Recent Developments
The slump in oil prices is increasing pressure on key oil exporters, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Recent data point to continued weakness across much of the region. Exchange rates have come under pressure, and in some countries, non-performing loans have ticked upwards or remain at elevated levels. High inflation rates and efforts to defend exchange rates have led to tight or pro-cyclical tightening of monetary policy in oil exporters.
The western part of the region, comprised of commodity importers that are more closely linked to the European Union or belong to it, has been growing modestly. Lower fuel costs are helping to moderate inflation (Poland, Turkey) and boost consumer spending.
Russia, which accounts for about 37 percent of the GDP in the region, is struggling to adjust to continued low oil prices, trade embargoes, and geopolitical concerns, compounded by tight fiscal and monetary policy. However, there are tentative indications that the decline in some sectors may be bottoming out.
Direct Link to Full 7-Page Toolkit: http://www.wunrn.org/pdf/ada.pdf
ILO – International Labour Organization:
http://www.ilo.org/gender/Informationresources/Publications/WCMS_457086/lang--en/index.htm
The Women at Work report provides the latest ILO data on women’s position in labour markets, examines the factors behind these trends and explores the policy drivers for transformative change.
Direct Link to 13-Page Executive Summary - http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_457086.pdf
Link to 138-Page FULL Report: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_457317.pdf
Throughout their working lives, women continue to face significant obstacles in gaining access to decent jobs. Only marginal improvements have been achieved since the Fourth World Conference on Women of Beijing in 1995, leaving large gaps to be covered in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the United Nations in 2015. Inequality between women and men persists in global labour markets, in respect of opportunities, treatment and outcomes.
Freedom House
There are multiple components of this report that affect the lives of women, and girls, in Europe and Eurasia, and their civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights.
Europe and Eurasia ended 2015 mired in institutional and economic crises that threatened both the survival of the European Union and the stability of Eurasia’s entrenched dictatorships
Direct Link to Full 27-Page Report:
https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FH_NIT2016_Final_FWeb.pdf
