Financial crisis hits women hardest
Updated
From the rights of children to the rights of women and more than 300 women's representatives from 60 Asia Pacific countries are in Bangkok reviewing gains made since the world conference on women in Beijing in 1995 and coming ahead of a major meeting in New York in March next year.
The financial crisis's impact on women across the region has been deep and women in the developing world see distinct differences in the goals between women in developing nations and those women in the industrialised world.
Presenter: Ron Corben
Speakers: Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific; Joanne Sandler, Deputy Director General of the United Nations Development Fund for Women; Devaki Jain, a leading Indian women's rights advocate
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CORBEN:Noeleen Heyzer, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific - UNESCAP - women's economic security had been badly affected by the global financial crisis.
HEYZER: In terms of the economic crisis itself, the issue that needs to be addressed of course is women's economic security and rights. And you have a situation where the financial crisis hit the real economy -- the manufacturing sector and when it comes to the sector and on garments and electronics and so on its women who are being affected.
But Dr Heyzer sees the trend of extremism as a more disturbing trend and growing threat to women.
HEYZER: My greatest fear is that of the rise of extremism - even more so than the financial crisis and the climate change agendas because laws what we thought were archaic and that we actually have been able to show that these are dangerous laws to have in our societies they are coming back. In terms of stoning of women, the public caning of women these are all the extremes ....And it's not just Sharia law - in all religions of all areas - the rise of extremism that happens to be a major concern.
The three day conference assessed progress made by women since the Beijing conference in 1995 ranging from women's empowerment to the impact of the global financial crisis as well as fresh challenges for women due to climate change and food security.
Joanne Sandler, deputy director general of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNFEM), says the global downturn has had far reaching effects on women that went well beyond job losses.
SANDLER: Given the financial and economic a lot of the focus has been on the impact of the crisis on women and girls. We can already see linkages between the crisis and other social issues - so for instance the way that the crisis is creating more informality less security for women workers. Things like violence against women we're already seeing women who are going into more insecure areas of work who then become more vulnerable to sexual harassment, sexual violence.
CORBEN: Sandler says governments are too often failing to include more women from key areas of society in setting policies in areas such as migration and women affected by AIDS.
Devaki Jain, a leading Indian women's rights advocate and a pioneer in women's studies say the experiences of women in developing countries are still often poorly understood by those in the industrialised world.
JAIN: The protection of rights is gradually taking place. But what is concerning us is that the kind of phenomena of experience of the women workers of the South countries like Africa, Latin America, and Asia is totally different from the poorest women in Scandinavia or America. There's no social insurance - there's no sense that she's not eating at all - there's no sense that a child can't go to school because she has no job. So the agendas that have been fixed are so much to do with the kind of issues that are infringing on what is called the World Wide Feminist Movement. You have to understand that the global economy has changed and that financing women is not the issue now - the issue is not to allow financial markets to be so free - the issue is totally different.
CORBEN: Jain says women are looking for a shift in the agenda from rights and violence against women - which she says are still critical - towards preserving, enhancing and protecting work for women in the developing world.
FOR CONNECT ASIA THIS IS RON CORBEN IN BANGKOK
