Gender News Archive

To view all the news articles that appeared in a particular year or month, click on a year below.

Commonwealth News speaks to women entrepreneurs: Released: 6 February 2012; "We have to recognise the potential of women, and encourage their entrepreneurial spirit"
Commonwealth plans for HM Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee: Released: 18 January 2012; The Commonwealth will celebrate the Queen’s 60 years as Head of the Commonwealth through five programmes known collectively as the Commonwealth Jubilee Diamond
Commonwealth boost for women’s export businesses: Released: 16 January 2012; Women entrepreneurs from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean will participate at Europe’s largest buyers fair following sponsorship from the Commonwealth Secretariat
We persons with disabilities are not challenged, it's just a different lifestyle: Released: 12 January 2012; Girls with disabilities are almost 10 per cent less likely to finish primary school than their male classmates according to a World Health Survey. Abia Akram, a 28-year-old Pakistani woman living with a disability, spoke to Commonwealth News about her campaign to raise the concerns of women with disabilities. She is attending the Commonwealth Secretariat Expert Roundtable on Inclusive Education and Sustainable Employment for Persons with Disabilities in the Commonwealth to give her views as a youth representative.

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International Women’s Day is held each year on 8 March. It was first observed worldwide in 1909.

There are 20 women Presidents and Prime Ministers in the world; seven from Commonwealth countries: Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, India's President Pratibha Patil, Jamaica's Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, Malawi's President Joyce Banda, Mauritius' President Monique Ohsan Bellepeau and Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar.

Currently, 13 Commonwealth countries are in the top 40 for mainstreaming women into Parliaments: Australia, Canada, Guyana, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Rwanda, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uganda. Rwanda ranks first with 56 per cent.

A third of African countries have over 30 per cent representation of women in governance.

Following constitutional amendments to reserve a third of all local government seats for women in India, over one million have been elected to the Panchayat Raj (local government)

Each year, more than 500,000 women – at least one every minute – die from pregnancy-related causes. The vast majority of these deaths occur in developing countries. An African woman's lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes is one in 16; in Asia, it's one in 65. In Europe, it's one in 1,400.

Women produce half the world's food, but own only 1 per cent of its farmland.

Past mortality rates for females in child-bearing age groups were higher than males at the same age. This is no longer the case. Female human life expectancy is considerably higher than men.

The first computer programmer was a woman in 1842: Ada Lovelace (1815–1852), analyst of Charles Babbage‘s analytical engine.

The first country to grant women the right to vote was New Zealand in 1893.

700,000 people will experience domestic violence in the UK. 90 per cent are white British females

Gender-based violence causes more deaths and disabilities among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war.

More than one billion people live in extreme poverty, 75 per cent are women and girls.

7 of the top 9 Fortune list of the most powerful businesswomen are from Commonwealth countries.

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Enquiries on our gender work:

Ms Linda Kalindi
gender@commonwealth.int

Media enquiries:

Victoria Holdsworth
+44(0)20 7747 6383
v.holdsworth@commonwealth.int

Gender News Archive

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