Civil society is being repressed by many alarming restrictions throughout the world, as laws that require registration, raids and forced closures of organizations, media, labor groups. Funding from abroad is increasingly monitored or forbidden. Peaceful rallies require advance approval or are met with military force. Violence against civilians has become rampant, including sexual violence. Women and men are arbitrarily arrested and held without due justice. Reporters and independent media are threatened, detained. Media is regularly censored or blocked, including social media. Extrajudicial arrests, violence, missing persons, can be especially insidious.
What does all this mean for women as we are encouraged to engage in the Post-2015 Development Goals?? As women are the largest number of poor, they may well not know about the restrictive laws and requirements until they are caught in the web of harassment as at a protest over a land dispute. Women rarely have money to have strong legal representation, access to courts. Women in NGO’s may find their “lifeline” for activity cut because of foreign funds restrictions. Women also feel the trauma of these repressions when family members are targets of surveillance, threats, arrests.
Young women at Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, India. UN Photo/Mark Garten
The newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals rightly include key targets for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. They offer an opportunity for a global commitment to breaking intergenerational transmission of poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination – and realizing our vision of a life of dignity for all."
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
2015 Theme: The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030
On December 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare 11 October as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.
Running away
Many teens think about running away from home at some point. If you are thinking about running away, you can get help, and you can learn more about life as a runaway.
If you are thinking about running away
Running away comes with a lot of possible problems. Teens who run away face a high risk of living on the streets, going hungry, and other serious worries. If you are thinking about running away, here are a few questions to ask yourself:
Get help
Are you thinking about running away? Are you already on the streets? If so, contact 800-RUNAWAY (800-786-2929) for services and support. If you or a friend needs a safe place to go, you also can text the word SAFE to 69866. And if you have run away and want to go home, you may be able to get a free bus ticket .
The report highlights a persistent gender gap with the rates of young women’s participation in the labour market being significantly lower than those of young men in most regions. They continue to be also more exposed to unemployment than their male counterpart.
Providing youth the best opportunity to transition to a decent job calls for investing in education and training of the highest possible quality, providing youth with skills that match labour market demands, giving them access to social protection and basic services regardless of their contract type, as well as levelling the playing field so that all aspiring youth can attain productive employment regardless of their gender, income level or socio-economic background.
Direct Link to Full 2015 ILO Report:
Website – Scroll down to click to Full Report:
http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/examining-pathways-towards-engendered-change-560344
Direct Link to Report:
Despite abundant evidence about their importance, unpaid care work and unequal division of labour between women and men are largely invisible in development policy and programmes. This case study of a value chain development (VCD) programme in Uganda argues that it is possible to change gender norms and relations that have existed for generations, and that this improves development outcomes significantly – but it takes deliberate effort and planning.
