Woman still not equal
By CAROL MATROO Monday, March 11 2013
Political analyst Dr Indira Rampersad, speaking at the Network of Non-Governmental
Organisations of Trinidad and Tobago For The Advancement of Women’s Annual Tea at Capital Plaza, Port-of-Spain, on the weekend, said women are still underemployed and underpaid in the workplace. International Women’s Day was celebrated last Friday.
She said women remain disproportionately under-represented in the employed labour force, were overly represented in the unemployed labour force, and still overlooked for promotions at which they are paid less than their male colleagues in all areas.
Rampersad said globally women’s education had fallen and the violence against them had gotten worse. She said women faced horrifying abuse and health risks, including sexual exploitation and genital mutilation.
Rampersad said that in Africa alone, 101 million women have undergone female genital mutilation. She said according to the United Nations, over 2.5 million people were trafficked every year with 43 percent used for sexual exploitation, of which 98 percent are women and girls.
She said although child marriage has been outlawed in most countries, enforcement is so poor that more than 60 million girls under the age of 18 are married to men twice their age or older.
She added that one in three women on the planet would be raped, beaten or assaulted in their lifetime.
“People may ask what are we celebrating? We are celebrating the achievements of women around the world and their increasing participation in social and political involvement, and phenomenal attainment of female suffrage. Together we are celebrating the momentum we have gained... the greater number of women in the boardroom, greater equality especially in areas dominated by our male counterparts.
“We are also celebrating the increase in female politicians nationally and internationally, including our own Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the first female Prime Minister of this Republic,” she said.
Rampersad said we also needed to celebrate the fact that women today could make choices, work and have families while performing multiple other tasks. She noted though, that a recently released CSO 2011 (TT) revealed that while males outnumbered females at secondary school level, females outnumbered males at tertiary level, because it was most phenomenol that most girls were enrolling in universities.
She said an increasing number of women in tertiary education suggested that males have realised that they had not achieved higher education in the same way as they female counterparts, and they (women) were more employable in the labour market.
“So, what happens when they can’t find employment? This is the crisis that our country has been going through. They turn to crime. Crime in TT has two dominant factors–the drug/gang factor and domestic violence,” she said.
Organisations of Trinidad and Tobago For The Advancement of Women’s Annual Tea at Capital Plaza, Port-of-Spain, on the weekend, said women are still underemployed and underpaid in the workplace. International Women’s Day was celebrated last Friday.
She said women remain disproportionately under-represented in the employed labour force, were overly represented in the unemployed labour force, and still overlooked for promotions at which they are paid less than their male colleagues in all areas.
Rampersad said globally women’s education had fallen and the violence against them had gotten worse. She said women faced horrifying abuse and health risks, including sexual exploitation and genital mutilation.
Rampersad said that in Africa alone, 101 million women have undergone female genital mutilation. She said according to the United Nations, over 2.5 million people were trafficked every year with 43 percent used for sexual exploitation, of which 98 percent are women and girls.
She said although child marriage has been outlawed in most countries, enforcement is so poor that more than 60 million girls under the age of 18 are married to men twice their age or older.
She added that one in three women on the planet would be raped, beaten or assaulted in their lifetime.
“People may ask what are we celebrating? We are celebrating the achievements of women around the world and their increasing participation in social and political involvement, and phenomenal attainment of female suffrage. Together we are celebrating the momentum we have gained... the greater number of women in the boardroom, greater equality especially in areas dominated by our male counterparts.
“We are also celebrating the increase in female politicians nationally and internationally, including our own Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the first female Prime Minister of this Republic,” she said.
Rampersad said we also needed to celebrate the fact that women today could make choices, work and have families while performing multiple other tasks. She noted though, that a recently released CSO 2011 (TT) revealed that while males outnumbered females at secondary school level, females outnumbered males at tertiary level, because it was most phenomenol that most girls were enrolling in universities.
She said an increasing number of women in tertiary education suggested that males have realised that they had not achieved higher education in the same way as they female counterparts, and they (women) were more employable in the labour market.
“So, what happens when they can’t find employment? This is the crisis that our country has been going through. They turn to crime. Crime in TT has two dominant factors–the drug/gang factor and domestic violence,” she said.
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