is reflected in the increasing
importance both of gender-based
programmes aimed at strengthening
women’s participation in economic
life, in politics and in institutions,
and in the progress of theoretical
analysis as well as of indicators for
monitoring and evaluating these
programmes.
The course will focus on the gender
dimensions of the economy and
their different impacts on society
and will have an interdisciplinary
approach.
Programme Information
Target: Master and Phd Students in
Economics,
Sociology,
Politics,
Demography,
Management
Engineering and related disciplines,
from both European and nonEuropean Countries.
Maximum number of students:
50.
10-15% of places will be reserved
for
non-students
involved
in
research work and mentoring.
Course length: One week.
Course structure: The course will
be organized in: morning lectures;
afternoon sessions (devoted to
seminars,
case
studies,
best
practices and experiences) and late
afternoon poster sessions.
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A more detailed programme will be
available by mid-April on the course
website
at:
http://gendercampus.itcilo.org/summerschool
Fees: Participants are required to
partially contribute to the course
costs with a fee of 200 € for
students and of 400 € for nonstudents.
The fee will cover course material,
lunches, coffee breaks and a social
dinner.
Participants will have to cover their
costs for travel and accommodation
in student residences (at reasonable
rates).
Grants (total and partial) will be
available.
Certificate
of
attendance:
provided at the end of the course.
Applications: will open on April
14th, 2014 and close on May 12th,
2014.
The
application
form can be
accessed on-line at: http://appgender.itcilo.org/index.php?mod=ac
tivity_
iscription&act=detail&id=159
Accepted participants will be notified
by the end of May.
Programme Abstract
Lectures will cover a variety of
topics - analyzed from a gender
perspective - such as: labour force
participation;
family
planning;
retirement decisions; savings and
portfolio
decisions;
financial
education and planning; financial
communication and language; timeuse; pay gap; glass ceiling; gender
responsive budgeting; equality and
wellbeing
indicators;
diversity
management; political participation;
migration issues.
The
course
will include
both
academic sessions and case studies.
Speakers will have a key role
experience in public administrations
and private sectors, such as
Ministries, European Commission,
Bank of Italy and the private sector.
Keynote Speakers
•
Viviane
Reding
(European
Commissioner
for
Justice,
Fundamental Rights and Citizenship)
- Invited
• Emma Bonino (former Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Italy)
•
Elsa
Fornero
(Professor
of
Economics, University of Turin,
former Minister of Labour, Social
Affairs and Equal Opportunities,
Italy)
Confirmed Speakers
• Francesca Bettio (University of
Siena)
• Magda Bianco (Banca d’Italia)
• Daniela Del Boca (University of
Turin)
•
Maria
Laura
Di
Tommaso
(University of Turin)
• Giovanni Mastrobuoni (Collegio
Carlo Alberto)
• Letizia Mencarini (University of
Turin)
• Flore-Anne Messy (OECD)
• Laura Montanaro (Polytechnic of
Turin)
• Maria Franca Norese (Polytechnic
of Turin)
• Marina Nuciari (University of Turin)
• Henriette Prast (Tilburg University)
• Annalisa Rosselli (University of
Rome Tor Vergata)
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• Mariacristina Rossi (University of
Turin)
• Chiara Saraceno (Collegio Carlo
Alberto)
• Eva Sierminska (CEPS/INSTEAD)
• Alessandra Venturini (University of
Turin)
Concept and Design
Elsa Fornero, Letizia
Mariacristina Rossi
Mencarini,
Organizing Committee
• Elsa Fornero, Letizia Mencarini,
Marina Nuciari, Mariacristina Rossi
(University of Turin)
• Simonetta Cavazza, Benedetta
Magri (ITCILO)
• Laura Montanaro (Polytechnic of
Turin)
• Mario Calabresi (La Stampa)
Organisational Support
• Claudia Fuggiaschi (ITCILO)
• Silvia Maero and Beatrice Magistro
(Collegio Carlo Alberto)
ILO Global Business and Disability Network and Better Work
The ILO Global Business and Disability
Network and Better Work have
produced an awareness raising
animation about the business case for
employing people with disabilities
(entitled The Ability Factor).
Original: http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=o0lt0KFhUek (French and
Spanish subtitles available)
AD
Version: http://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=mktLKnQb47M
ILO Lisbon celebrates IWD 2014 with a focus on the relationship
between Portugal and ILO during the 1970 decade!
Relações Portugal-OIT: promoção do
estatuto das mulheres é uma das
iniciativas do projeto Portugal-OIT dinâmicas de uma relação, que
assinala a relação quase centenária
entre Portugal e a Organização
Internacional do Trabalho. Este ano, a
OIT-Lisboa assinala o Dia
Internacional da Mulher (8 de março),
disponibilizando elementos
significativos dessa relação.
A seleção de documentos que aqui
destacamos ilustram a dinâmica de
um país que, após a revolução, vê
aprovar um conjunto de medidas
legislativas com um impacto
acentuado no estatuto das mulheres
portuguesas.
http://www.ilo.org/public/portugue/region/eurpro
/lisbon/html/portugal_dia_mulher_pt_2014.htm
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UN & WOMEN
Women of the UN Working to Make a Difference
The Secretariat has produced a short
promotional outreach video, "Women
of the UN Working to Make a
Difference" to attract women to apply
to positions at the P-5 and above
levels, and for difficult-to-fill
positions in our field operations as
well as in aviation, engineering,
security. This video serves to raise
awareness about the UN through a
female lens and is in all 6 official
languages.
Link to the UN Youtube
Channel: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=df6Fs6Gh3aQ&list=UU5O11
4-PQNYkurlTg6hekZw
UNESCO
On the occasion of the International
Women’s Day (IWD) on the March 8,
UNESCO joins forces with
international and regional partners to
launch the annual Women Make the
News (WMN) initiative. The theme this
year is “Advancing Global
Partnerships to Achieving Gender
Equality in and through Media.”
“Advancing Global Partnerships to Achieving
Gender Equality in and through Media.”
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Imaging Equality: Your Voices on Women’s Human Rights
http://community.globalfundforwomen.org/o/6174/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1286291
Calling all artists, photographers & writers!
We are thrilled to announce our latest call for submissions for our upcoming
project "Imagining Equality: Your Voices on Women's Human Rights."
What is equality to you? Submit your work and share this opportunity with your
friends »
As the UN prepares to create a new set of international development goals, we want
your voices and ideas to spark a global conversation about a new decade for women's
human rights. What issues should be at the forefront as we imagine a new future for the
world's women?
Submissions of photography, video, audio, journalism, creative writing and more are
accepted online through April 30th, 2014.
Be part of this extraordinary and important conversation. Submit your work online
today »
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What's new on the web
Women in business: le nouveau portail de l'entrepreneuriat féminin à
Bruxelles
Une série de mesures
d’encouragement,
d’accompagnement et de soutien à la
création et au développement
d’activité par des femmes
entrepreneures, existent. Vous
trouverez ici une description de
toutes ces initiatives. Le portail vous
propose également un aperçu
d’études et de documents
intéressants sur le sujet de
l’entrepreneuriat féminin ainsi qu’une
sélection d’actualités et
d’événements. Enfin, vous pouvez
vous laisser inspirer par des réussites
d’entrepreneures témoignant de la
dynamique féminine.
Source : womeninbusiness.be
Read more
Gender Equality, Women’s Rights and Women’s Priorities:
Recommendations for the proposed Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) and the Post-2015 Development Agenda
Direct Page to Full 133-Page 2013 Publication:
http://www.womenrio20.org/docs/Womens_priorities_SDG.pdf
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African Women’s Decade 2010-2020
Direct Link to Full 120-Page 2014 Report:
http://www.makeeverywomancount.org/images/stories/documents/MEWC_AWDR
eport_Feb2013.pdf
European Commission's programme of exchange of good practice on
gender equality
The European Commission's
programme of exchange of good
practice on gender equality aims at
disseminating
good practice on gender equality in
Europe. For this purpose, three
exchange seminars are organised
each year,
focusing on the key priority areas of
the Strategy for equality between
women and men 2010-2015.
The programme provides an
opportunity for the stimulation of
debate and exchange of experience
between governmental
representatives, independent experts
and other relevant stakeholders from
across Europe.
The independent experts taking part
in the seminars are requested to write
a short paper describing the situation
in
their countries in relation to the
seminar theme. These papers – as
well as a comprehensive summary
report of each seminar – are
available here.
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An In-depth Look At The Funding Landscape For Women’s Rights And
The Powerful Impact Of Resources In The Hands Of Women’s
Organizations
AWID’s new research provides an indepth analysis of the current funding
trends and actors impacting women’s
rights organizing, the financial status
of women’s organizations around the
world, and the collective impact of
women’s rights organizations, when
supported in a meaningful and
strategic way, to build women’s
collective power for change and
advance women’s rights.
Watering the Leaves, Starving the
Roots paints the funding landscape for
women’s organizations, underlining key
trends and offering an updated analysis
of how diverse funding sectors are
supporting women’s rights and gender
equality. For the first time, this third
report in our FundHer series also
includes results from an in-depth survey
of 43 women’s funds as well as findings
from the 2011 FundHer survey of more
than 1000 women’s organizations from
all regions of the world.
One of the trends discussed in Watering
the Leaves, Starving the Roots is the
growing role and impact of “new actors,”
including corporate sector actors, in
supporting women and girls. Given the
significance and prominence of this
trend, we undertook expanded research,
profiled in New Actors, New Money, New
Conversations: A Mapping of Recent
Initiatives for Women and Girls. This
mapping illuminates key characteristics
of 170 different partnership initiatives
focused on women and girls. The report
provides a preliminary analysis of
opportunities, and potential challenges
that many of these initiatives may
encounter to create sustainable positive
change in the lives of women and girls.
The report also discusses considerations
for forging “new conversations” with new
actors going forward.
Finally, one of the questions we often
hear in response to our research on
funding trends for women’s
organizations is, “Why does support for
women’s organizations matter; isn’t it
enough to support women’s
empowerment through other kinds of
organizations?” Women Moving
Mountains, our survey of the aggregate
impact of the women’s organizations that
received support from the Dutch Ministry
of Foreign Affairs MDG3 Fund, responds
to this question by demonstrating the
kind of huge reach and transformative
changes that are possible when
organizations working to build women’s
collective power for change receive
significant, strategic resources. The
MDG3 Fund experience holds lessons for
other funders in terms of effective,
quality approaches to creating change for
gender equality; as well as lessons for
women’s organizations, in the power of
collectively “making our case” for
sustainable long-term funding.
It is our hope that the information, ideas
and analysis in these reports contribute
to catalyzing more and new
conversations on the effective use of
financial and other resources for
advancing women’s rights and the crucial
role and importance of women’s rights
organizations in that process. We
encourage and welcome feedback and
questions at [email protected].
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Watering the
Download Read
Leaves, Starving thePDF
Online
Roots:
The Status of
Financing for
Women's Rights
Organizing and
Gender Equality
By Angelika
Arutyunova and
Cindy Clark
New Actors, New
Money, New
Conversations:
A Mapping of
Recent Initiatives
for Women and
Girls
Download Read
PDF
Online
Arutyunova, and
Cindy Clark
Women Moving
Download Read
Mountains:
PDF
Online
The Collective
Impact of the Dutch
MDG3 Fund
By Srilatha Batliwala
http://awid.org/Library/Beyond-investing-inwomen-and-girls-An-in-depth-look-at-the-fundinglandscape-for-women-s-rights-and-the-powerfulimpact-of-resources-in-the-hands-of-women-sorganizations
By Julia Miller,
Angelika
Maroc: lancement d’un portail dédié à l’égalité de genre
La plateforme web www.egalite.ma,
lancée, à Rabat, par l’ambassade du
Royaume des Pays-Bas au Maroc et
l’ONU Femmes, vise notamment à
renforcer et valoriser les luttes et les
acquis de l’action féminine afin de
promouvoir l’égalité hommesfemmes.
Ce nouveau dispositif, se veut, selon
ses initiateurs, un portail national de
référence dans le domaine de l’égalité
de genre et un outil important de
plaidoyer en faveur de la redevabilité
des pouvoirs publics en matière de
protection et de promotion des droits
humains des femmes, tel qu’en
dispose la nouvelle Constitution du
Maroc.
S’exprimant lors de la conférence de
presse pour le lancement du site,
l’ambassadeur des Pays-Bas au
Maroc, Ron Strikker a salué
l’engagement constant de SM le Roi
Mohammed VI à faire du
développement de la femme un
chantier prioritaire dans la réalisation
du progrès et l’harmonisation du
pays.
Le Maroc a fait d’énormes progrès
dans le domaine des droits de la
femme, comme en témoignent
largement les réformes
constitutionnelles de ces dernières
années, a affirmé le diplomate
néerlandais, ajoutant que le
lancement de ce portail s’inscrit dans
le cadre de la coopération et des
relations amicales liant les Pays-Bas
et le Maroc.
Pour sa part, la représentante de
l’ONU Femmes Maghreb au Maroc,
Mme Leila Rhiwi a indiqué que le
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lancement du site Egalité.ma s’inscrit
dans le cadre de la stratégie de l’ONU
femmes visant à rendre accessible au
plus large public les connaissances
accumulées dans le domaine de
l’égalité entre les sexes, à faciliter les
plateformes d’échanges et à préserver
la mémoire des savoirs produits par
le mouvement des droits des femmes.
http://www.maghrebemergent.com/a
ctualite/breves/filmaghreb/item/35657-maroclancement-d-un-portail-dedie-a-legalite-de-genre.html
What are they doing?
Une femme commissaire pour la première fois en Afghanistan
Elle accède à un poste jamais obtenu
par une femme auparavant dans ce
pays. Djamila Bayaz, 50 ans est
devenue commissaire de police en
Afghanistan, le 14 janvier. Jusqu’à
cette promotion inédite, cette mère
de cinq enfants travaillait au sein
d’une brigade d’intervention
criminelle chargée de traquer les
contrebandiers.
Djamila Bayaz, nommée par
le ministère de l’Intérieur
afghan, dirige désormais un district
de la police à Kaboul, le poste le plus
élevé possible pour une policière
afghane. «Tous les regards sont
braqués sur moi. Je suis très
optimiste sur l’impact positif que ça
aura, affirmait l’intéressée peu après
sa
nomination. http://www.leparisien.fr/
international/une-femmecommissaire-pour-la-premiere-foisen-afghanistan-23-01-20143520937.php
Les ABC de l’égalité.
http://femmes.gouv.fr/abcd-de-legalite-face-aux-rumeurs-retablissez-la-verite/
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ALBANIA - SWORN VIRGINS - FEMALES AT EARLY AGE TAKE ON MALE
SOCIAL IDENTITY FOR LIFE
"Sworn Virgin" is the term given to a
biological female in the Balkans, as in
Albania, who has chosen, usually at
an early age, to take on the social
identity of a man for life. As a
tradition dating back hundreds of
years, this was sometimes necessary
in a society that lived within tribal
clans, followed the Kanun, an archaic
code of law, and maintained an
oppressive rule over the female
gender. The Kanun states that women
are the property of their husbands.
The freedom to vote, drive, conduct
business, earn money, drink, smoke,
swear, own a gun or wear pants was
traditionally the exclusive province of
men. Young girls were commonly
forced into arranged marriages, often
with much older men in distant
villages. A family suddenly without a
patriarch or male heir would find
themselves in jeopardy of losing
everything.As an alternative,
becoming a Sworn Virgin, or
‘burnesha” elevated a woman to the
status of a man and granted her all
the rights and privileges of the male
population. In order to manifest the
transition such a woman cut her hair,
donned male clothing and sometimes
even changed her name. Male
gestures and swaggers were practiced
until they became second nature.
Most importantly of all, she took a
vow of celibacy to remain chaste for
life. She became a “he”. This practice
continues today but as modernization
inches toward the small villages, this
archaic tradition is increasingly seen
as obsolete. Only a few aging Sworn
Virgins
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remain.” http://www.jillpetersphotography.com/s
http://www.demilked.com/burnesha-albanian-
wornvirginsofalbania
sworn-virgins-women-who-live-as-men-jill-peters/
No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project - Women & Girls
http://www.clintonfoundation.org/our-work/no-ceilings-full-participation-project
No Ceilings: The Full Participation
Project is an effort led by Hillary
Rodham Clinton at the Clinton
Foundation to bring together partner
organizations to evaluate and share
the progress women and girls have
made in the 20 years since the UN
Fourth World Conference on Women
in Beijing. This new effort will help
chart the path forward to accelerate
full participation for women and girls
in the 21st century. The full
participation of women and girls is
critical to global progress,
development, and security.
Guiding Principles
We're all in this together.
Nothing truly happens unless a life is
changed.
No one has all the answers, but we
can bring together the people who
can find them.
Results you can measure are the only
results that matter.
Empowerment is liberating and lifechanging.
There is always a way to be faster,
leaner, and better.
The greatest good is helping people
live their best life story.
Background
In 1995, at the UN Fourth World
Conference on Women in Beijing, 189
nations agreed to an ambitious
Platform for Action that called for the
“full and equal participation of women
in political, civil, economic, social and
cultural life.” At this conference,
Secretary Clinton memorably declared
that “human rights are women’s
rights and women’s rights are human
rights, once and for all.”
Nearly twenty years later, progress
has been made. The gender gap in
primary education has closed. More
women hold jobs and serve in public
office. In many countries, laws that
once permitted unequal treatment of
women and girls have been replaced
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by laws that recognize their equality.
And a powerful new current of
grassroots activism enabled by new
technologies is giving voice to women
and girls around the world.
Yet, for all of this progress, women
and girls still comprise the majority of
the world’s unhealthy, unfed, and
unpaid. Hard-won rights and legal
protections remain elusive on the
ground. Advancing the status of
women and girls remains the
unfinished business of our time.
The Project
To understand where we need to go,
we need to know what we’ve
achieved. The No Ceilings project will
work with leading technology
partners to create a comprehensive
and accessible global review that will
bring together and widely distribute
the best data on the status of women
and girls and their contributions to
prosperity and security. Advocates,
academics and leaders will be able to
see the gains we’ve made, as well as
the gaps that remain, and access and
share this information across
platforms in order to design reforms
and drive real change. The project will
also feature stories from women and
girls around the world.
Through the No Ceilings project,
Secretary Clinton will also outline a
21st century agenda to accelerate full
participation for women and girls
around the world. The project will
convene the private sector,
government, civil society, and
individuals to accelerate progress
toward this agenda.
NONPROFIT CHALLENGES - WHAT FOUNDATIONS CAN DO
The Center for Effective Philanthropy
http://www.effectivephilanthropy.org/about/
Foundations can take on pressing
challenges that other actors in society
cannot, or will not. Given this unique
opportunity, foundations have a
moral imperative to maximize their
effectiveness. Living up to that
imperative requires foundations to
assess their performance, gathering
the relevant data to fuel continuous
improvement.
Direct Link to Full 24-Page 2013 Report:
http://www.effectivephilanthropy.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/01/NonprofitChallenges.pdf
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EGYPT - FIRST WOMAN ELECTED TO LEAD MAJOR POLITICAL PARTY
The 59-year-old has become the first
woman and Copt/Christian to serve
as the president of a major political
party
Hala Shukrallah won the liberal
Constitution Party's elections on
Friday to succeed Mohamed ElBaradei
as the party's president.
Shukrallah won 108 out of 189 votes
to become the first woman and Copt
to head an Egyptian political party.
Hala Shukrallah was born in 1954.
She is the director of the
Development Support Center for
consultancy and training, a
consultancy firm providing support
and assistance to civil society
organizations.
Shukrallah's opponents, former TV
host Gamila Ismail and physician
Hossam Abdel-Ghafar - both also
founding members - won 57 and 23
votes respectively. Two votes were
spoilt.
ElBaradei resigned as party head
when he was appointed vice president
following the ouster of Mohamed
Morsi on 3 July. He resigned this post
to register his objection to the violent
dispersal of the pro-Morsi Rabaa AlAdawiya protest camp which left
hundreds dead.
ElBaradei posted on Twitter on Friday,
encouraging the youth and calling on
them to stay united against
"ignorance, extremism and
oppression.”
Party member Sayed Kassem has been
acting as interim head since July.
The party has seen public divisions
and mass resignations since its
founding head resigned.
Many members resigned as the party
came under fire for El-Baradei's
opposition to the violent dispersal of
Rabaa.
Another major dispute was over the
appointment, rather than election, of
the party's current senior leaders.
The party attracted support of a
number of young revolutionaries
when it was founded by ElBaradei in
2011 after the
revolution. http://english.ahram.org.
eg/NewsContent/1/64/94894/Egypt/
Politics-/BREAKING-Hala-Shukrallahsucceeds-ElBaradei-as-hea.aspx
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Gender Issues
Stéréotypes
Les stéréotypes, c’est pas moi, c’est
les autres ! La nouvelle publication du
Laboratoire de l’égalité doit permettre
à chacun et chacune de prendre
conscience des stéréotypes, les
débusquer et contribuer à limiter
leurs effets. Elle est l’aboutissement
des travaux des ateliers réunis par le
Laboratoire de l’égalité en 2013, qui
ont mené une réflexion sur les
inégalités et les stéréotypes dans
l’éducation, au travail et dans les
médias.
www.laboratoiredelegalite.org/spip.p
hp?action=acceder_document&arg=3
39&cle=fdd692fd0a9f1e193361ac70
efedd8dc0b5dd6d4&file=pdf%2FLes_
stereotypes_c_est_pas_moi_c_est_les_
autres_-_Laboratoire_de_l_egalite__nov_2013.pdf
UK PROJECT BASED IN FIVE PRIMARY SCHOOLS ABOUT GENDER
STEREOTYPES
NUT - National Union of Teachers UK
The NUT worked for two years with
five primary schools to consider how
‘traditional’ gender stereotypes could
be challenged in nursery and primary
classrooms. The project quickly
acquired the name Breaking the
Mould. The five schools were
provided with support and training.
Direct Link to Full 32-Page
Publication:
http://www.teachers.org.uk/files/ster
eotypes-stop.pdf
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Focus on – Gender and Ageing
EMPOWERMENT OF AGEING WOMEN
Massouda Jalal, Founding Chairperson of Jalal Foundation and Former Minister of
Women, Afghanistan
I. IMPERATIVES OF EMPOWERING THE
WORLD’S AGEING WOMEN
Recent population statistics assert the
imperatives of empowering ageing
women all over the world. Among
other trends, data show a sharp
upward direction in the growth of
older women’s population globally;
and at a speed that is faster than
commensurate growths in other age
groups.
The United Nations Fund for
Population (UNFPA) predicts that in
the next 10 years, the number of
people over age 60 and above will
surpass one billion. For the AsiaPacific region including South Asia,
the population of older people is
predicted to triple from 453 million in
2012 to 1.26 billion by 2050. During
such period, it is estimated that one
in every four people in the region will
be over 60 years old. More
importantly, the same data shows
that women constitute 53.5 percent
of the population aged 60 or older in
the region. As the age go higher, the
proportion of ageing women to men
also increases. At present, women
already represent 61 percent of the
“oldest old” or 80 years and older age
group [1].
This trend, which also holds true for
other regions of the world, shows
that ageing has already taken a
feminized trend. Confronted with a
near future that will increasingly be
populated by ageing women, we
need to think strategically as early as
we can in order that our future older
women could continue to have
meaningful influence and
contributions to our families,
communities, and countries.
II. DEFINING A FRAMEWORK FOR THE
EMPOWERMENT OF AGEING WOMEN
IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION:
The MIPAA and a Life-spectrum
Approach
1. Women-specific empowerment
provisions
MIPAA or the Madrid International
Plan of Action on Ageing and its
Political Declaration may be
considered as the major springboards
in defining a framework for the
empowerment of ageing women
globally.
These international policy
instruments were adopted in April
2002 by 159 governments. Their
priority directions are: (1) older
persons and development, (2)
advancing health and well-being into
old age, and (3) ensuring enabling
and supportive environments. They
put emphasis on the role of
governments in “promoting,
providing and ensuring access to
basic social services, bearing in mind
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specific needs of older persons”. [2]
More importantly, Article 5 of the
Political Declaration states that, “We
reaffirm the commitment to spare no
effort to promote democracy,
strengthen the rule of law and
promote gender equality…”. MIPAA
also provides that “Older women
outnumber older men, increasingly so
as age increases. The situation of
older women everywhere must be a
priority for policy action. Recognizing
the differential impact of ageing on
women and men is integral in
ensuring full equality between women
and men and to the development of
effective and efficient measures to
address the issue. It is therefore
critical to ensure the integration of a
gender perspective into all policies,
programs, and legislation”. [3]
These provisions serve as guiding
principles to governments and
international agencies in ensuring
that the differential needs of women
and men are analyzed and taken into
account in the design and
implementation of policies and
actions for their older population.
2. Opportunities from the review
of MIPAA implementation
The implementation of MIPAA has
been under review in the recent years.
The result of the review provides vital
information and insights that are
crucial to the empowerment of ageing
women in various regions of the
world. Captured in the UNFPA report
entitled, “Ageing in the 21st Century:
A Celebration and A Challenge”, the
findings provide evidences on the
differential impacts of ageing for
women and men. For the Asia-Pacific
region, including South Asia, the
report pointed out that “older women
are more vulnerable to poverty than
older men due to a combination of
disadvantage throughout their lives,
including lower educational levels,
limited participation in the formal
sectors, and the continued reliance on
women in many societies to provide
unpaid care giving and other work.”
The review process also created
opportunities that are important in
widening the advocacy for ageing
women. Among the many
opportunities created during the
regional review was the adoption of
resolution 67/5 by Member States of
the Economic Commission on Asia
and the Pacific in May 2011 which
calls for the full and effective
implementation of the MIPAA in the
region and the incorporation of a
gender perspective into all policy
actions on ageing and strengthen the
empowerment and legal protection of
older people, in particular of older
women. [4] Likewise, the MIPAA
review in the Asia-Pacific region
noted commendable achievements
which could serve as strong
foundations in furthering the
empowerment of ageing women. For
example:
 at least 21 countries have already
introduced national policies on
older persons;
 12 countries have established
special bodies on ageing within
ministries; and
 several countries have made
progress in improving social
protection and care for older
people, such as Republic of
Korea’s Second Basic Plan on Low
Fertility and ageing society which
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pointed to the need to develop a
policy on employment that can tap
into the professional knowledge
and skills of older women as well
as on the expansion of pension
rights for older women.
Among the general recommendations
of the region, the need to support
older women in their role as primary
caregivers, address their health
condition and reduce their
vulnerability to poverty, social
isolation and violence and abuse were
highlighted. The recommendations
also called for the collection and
analysis of data that are
disaggregated by sex, disability, and
economic status as well as age.
3. Other possibilities to empower
ageing women through MIPAA
In addition to the above mentioned
gains, it is extremely important to
flesh out in detail the gender
dimensions of all other actions that
have been proposed in the general
recommendations to empower the
ageing population in the Asia-Pacific
region. Below are examples of actions
that we could advocate to further
promote the empowerment of ageing
women within the context of the
recommendations for MIPAA
implementation in the region:
  National mechanisms on ageing
- State Members should ensure
that their national mechanisms for
the promotion of ageing persons
are equipped with capacity for
gender sensitive policy making,
implementation, monitoring and
budgeting. A regional program
may be initiated to train key staff
of national mechanisms on ageing
in this regard. An on-line
introductory, interactive, didactic
and self-paced e-course on the
empowerment of the ageing
women may also be made
available to them. Gender
responsiveness and empowerment
of ageing women should be
explicitly reflected in the mandate
and functions of such mechanisms
and in the job description of staff,
especially the decision makers and
senior technical officials.
 Older people’s associations – In
supporting the development of
older peoples’ associations and
community mechanisms for
hearing the voices of older people,
attention should be given to
proportionate representation of
ageing women in the management
and leadership of such bodies as
well as their equal participation in
community activities and decision
making.
 Comprehensive and universal
protection systems – A system for
the valuation of care-giving within
the household should be studied
with the end-view of developing a
scheme to provide social
protection to family members who
are engaged in the provision of
unpaid care to other family
members. Governments should
also consider implementing a
home-visit program for older
people who live alone, such as
parents of overseas workers, to
ensure that they are able to meet
contingencies in life through
proper referral, information, and
support in regularly
communicating with relatives,
especially during crises.
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4. A life-spectrum approach
Ageing is another layer of the many
factors that already bear down upon
the status of women in society. I
believe that in conceptualizing a
framework for the empowerment of
older women, we need to pay very
close attention to these age-related
factors, not only during the older
years, but throughout women’s life
spectrum.
For this reason, we should not only
think of what we can do within the
framework of MIPAA. We should also
consider the importance of the many
activities that are already going on in
the field of gender equality and the
empowerment of girl children, female
adolescents and women in general.
Within such initiatives, we need to
incorporate an ageing perspective to
ensure that the female population is
able to acquire the skills, support
systems, knowledge, and status that
they need to lead the increasingly
ageing population of the future.
Women who were born in 1990, for
example, are only 23 years old today
but they are the first generation of
women to jump into the 1.26 billion
mark of ageing women in the AsiaPacific region by 2050. Right now,
they are preoccupied with living their
life as young adults without realizing
that they have the potential and
responsibility to serve as the pilot
generation for older women’s
leadership in the next 37 years. We
could target them as a primary group
to carry the torch and serve as model
of how women should be, as ageing
people. We need such a model
generation to demonstrate to the rest
of the women and to the society in
general an entirely transformed vision
of ageing women – from being
treated as used, worn out, useless,
burden, dependent, and weak to
being looked up to for wisdom,
strength, inspiration, and power.
Within this age group, we could ignite
a strong awareness of the scenario
predicted by population statistics. We
should inspire them to embrace a
new vision that will make ageing a
positive destination that women
should look forward to, rather than
fear, deny or avoid. Among
Hollywood women, there is a trend
which says that “40 is the new 20” in
terms of looks. We could also make
60 as the new 30, not in terms of
looks but in terms of a life-stage of
increased autonomy, empowerment,
productivity, leadership and selffulfillment as women.
There are so many more strategic
actions that we could do to add an
ageing perspective into our
interventions for girl children, female
adults, women, and even their male
counterparts. For example,
interactions could be deliberately
promoted among associations of girl
children and female senior citizens to
enable girl children to learn from
older women’s experience and
encourage them to enlist in the new
vision of ageing for women. We could
also train older women and promote
their appointment into governing
boards of NGOs for female
adolescent. We could also call upon
all our networks to examine their
current efforts on women’s
empowerment and gender equality to
determine ways of incorporating a
perspective on older women’s
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empowerment into their programs
and projects. The possibilities are
many and exciting. And their
potential outreach and impacts are
enormous.
5. Lobbying for an International
Convention for Older People
Given the imperatives of promoting
the empowerment of ageing women
all over the world, the region should
support the global campaign to adopt
an international convention for older
people. The implementation of MIPAA
demonstrated that while an
international Plan of Action is helpful,
it is not enough. Although there have
been positive gains in the past, the
absence of MIPAA’s binding effect
may have been a factor for its tepid
implementation in some countries.
According to HelpAge, unprecedented
demographic ageing means that the
number of people who may
experience age discrimination and
violation of their rights in old age is
likely to increase. The adoption of an
international convention on the rights
of older people is therefore necessary
because it would:
•
provide a definitive, universal
position that age discrimination
and ageism are morally and
legally unacceptable,
•
provide clarity on governments'
human rights obligations
towards older people,
•
create an enforceable
monitoring mechanism to hold
those in authority to account
for their actions towards older
people,
•
put age discrimination and
older people's rights higher up
on governments', donors' and
NGOs' agendas, and
•
encourage a shift in attitude
from older people being
considered recipients of welfare
to rights holders with
responsibilities [5].
 In this connection, women’s
organizations like ours can launch
a campaign in our respective
countries to support the regional
and global initiatives towards an
international convention on the
rights of older people. We could
engage the media to educate our
people to prepare for the
worrisome scenario that is
predicted by statistics on world
population. We can even talk to
our governments and send lobby
letters to the concerned bodies of
the United Nations to strengthen
the international lobbying on this
matter. We can also forge alliances
around this agenda, sign an online
petition, and get all our networks
to do the same. We can do many
things and we should do them
right away. In the meantime, the
good practices of other countries
in empowering ageing women
should be documented and
disseminated regionally and
internationally so that countries
like mine could learn and draw
inspiration from them.
CONCLUSION
Paradoxically, while we know that
ageing is an inevitable course of life,
we still live our younger years without
sufficient regard for our needs when
we reach our older years. Some
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people continue to deny that they are
already ageing unless the diminishing
efficiency of their body functions tells
them so. Some people even live as if
they are not going to grow old. But
even in a country that is constantly
battered by war like Afghanistan,
where people do not expect to live
beyond the present, we still see a
substantial proportion of older
population – proof of the fact that
ageing is here to stay and whether we
like it or not, we are growing older
every day.
This conference is an important step
in getting the issue of ageing and the
importance of empowering women
into the realm of our consciousness.
Ageing is not something to avoid or
deny, but something to prepare for.
Empowerment of women is one way
to do so. While we still have enough
opportunities to create for them an
empowering life during their twilight
years, the most effective measures
should begin when they are still
young. Thus, the empowerment of
ageing women cannot be divorced
from the empowerment of the female
population across their life spectrum.
En enabling environment that
empower and support female
members of society to attain
autonomy, raise their voice, make
decisions, access and control
resources, and constantly interact
with people and institutions
throughout their lifetime is one of the
most effective strategies we should
continue. This way, we can transform
the older years into a stage of life
that women could look forward to not with anxiety or fear – but with
anticipation of self-fulfillment, peace
of mind, and greater appreciation of
life.
Study: Older employees are more productive than younger ones
Older people are, on average, more
reliable and more productive than
younger people. This is one of the
most surprising results of the CogitoStudy, which has now been published
by the Max Planck Institute for Social
Law and Social Policy. A team of
researchers from Berlin, Frankfurt and
Stockholm examined the mental
performance of 200 individuals over a
period of 100 days. Half of the group
was 20 to 31 years of age, the other
half was older than 60 years. On a
daily basis, the participants’ speed of
perception, their memory retention
and working memory was tested in
repeating sessions with different
exercises.
The study examined tasks in nine
different categories and in all these
areas older participants were more
stable in their results than younger
ones, while showing lower average
levels of performance. The analysis
confirms that older people can rely on
a rich source of experience and hence
draw upon a whole set of strategies
to solve a variety of tasks. Moreover,
self-reports show that older people
display higher levels of motivation
and don’t suffer from regular
moodiness as younger people do.
“Just like others, this study is
intriguing for Diversity experts as it
both dissolves some deep-rooted
assumptions about diversity and
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explains others”, Diversity guru
Michael Stuber says.
Other results of the research, cited as
the largest study to date in the field
of brain training, are of interest to
both employers and employees and
might actually lead to a better use of
potential in future. First of all, the
brain – unlike postulated in other
studies – can actually improve
through regular training. In addition,
the study notes that mental powers
fluctuate quite often, mostly,
however, during a work day rather
than between two. Thus, personal
impressions of a very good or very
poor working day can often be
misleading: Productive and less
productive phases are distributed
throughout the day and differ
individually. In this respect, younger
employees showed more fluctuation
than their older peers. Employers
wanting to boost the productivity of
their different age groups will have to
consider individual peaks and valleys,
encouraging individual time planning.
Another study of the Max Planck
Institute in the automotive industry
showed “that older employees make
significantly less heavy mistakes
incurring high costs than their
younger colleagues”, Axel BörschSupan, Director of the Center for the
Economics of Aging, reports. Higher
productivity was confirmed by other
studies in a number of different
industries, he adds. In total, older
employees are confirmed as a
valuable and cost-effective asset for
employers. This should result in an
enhanced appreciation of older
generations in the workplace,
including specific ways to motivate
them to continue to participate in
training courses and educational
programmes, and avoiding that their
professional development comes to a
halt.
EMEA DiversityNews 50 Autumn 2013
Relax...you’re not middle-aged until 53
Attitudes towards middle age are
changing fast – and most people do
not believe it strikes until 53 on
average, researchers have found.
Rising life expectancy and healthier
lifestyles mean the average person no
longer expects to feel they are going
downhill in their 40s.
People also said they notice less
difference between age groups these
days, with social media and lives
increasingly led online contributing to
the blurring of divisions between
young and old.
In fact 53 per cent of Britons in a
survey of 2,000 men and women said
they do not even believe middle age
exists anymore.
But the research, commissioned by
Benenden Health, came up with a
familiar top 40 signs of approaching
middle age.
People listed frustration with modern
technology as the top sign of ageing,
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followed by a tendency not to have a
clue what young ¬people are talking
about.
Aching joints, needing naps, hating
noisy pubs, not knowing what is in
the charts and choosing clothes for
comfort over style were also on the
list, printed in full on the right.
As ever, thinking policemen look
young and taking a comforting flask
of tea when you go out are seen as
sure signs of middle age.
Paul Keenan, communications chief at
Benenden Health, said: “Britons are
happily skipping over traditional
notions of middle age. It’s a term with
less significance and is no longer a
numerical milestone. A variety of
factors are involved, including more
active lifestyles.
“It’s clear that what age you are has
become less important in determining
how young you feel.
“Being old appears to be a state of
mind rather than being a specific
age.” Eight in ten people polled
agreed that the term middle age is
much harder to define now than it
used to be. The same number think it
is mostly a state of mind.
Among over-50s, 43 per cent felt
they had not experienced middle age
yet. Nearly three quarters said there
was less of a divide between the age
groups than in the past, with
improved health care seen as the
main reason.
Illness and memory loss were named
as the threats people fear most in
growing old. But a massive 84 per
cent of those surveyed were of the
belief that if you think of yourself as
old, you will naturally start to feel old.
Paul Keenan admitted: “I’m 54, with
the mindset of a 30-something – and
sometimes of a teenager!"
TOP 40 SIGNS OF GETTING ON
1. Losing touch with everyday
technology such as tablets and TVs
2. Finding you have no idea what
'young people' are talking about
3. Feeling stiff
4. Needing an afternoon nap
5. Groaning when you bend down
6. Not remembering the name of any
modern bands
7. Talking a lot about your
joints/ailments
8. Hating noisy pubs
9. Getting more hairy - ears,
eyebrows, nose and face
10. Thinking
policemen/teachers/doctors look
really young
11. Preferring a night in with a board
game than a night on the town
12. You don't know any songs in the
top 10
13. Choosing clothes and shoes for
comfort rather than style
14. Taking a flask of tea on a day out
15. Obsessive gardening or bird
feeding
16. Thinking there is nothing wrong
with wearing an anorak
17. Forgetting people's names
18. Booking on to a cruise
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19. Misplacing your glasses/bag/car
keys etc.
31. You get shocked by how racy
music videos are
20. Complaining about the rubbish on
television these days
32. Taking a keen interest in the
garden
21. Gasping for a cup of tea
33. Buying travel sweets for the car
22. Getting bed socks for Christmas
and being very grateful
34. Considering going on a 'no
children' cruise for a holiday
23. Taking a keen interest in The
Antiques Road Show
35. When you know your alcohol limit
24. When you start complaining about
more things
36. Obsessively recycling/knowing
the collection dates
25. Listening to the Archers
37. Always carrying a handy pack of
tissues
26. You move from Radio 1 to Radio
2
38. Falling asleep after one glass of
wine
27. Joining the National Trust
39. Spending more money on face
creams/anti-ageing products
28. Being told off for politically
incorrect opinions
29. Flogging the family car for
something sportier
30. When you can't lose six pounds in
two days anymore
40. Preferring a Sunday walk to a lie
in
http://www.express.co.uk/news/heal
th/425087/Relax-you-re-notmiddle-aged-until-53
Inequalities, health and well-being
 Inequalities in later life
 Race and ethnicity
 Global health, development and
ageing
 Resilience
 Public health and epidemiology
 Legal, ethical and political
aspects of ageing
http://www.micra.manchester.ac.uk/r
esearch/themes/inequalities-healthwell-being/
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The European Male Ageing Study
Prevalence, Incidence and
Geographical Distribution of
Symptoms of Ageing in Men, and
Their Endocrine, Genetic and
Psychosocial Correlates
This is the largest ever study of
ageing in men in the world and
intends to identify the nature and
frequency of some of the symptoms
of ageing in men, the relationships
between these symptoms to
hormonal changes and other risk
factors .
In total, 3200 men in 8 different
countries in Europe are taking part in
the study. These 8 centres are
Manchester - UK, Malmo - Sweden,
Tartu - Estonia, Lodz - Poland,
Szeged - Hungary, Florence - Italy,
Santiago de Compostela - Spain,
Leuven - Belgium. In each centre, 400
men aged between 40 and 79 years at
the start of the study have been
recruited. They will be followed up to
look for future changes in their
hormonal and general health status.
The men will be investigated initially
on two occasions, at the start and
then 5 years later. It is highly likely
that the study will continue beyond 5
years and further testing will be
organised subsequently.
The study intends to identify and
measure the differences in the
symptoms and disabilities associated
with ageing in men from various
regions in Europe. It will also help
clarify whether there is a clinical
condition specific to the ageing male
similar to the female menopause.
Ageing is the major global healthcare
challenge of the 21st century due to
the increasing average life expectancy
and the concomitant burden of
degenerative diseases, frailty, mood
disturbances and disabilities/
dependency in a rapidly expanding
elderly population worldwide
In women, symptoms and clinical
consequence of ageing - related
changes in hormone levels (in
particular oestradiol) during and after
the menopause are well documented
In men, there is good evidence that
many hormones, e.g. testosterone
(especially free testosterone),
dehydroepiandrosterone and growth
hormone, decline progressively with
age after the fourth decade. The
exact relationships, however, between
falling levels of circulating hormones
in elderly men and the ageing-related
symptoms, morbidity and health
outcomes are unclear
There is an urgent need for multidisciplinary observational population
studies to document the development
of ageing-related changes in health
status in elderly men and investigate
their relationships with hormonal
decline and other potential
predisposing risk factors.
http://www.emas.man.ac.uk/main.as
p
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On-going and/or coming Gender Programmes/
Conferences / Events:
Next Generation Women Leader
McKinsey & Company invites female
students and experienced
professionals across Europe and the
Middle East to be inspired and make a
difference!
http://www.next-generationwomen.mckinsey.com/
12th edition of the European Business Summit
Brussels, 14-15 May
To register. http://www.ebsummit.eu/subscription.php
Grants/Funding opportunities/Awards/Fellowships/
Vacancies
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, IFC To Raise Up To $600 Million to
Support Women Entrepreneurs
Announcing joint partnership to create The Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity
Facility, the first-ever global finance facility dedicated exclusively to women-owned
small and medium-sized enterprises that will enable approximately 100,000
women to access capital.
Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and CEO
of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
(NYSE: GS), and Jim Yong Kim,
President of the World Bank Group,
today announced a partnership to
increase access to capital for women
30
APRIL 2014
Volume 123
entrepreneurs. The partnership,
which deepens 10,000 Women’s
commitment to women
entrepreneurs, will aim to spur
lending in developing countries
through the first-ever global finance
facility for women-owned small and
medium enterprises (SMEs). The
Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity
Facility will be seeded by the Goldman
Sachs Foundation and IFC, a member
of the World Bank Group, and will
raise up to $600 million in capital
through investments from additional
public and private co-investors to
enable approximately 100,000
women entrepreneurs to access
capital. Goldman Sachs and The
Goldman Sachs Foundation will also
continue to operate its business and
management education program.
“Through the experiences of 10,000
Women graduates, we have seen,
first-hand, that investing in women
leads to economic growth and job
creation, but there is clearly more
that can be done to unlock the
potential of women-owned
businesses” said Lloyd C. Blankfein.
“By partnering with IFC, we will
address one of the biggest obstacles
to growth for women-owned small
and medium-sized businesses –
access to capital.”
“This new initiative will create
opportunities for tens of thousands of
female entrepreneurs to thrive and
prosper,” World Bank Group President
Jim Yong Kim said. “At the World Bank
Group, we are committed to providing
opportunities to aid women as
leaders, business owners, employees,
and stakeholders. We cannot afford to
exclude half of the world’s population
from their rightful role in helping to
change the face of the global
economy.”
A wide range of surveys show access
to credit is the biggest constraint on
growth for all SMEs and womenowned businesses face an even larger
credit gap than their male
counterparts. IFC estimates that
about 70% of women-owned SMEs in
developing countries are either
unserved or underserved by financial
institutions, resulting in an estimated
$285 billion credit gap for womenowned SMEs. Goldman Sachs has
released new research, Giving Credit
Where It Is Due, which demonstrates
increasing female access to capital
can have a tangible impact on per
capita income, particularly in
developing and emerging markets.
According to the report, if the credit
gap is closed by 2020, by 2030
incomes per capita could be on
average around 12% higher across the
BRICs and Next 11 countries, relative
to our baseline scenario. This gain
could be as large as 25-28% for Brazil
and Vietnam, where the credit gaps in
the formal SME sectors are currently
widest.
Through this partnership, The
Goldman Sachs Foundation and IFC
will work with local banks in
developing countries to catalyze
existing capital for women-owned
SMEs by addressing barriers in the
lending market.
http://www.goldmansachs.com/citize
nship/10000women/news-andevents/10000women-ifc.html
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APRIL 2014
Volume 123
EDGE Funders Alliance
Mission
EDGE Funders Alliance addresses the
systemic nature of the social,
economic and ecological crises
threatening the future of our planet.
By supporting reflection and
collaboration among members and
forging strategic partnerships in and
outside philanthropy, EDGE works to
increase resources for community
well-being and transnational
organizing in ways that promote
justice and build lasting, meaningful
change.
Goals
Inspire, mobilize and organize
funders in support of community
empowerment, grassroots organizing,
civil society advocacy and movementbuilding to advance deep, meaningful
and lasting change;
Build connections and forge strategic
partnerships among a diverse set of
grantmakers and others within
philanthropy, as well as with
community leaders and social
movement actors around the world;
Facilitate peer learning, research and
reflection on models and approaches
to improve the impact of grantmaking
that helps reduce structural inequities
and power disparities between and
within societies at local, national and
international levels.
http://www.edgefunders.org/mission
-values/
Post-doctoral researcher (3-year 100%)
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, RHEA Centre of Expertise Gender, Diversity and
Intersectionality
Délai: 15.04.2014
RHEA is a multi-disciplinary and
interfaculty research group devoted
to fundamental and applied research
about gender and especially gender
inequality and its interactions with
other sources of inequality.
Half of your time is devoted to
conducting research in broad domain
of intersectionality. You also
participate in national and
international conferences and
networks and publish widely and high
level on your research topic.
The other half of your time is devoted
to assisting the Director in the
coordination of RHEA’s key tasks.
https://www.gendercampus.ch/fr/akt
uell/stellen#168
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APRIL 2014
Volume 123
Post-doctoral researcher (3-year 100%)
Intersectionality
Délai: 15.04.2014
You conduct research within the
scope of the Strategic Research
Programme, and more precisely
within one of the Programme’s work
packages. You also participate in
national and international
conferences and networks and
publish widely and high level onyour
research topic.
You seek to establish synergies
between the research projects
running within the Strategic Research
Programme.
You seek to increase the academic
and societal visibility of the projects
running under the Strategic Research
Programme.
You actively seek to secure extra
funds for research within the scope of
the Strategic Research Programme.
uell/stellen#169
PhD researcher (4 year 100%)
Intersectionality
Délai: 15.04.2014
You conduct a doctoral research
within the scope of the Strategic
Research Programme, and more
precisely within one of the
Programme’s work packages. You
also participate in national and
international conferences and publish
on your research topic.
uell/stellen#170
One Year Replacement Teaching Position in Gender and
Literature/Cultural Studies
Central European University, Budapest
Délai: 25.04.2014
The successful candidate will also be
expected to supervise several MA
students in thesis research and
writing. For this post we envision a
scholar at the Assistant or Associate
Professor level. We are looking for
quality scholarship as evidenced
through publications, demonstrated
teaching experience in gender studies
or relevant fields, and an ability to
teach across disciplinary boundaries.
The term of appointment is from 1
September 2014 to 30 June, 2015;
teaching terms are 12 weeks each;
most teaching is concentrated in the
Fall and Winter terms while Spring
term is mostly dedicated to MA thesis
writing. Remuneration will be
commensurate with experience within
budgetary limits, and subject to
Hungarian taxation.
uell/stellen#156
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APRIL 2014
Volume 123
Call for Teaching Portfolios for Visiting Lecturer Positions in the Near
Future
Central European University, Budapest
Délai: 25.04.2014
Candidates at any level will be
considered as long as they have a
completed PhD degree by the time
they would teach. We are looking for
quality scholarship as evidenced
through publications, demonstrated
teaching experience in gender studies
or relevant fields, and an ability to
teach across disciplinary boundaries.
In terms of course topics, we welcome
proposals for courses with a focus on
gender and/or sexuality that
complement our current curriculum
but may also consider those that
duplicate current offerings in cases
where faculty members go on leave.
Fields in which we anticipate a need
for temporary staff include film
theory, feminist philosophy, religion,
and policy related topics, but we
welcome proposals for courses in
other fields as well.
uell/stellen#157
Torna La Nuvola Rosa per colmare il divario di genere in Italia
Il progetto si impegna a valorizzare il talento tecnico-scientifico delle ragazze: le
iscrizioni sono aperte online
Cinquecento ragazze dai 17 ai 24
anni potranno seguire gratuitamente
oltre 30 corsi suddivisi in 6 percorsi
tematici che si avvalgono del
contributo di oltre 50 relatori e della
collaborazione di 14 partner italiani e
non: questi i primi numeri della
seconda edizione della Nuvola Rosa,
l’iniziativa ideata da Microsoft Italia
per sensibilizzare le giovani
studentesse italiane sulla necessità di
colmare il divario di genere nella
scienza, nella tecnologia e nella
ricerca.
Realizzata con la collaborazione del
Dipartimento per le Pari Opportunità
della Presidenza del Consiglio dei
Ministri e dell’Università La Sapienza,
Microsoft Italia organizzerà La Nuvola
Rosa a Roma dal 22 al 24 aprile con il
contributo di 4 partner fondamentali:
Asus, Avanade, Intel e Telecom Italia.
Il progetto si avvale della partnership
dell’associazione Valore D, da sempre
impegnata nella valorizzazione del
talento femminile.
Come lo scorso anno, La Nuvola Rosa
si conferma un progetto di ampio
respiro internazionale, grazie al
supporto delle più importanti
istituzioni a livello mondiale come UN
WOMEN, l’Entità delle Nazioni Unite
per l’Uguaglianza di Genere e
l’Empowerment Femminile, UnRic, ITU
e Unesco, i cui rappresentanti
saranno presenti a Roma nei giorni
dell’evento. L’evento si avvale anche
della collaborazione di Fondazione
Adecco, Fondazione Cariplo, Junior
34
APRIL 2014
Volume 123
Achievement, Fondazione Mondo
Digitale.
I numeri sono chiari, oltre il 42% dei
ragazzi tra i 15 e i 24 anni non ha
lavoro e l’Italia resta fanalino di coda
in Europa in particolare per quanto
riguarda l’occupazione femminile,
con solo il 46,5% delle donne che
lavorano. A fronte di ciò in Europa
risultano tuttora disponibili 449mila
posizioni nel mondo del digitale che
si prevede che nel 2020 saranno
comprese tra 730 mila e 1,35 milioni:
in questo contesto emerge sempre
più come la formazione tecnico
scientifica possa giocare un ruolo
chiave nella ricerca di lavoro,
soprattutto per quanto riguarda le
donne.
E’ qui che si inserisce la Nuvola Rosa,
giunta alla seconda edizione, e che,
rispetto all’anno passato, vede
un’attenzione ancora maggiore
all’aspetto della formazione, con un
aumento dei training e delle
opportunità lavorative disponibili per
le ragazze partecipanti.
L’edizione 2014 della Nuvola Rosa
riparte con il lancio della nuova
piattaforma digitale
www.lanuvolarosa.it in cui è possibile
registrarsi e da cui si possono
scaricare informazioni, ricerche, video
e testimonianze di personalità del
mondo delle imprese, della scienza e
della società civile a sostegno della
formazione tecnico-scientifica delle
ragazze italiane.
Grazie alla partnership con Telecom
Italia, La Nuvola Rosa diventa un
evento collettivo aperto al pubblico
del web: un ricco palinsesto di
contenuti verrà trasmesso in
streaming live e on demand
su lanuvolarosa.it
e telecomitalia.com/lanuvolarosa .
THE ITALIAN CORNER
Le donne dell’India
Di Anna Masera per “La Stampa”
Immagine del fotografo indiano Sri Kolari
Bangalore è la capitale
dell’informatica, ma molto spesso
l’altra faccia della medaglia dello
sviluppo è lo sfruttamento e la
povertà. E sono proprio le donne, con
coraggio e costanza, a battersi contro
emarginazione e miseria. Con l’aiuto
di una Ong come ActionAid
Shanta Marry ci offre il té nella
baracca della sua vicina, Danavalli, e
35
APRIL 2014
Volume 123
circondata da un folto gruppo di altre
compagne di sventure ci racconta la
sua storia. È una donna Dalit, la casta
più bassa, quella degli Intoccabili. E’
stata scacciata dallo slum Enjipura nel
quartiere Koramangala di Bangalore,
in cui viveva con la sua famiglia dalle
guardie pagate dalla Maverick
Holdings, che ha acquisito quel
terreno non si sa come (c’è
un’indagine in corso) per costruirci un
centro commerciale. Gli slum sono
baraccopoli che accolgono i poveri in
cerca di lavoro nelle megalopoli dei
Paesi in via di sviluppo. Sono miseri,
ma in India sono protetti dalla legge,
sebbene siano pochi a saperlo fra i
loro abitanti. “Un giorno all’alba sono
arrivati con le scavatrici e hanno raso
al suolo la mia abitazione assieme a
centinaia di altre, piene di donne,
vecchi e bambini, senza pietà, con il
benestare della polizia” racconta
Shanta. Quando ha protestato è stata
arrestata, rinchiusa in isolamento per
un giorno e una notte picchiata da
uomini mascherati. Quando è stata
liberata il marito l’ha lasciata,
pensando che fosse stata violentata:
oltre al danno, la beffa ed è la norma,
per queste donne.
Gli stupri e i femminicidi sono nei
notiziari regolarmente ormai, in
stridente contrasto con le notizie dei
passi da gigante che l’India fa verso
lo sviluppo, la crescita economica e la
modernità: le donne qui -soprattutto
quelle appartenenti alle caste più
povere e alla cultura contadina devono ancora conquistare il diritto
all’uguaglianza e alla parità di
trattamento fra i sessi. Fanno una vita
durissima, in un mondo antico che
osserva ancora costumi medievali
nonostante il boom della tecnologia e
la globalizzazione. Ma grazie al mix
di organizzazioni locali e aiuti da
onlus internazionali come ActionAid,
è tempo di “empowerment”,
emancipazione.
Rimasta madre sola a proteggere sè
stessa e la sua bambina, Shanta non
si è persa d’animo. Ha deciso di
battersi e ha organizzato una vera e
propria resistenza con le altre
compagne evacuate dallo slum.
Adesso vive accampata con la figlia
sul ciglio della stessa strada, ma sul
marciapiede opposto, in una tenda
improvvisata, senza acqua nè
gabinetto. Dove un tempo sorgeva la
sua dimora adesso c’è un cartello con
la scritta: “No trespassing”. Ha
esposto denuncia alla polizia. Per
tutta risposta hanno prelevato sua
figlia da scuola e per farla rilasciare
l’hanno costretta a ritirare la
denuncia. Poichè non si è arresa,
sono tornati di notte - sempre
mascherati - a picchiarla, stavano per
ammazzarla di botte, si è salvata
richiamando attenzione della gente
con le grida. Gli aggressori si sono
dileguati. Per quanto, non si sa. Ma le
proteste di donne come lei sono
riuscite intanto a fermare i lavori per
il centro commerciale, le gru che
sovrastano il loro piccolo
accampamento nel traffico di
Bangalore sono ferme.
Quella di Shanta è una delle tante
storie di donne coraggiose che
abbiamo incontrato nel corso di una
visita organizzata da ActionAid Italia
con ActionAid India lo scorso
dicembre. Donne che vivono nella
miseria urbana o contadine, come le
Dalit residenti del villaggio Jungwad
del distretto Belgaum del Kernataka,
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APRIL 2014
Volume 123
che si sentono fortunate quando
possono zappare la terra dieci ore di
fila per poco più di un euro al giorno.
“Il 77% degli indiani vive con meno di
un dollaro al giorno e lotta per la
propria sopravvivenza” spiega Kshithij
Urs, ex sindacalista dirigente locale
della onlus ActionAid a Bangalore,
capoluogo del Kernataka noto nel
mondo per essere la “Silicon Valley”
dell’India, capitale dell’Hi-Tech. “Non
chiamatela così, a Bangalore si
produce per l’Occidente sulla pelle
del nostro popolo” ribatte
snocciolando citazioni e cifre
documentate. Urs fa parte della
borghesia illuminata dell’India, e ha
fatto della causa dei poveri del suo
Paese la sua missione.
ActionAid è la Ong internazionale che
aiuta le comunità di poveri nel mondo
a emanciparsi, a conoscere e far
valere i propri diritti, a battersi per il
rispetto della propria dignità. Non
elargisce elemosina, ma grazie alle
donazioni dei sostenitori a distanza
collabora con i sindacati, le
associazioni locali, spesso composte
interamente da donne, quando è
necessario procura avvocati per
combattere le ingiustizie, la violenza,
la corruzione.
“A volte ci sembra di svuotare il mare
con il cucchiaino, ma da qualche
parte bisogna cominciare se vogliamo
l’emancipazione: combattiamo la
povertà perché porta con sé
emarginazione e mancanza
d’istruzione, di occupazione e di
servizi di base, problemi di salute,
disparità tra i sessi. Quasi il 50 per
cento degli affamati del mondo vive
in India” ci spiega Urs. “Quasi la metà
delle donne indiane è analfabeta.
Quasi 136 mila donne muoiono
durante la gravidanza o il parto ogni
anno. Nelle zone rurali, sono poche le
donne che hanno sentito parlare di
Aids e non conoscendo la malattia
non hanno alcuna possibilità di
difendersi e prevenirla. Nove donne
incinte su dieci, di età compresa tra i
15 ei 49 anni, soffrono di
malnutrizione e anemia. Più della
metà dei bambini sotto i cinque anni
è malnutrita. Oltre la metà dei
bambini indiani abbandona la scuola
prima dei 14 anni. L’India ha il più
alto numero di bambini lavoratori
sotto i 14 anni di età”.
Un quadro drammatico dovuto
soprattutto alla mancanza di accesso
della popolazione ai propri diritti
fondamentali. E sebbene siano
centinaia di milioni le persone
bisognose (”meno di 40 persone in
India guadagnano tanto quanto 850
milioni e detengono il potere”
sottolinea Urs), mentre quelle finora
raggiunte da ActionAid sono “solo”
qualche milione, in India abbiamo
avuto la possibilità di vedere e
toccare con mano i tanti cambiamenti
avvenuti nella vita delle persone,
donne e bambine in particolare,
grazie alla presenza da oltre vent’anni
di un’organizzazione come questa:
ActionAid lavora in India dal 1972 e
raggiunge 6 milioni di persone.
“Lavoriamo in oltre 40 zone
dell’India, dalle baraccopoli, ai
margini delle grandi città, ai villaggi
rurali più remoti”. Quello che sembra
funzionare di questa onlus è il suo
sostegno ai gruppi di auto-aiuto.
Per esempio Surya Ranjini,
sindacalista fondatrice
dell’organizzazione Nisarga nel
37
APRIL 2014
Volume 123
distretto Chittoor dell’Andhra
Pradesh, collabora con ActionAid per
ottenere il riconoscimento dei diritti
delle comunità Dalit e tribali nelle
campagne: ma a chiedere al governo
locale il rispetto delle leggi che
prevedono diritto al lavoro alla sanità
e allo studio con sussidi e facilitazioni
per tutte le famiglie ci vanno loro, le
donne Dalit e le capo tribù: grazie
agli incontri con ActionAid si sono
emancipate e hanno imparato a farsi
valere.
“Siamo al fianco di donne e bambini
per dare loro la possibilità di
diventare cittadini attivi e consapevoli
dei loro diritti. Ci impegniamo
affinché il governo renda funzionanti
e accessibili i programmi statali per il
sostentamento delle famiglie, tra cui
quello che regolamenta la proprietà
della terra” ci spiega Surya. “Vogliamo
migliorare la disponibilità di cibo
informando le persone dei sussidi
statali esistenti, come le pensioni di
anzianità, di cui la gente, in modo
particolare le donne, non è a
conoscenza. Sosteniamo i contadini
per garantire loro l’accesso alle
risorse naturali facilitando la
diffusione delle informazioni sulle
leggi per il diritto alla terra grazie alla
traduzione delle norme nella lingua
nativa.
In tutte le nostre attività le donne
hanno un ruolo di rilievo. Lavoriamo
per sradicare la discriminazione di
genere intervenendo in primo luogo
contro la violenza sulle donne grazie
alla creazione, in ogni stazione di
polizia, di uffici dedicati alla raccolta
delle denuncie da parte di personale
qualificato. Ci impegniamo affinché
venga affermato il diritto alla terra ed
in particolare che le comunità e le
famiglie riconoscano il diritto alla
proprietà delle case e dei terreni per
le donne rimaste sole”.
L’emancipazione delle donne
comincia con la garanzia della loro
salute e della loro sicurezza. Poi c’è il
diritto all’istruzione e al lavoro.
Mentre il diritto a scegliersi il partner
resta ancora un miraggio: resta il
dramma delle spose bambine come
Gangamma, data in matrimonio a due
anni allo zio di 13. Per non parlare
delle bambine vendute dai padri e poi
costrette a una vita da schiave del
sesso.”La strada da percorrere è
ancora lunga, ma prima o poi ce la
faremo. We shall overcome” e Surya
sorride, mentre le contadine che la
circondano smettono di zappare e per
salutarci cantano, come un tempo
facevano le nostre mondine.
Poets’ Corner
DOLORES
Hoje me deu tristeza,
sofri três tipos de medo
acrescidos do fato irreversível:
não sou mais jovem.
Discuti política, feminismo,
38
APRIL 2014
Volume 123
a pertinência da reforma penal,
mas ao fim dos assuntos
tirava do bolso meu caquinho de espelho
e enchia os olhos de lágrimas:
não sou mais jovem.
As ciências não me deram socorro,
nem tenho por definitivo consolo
o respeito dos moços.
Fui no Livro Sagrado
buscar perdão pra minha carne soberba
e lá estava escrito:
"Foi pela fé que também Sara, apesar da idade avançada,
se tornou capaz de ter uma descendência..."
Se alguém me fixasse, insisti ainda,
num quadro, numa poesia...
e fossem objeto de beleza os meus músculos frouxos...
Mas não quero. Exijo a sorte comum das mulheres nos tanques,
das que jamais verão seu nome impresso e no entanto
sustentam os pilares do mundo, porque mesmo viúvas dignas
não recusam casamento, antes acham o sexo agradável,
condição para a normal alegria de amarrar uma tira no cabelo
e varrer a casa de manhã.
Uma tal esperança imploro a Deus.
Adélia Prado
Quote for the Day:
“When in doubt, choose change.”
Lily Leung
39
APRIL 2014
Volume 123
JUST FOR FUN:
You are encouraged to share w ith us any inform ation or m aterial
you think m ay be of interest for the nex t issue, by w riting to [email protected].
Also, do not hesitate to share this new sletter w idely w ith your colleagues and
netw orks .
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APRIL 2014
Volume 123
This newsletter is not an official document of the ITC-ILO. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of
the ITC-ILO. The designations employed do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the ITC-ILO
concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its
frontiers.
10/04/2014/CB
41

Who, What, Where HIGHLIGHT – Ageing and Gender

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