- Brigitte Triems is president of the European Women’s Lobby, the largest non-governmental women’s organisation in the European Union, representing approximately 2000 organisations in 30 European Countries. Working with its members at national and European levels, the EWL’s main objective is to fight for gender equality and to ensure the integration of a gender perspective in all EU policy areas. The opinions expressed are her own. -

Some Europeans like to claim that we have achieved equality between women and men in Europe, and that the struggle for equality belongs to another, preferably faraway, region. Unfortunately there is little reality behind these claims.

Fresh figures show that the average gender pay gap in Europe is 17,4 percent and that women’s job security is more precarious than those of men.

Women are largely under-represented at decision-making levels both nationally and at a European level. Only 22 percent of the members of national parliaments are women in the EU, and of the seats in the European Parliament barely a third are filled by women.

Violence against women is persistent throughout Europe, and women’s right to abortion is being denied or restricted in several EU countries.

International Women’s Day is a day for all those who strive for equality and justice. The realities outlined above are some of the reasons why women’s movements remain mobilised throughout Europe, and in particular on International Women’s Day. This is a day that is relevant for all citizens who want to contribute to a more just and sustainable society in which women and men share political and economic responsibilities, where care for elderly and children is shared between women and men and made a societal concern rather than a private one, and where women live lives free from violence.

However, it is also important to be aware that women in Europe face a range of realities and struggles. The possibility of creating a more just society will largely depend upon integrating migrant women, lesbians, and disabled women into the core political processes.

The world of economics has a gender. It is male. With the financial crisis and the now evident systemic challenges, gender imbalances become even more striking. Every television screen and panel features male politicians and male economists, often the very same men that engineered the current financial meltdown, whom we are asked to trust to come up with solutions.

Feminists across Europe demand a different approach than patch it up and go on with “business-as-usual.” A gendered analysis of our economies as based on both productive and reproductive work, and how this can and must be coupled with issues of equality, should together with sustainable development perspectives become center stage at a moment where we look for new models for the financial and economic systems.

Equality is the only forward option for Europe. In view of the importance of the upcoming European elections in June 2010, and the opportunity it creates for change at European level, European Women’s Lobby has launched a campaign “No modern European democracy without gender equality - 50/50,” calling for more women in decision making at all levels. Having more women in decision-making is a question of democracy and it is about fully recognizing women as actors of change, as driving forces of sustainable social, economic, and environmental development in Europe. The 50/50 campaign is supported by more than half of the current 27 European Commissioners, and over 200 prominent supporters have signed up to the campaign.

Sign the petition and take action - European Women’s Lobby 50/50 Campaign website

- Sam Cook is the director of the PeaceWomen Project – a project of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom – the world’s oldest women’s peace organization founded in 1915 in the Hague. WILPF is an international non-governmental organization with national sections in 35 countries, covering all continents. Its international secretariat is based in Geneva with a New York United Nations office. The opinions expressed are her own. -

With the global financial crisis seemingly in every headline and a looming economic meltdown foremost on everyone’s minds, the observance of International Women’s Day on March 8 may not seem of immediate relevance. But it is.

Clara Zetkin, who is credited with first putting forward the idea of an international women’s day in 1910, would likely have a lot to say about where we are today. She and other committed socialists of the women’s and the peace movements in the U.S. and Europe whose work inspired this Women’s Day would probably not be entirely surprised at what the dominant economic and political power ideologies of the last century have delivered.

Of course International Women’s Day has grown beyond its working class roots in the early 1900’s. Alongside the women’s movement, we see now that global corporations and governments actively claim support of the day and its celebrations. The official website of International Women’s Day claims this fact as a positive achievement. But, as someone who considers herself part of the peace and women’s movements, this causes me no small measure of discomfort and adds to my mixed emotions about the day.

It is not that I don’t appreciate the power and significance of an international day of observance of work for women’s empowerment and gender equality. It is not that I think we have no need of attention to these issues. It is not that I feel that all the important achievements are the ones behind us - as the bumper sticker pinned above my desk reads, “I’ll be a post-feminist in post-patriarchy.” No, I believe that International Women’s Day is an important reminder of the work that still needs to be done and it is certainly a powerful moment of solidarity across time and space.

It is fortifying to work with a sense of common cause with women from places as diverse as the cities of Latin America, the hamlets of Europe, the suburbs of North America and the villages and sprawling urban centres across Africa. It is inspiring to know that this work on a wide range of issues - from equal pay for equal work; to access to reproductive health services; and ending violence against women - is building on the work of generations of women before us. These are all reasons that make International Women’s Day a day worth celebrating. But they are also the reasons that I want to reclaim the day. Reclaim it back from the hands of empty ritual and rhetoric and from those that treat it like another public relations opportunity.

I’m not saying that governments and corporations don’t do “good things” or that they don’t invest in gender equality and women’s empowerment. But, when one looks at the bigger picture - including that revealed by this global financial crisis - those efforts seem less laudable. As with so many things, it is hard to get the true picture and see where priorities lie until you do the comparisons and look at the numbers.

As tax payers in the U.S. are aghast at upwards of $700 billion dollars going to “bail out” the financial system, little is said of the fact that this figure is also the approximate annual military budget of the U.S. Global military spending currently exceeds $1,204 billion dollars annually at 2006 prices. The combined budgets of the United Nations entities working on women’s issues amounts to approximately 0.005 percent of that.

The World Bank estimates the cost of interventions to promote gender equality under Millennium Development Goal 3 (universal access to education) to be $7-$13 per capita. The world’s military expenditure in 2006? $184 per capita. This is the financial crisis. That investing in weapons and war and creating human insecurity is prioritized over investing in peace, development and gender equality. This is what we should be questioning and working to change as we stand together on International Women’s Day. And if the governments and corporations of the world really want to show their support for this day, then ending militarism would be a good place to start.

– Tessa Jowell is Britain’s Minister for the Olympics and London and has held a variety of senior government posts. She has direct responsibility for delivery of the government’s Olympic programme. Jowell has been a member of parliament for the Labour Party since 1992. The views expressed are her own. –

In 1896 a Greek woman called Stamata Revithi decided to run the inaugural modern day Olympic Marathon in Greece. Arriving in the Village of Marathon she was told by officials that she was not allowed to compete in the race the next day as the entry deadline had expired.

Today historians agree that the real reason for her exclusion was her gender - women were not allowed to compete in any of the events in the inaugural Olympic Games. This did not deter Revithi, who ran the marathon by herself the day after the main race, running her final lap around the outside of the main stadium as she wasn’t allowed inside to officially mark the culmination of her five and a half hour run, in fact it would take nearly 100 years before women could compete in an Olympic Marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

This kind of discrimination seems unthinkable now but more than 120 years after Revithi ran through the streets of Greece women are still barred from over 40 Olympic events. In Paralympic sport the figures are worse with women unable to compete in nearly 50 per cent of events.

Although the International Olympic Committee has made some progress in this area - in 1980 women represented only 18 percent of athletes at the Moscow Games, a figure that had risen to 45 percent in Beijing last year - there is still a long way to go. I know that in some sports there may be historical reasons why women do not participate. But its time Olympic sport moved with the times.

With a global audience of billions the Olympics are perhaps the greatest show on earth. The men and women who compete in the Games inspire awe, wonder and respect for their talent and dedication. In short they become role models or sporting ‘heroes’ that people, particularly children, look up to. And how often do women get the chance to see other women playing sport? There is more than 50 times as much coverage in the media for men’s sport than women’s, with just 2 percent of articles and 1 percent of images devoted to elite female athletes and women’s sport.

Women watch the Olympics more than any other sporting event; this makes it even more important to me to pursue equal representation in the Olympic Games. Women, like men, need to have strong sporting role models to look up to like Paula Radcliffe, Rebecca Addlington or Christine Ohuruogu, just as they need to have strong role models to look up to in other areas of life whether that’s Hillary Clinton or Kylie Minogue.

This is why Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe and I are calling for change. But equality shouldn’t just be on the sporting track it needs to be across the board. The world has changed a lot since the suffragette movement at the beginning of the 20th century but the treatment of women still varies from country to country. Globally there is a gender pay gap where women do two thirds of the world’s work but receive only 10 percent of the world’s income and unbelievably there are still a minority of countries where women can’t vote.

Across the world millions of women suffer from rape, domestic abuse and mutilation without their attackers being brought to justice. And in an age when many of us living in the western world take access to education and healthcare for granted, there are many women and girls with out access to basic midwifery care or schools. Clearly we still have a long way to go before women not only have the same rights as men but access to the same opportunities.

So, as I use International Women’s Day to think about the role of women in the Olympics I think the challenge is to make the Games as much a place for women as men. London 2012 is a unique opportunity to try and change the status quo and smash a few stereotypes so that in the future there are strong female role models for girls growing up - whether on the sporting field, in the boardroom or the construction site; and girls, like boys, are encouraged to aim high and be the very best.

– Ray Chambers is a philanthropist and humanitarian who has directed most of his efforts towards children. In 2008, the U.N. Secretary-General appointed him as his first Special Envoy for Malaria. The views expressed are his own. –

Malaria infects one quarter of a billion people each year. Nearly one million of those afflicted die, taxing overburdened health infrastructures and decreasing productivity in Africa, where 90 percent of cases occur.

In some countries on the continent, 60 percent of all outpatient visits are malaria related, with one quarter of worker absenteeism due to the disease. Taking all lost time and productivity into consideration, malaria costs Africa more than $30 billion annually.

The mosquito carrying the deadly malaria parasite makes no distinction when choosing its victim. Young or old, male or female, everyone in endemic regions remains at risk; however, International Women’s Day on March 8th prompts us to examine independently the immense burden women shoulder as a result of malaria.

The disease strikes infants, children under five and pregnant women in astonishing disproportion, as these segments of the population account for 90 percent of malaria deaths. Given the dual role of women as both victim and primary protector of victims, malaria clearly belongs under the umbrella of traditional women’s health issues.

It deserves particular recognition as a priority in maternal health, which the World Health Organization defines as pregnancy, childbirth and the six-week postpartum period.

Unfortunately, the early stages of motherhood in Africa can entail suffering, ill-health and even death, as one-in-five African newborns will not live to his or her fifth birthday.

Mothers confront an endless series of menaces, from malnutrition to dehydration, but almost nothing poses a greater threat to the well-being of their children than malaria, which claims three times as many young lives as HIV/AIDS.

Even those children who survive the disease often face lifelong challenges, as the disease robs their brain and body of nutrients at an early age. In turn, over 12 percent of children who do survive suffer long-term cognitive deficiencies.

Malaria raises additional implications with respect to maternal health. Pregnancy in Africa carries an inherent risk for mothers, too frequently resulting in maternal fatality.

When a pregnant woman contracts malaria, this risk becomes significantly greater. Moreover, pregnant women who have malaria also have a higher risk of delivering low-birth-weight babies, a major cause of infant mortality.

While the effects and consequences of malaria appear incredibly dispiriting, reason for hope exists, for we know that we can prevent deaths from malaria among women and children through the application of proven interventions, especially by having them sleep under a long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito net (LLIN).

Equally as important as this knowledge, we also have harnessed the collective global will and resources to turn the tide against malaria.

In 2008, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a bold call to action to provide all endemic countries essential malaria control interventions by the end of December 2010, a call that rallied a broad coalition of funding and implementation partners, who have pledged over $3 billion in malaria funding.

At this moment, we can point to definite indicators of progress toward our overall goal of universal provision, with data revealing that LLINs now have been distributed to more than 40 percent of the population in endemic African nations, compared to less than 10 percent in 2005.

Over 140 million LLINs have been distributed over the past three years, offering protection to nearly 300 million people.

At the highest levels, women have led us to this unique moment in history. Dr. Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Executive Director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, and Ann Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF, represent only a few of the women who have had a most profound influence in mobilising support.

Concurrently, women have been galvanizing around malaria at a grassroots level, with advocates such as the mother of African soccer star Michael Essien leading malaria eradication programs.

While these and other women have guided us to a point filled with such promise, we hold no hope of reaching our target without the full engagement of women everywhere.

As evidenced with other issues, the unified commitment of women to a cause historically has yielded dramatic results. The collective contributions of women to the malaria effort will prove absolutely essential, especially as we work to increase LLIN utilisation throughout Sub-Saharan Africa in the next 22 months.

On this International Women’s Health Day, the malaria community sits poised to complete an undertaking previously viewed as impossible and, in the process, alleviate the unique and terrible sorrow the disease imposes on women. And it is women on whom the success of this mission so dearly depends.

– Ellie Bird is a Detective Superintendent with British Transport Police and Vice President of the British Association for Women in Policing. Throughout her 26 years service Ellie has worked in uniform, detective and headquarters roles, including as Operations Superintendent on London Underground with responsibility for policing major events such as the Tour de France and command for major incidents. Ellie has experience in policing child abuse and domestic violence investigations as well as public protection and serious crime. The opinions expressed are her own. –

As I read the newspaper today, I am reminded of the fact that thousands of women burn to death every year in domestic violence

Through the nature of my work, my personal travels and my charity ventures around the world I have been exposed to many different issues affecting women and the challenges they face and endure in their day-to-day lives.

For me, the significance of International Women’s Day is a chance to reflect on my own experiences, to consider what I would do faced with the problems many women are exposed to today and given the opportunity and responsibility, what would I do to try and help to bring about positive change. It also affords me the opportunity to encourage others to learn about and consider these issues and for me to ask what legacy I would wish to leave given the chance to make a difference.

Many people still believe discrimination, physical, mental and sexual abuses are no longer significant issues affecting millions of women across the world - clearly we still need to educate.

In 2006, I travelled through Kathmandu on my way to Everest Base Camp raising money to train midwives at the Women’s Hospital based in Birmingham, England, on how to identify domestic violence during pregnancy. I was horrified not only to discover that this was a significant problem in many of the UK’s communities but also the cultural impact it created on those living in such a vast rural environment. For instance, women, who on deciding to leave their husbands as a result of such abuse, would almost certainly risk losing family support; the loss of their immediate family and bring dishonour to their extended family. As a result, many women would choose to stay in the relationship thereby being captive to a lifetime of abuse.

I have learnt in my professional career that to take on a challenge is one thing but to fight for change is both valiant and brave. These however, are worthless endeavours unless one is confident about the future and equally confident that change is sustainable and progressive.

It has to be right to liberate young women and girls, grant them access to free education and enable them to live in an environment where they can positively develop. As a consequence, this may lead to women owning their own property, running their own businesses and more importantly passing on their positive experiences to other women within their respective communities.

In order to make a difference, those seeking to bring about change must very carefully consider the training, the support and the infrastructure required so that these changes may be taken forward for generations to come.

There is no doubt that much has been achieved, as my life and indeed all of our working environments become more culturally diverse we all have to acknowledge and consider opportunities and fairness for women across the globe.

As an example, in India equality of the sexes is guaranteed in the constitution but apparently remains a distant dream for all but the very rich. Before we discard this as being irrelevant to us, let us consider carefully how effective our laws, guidance and good practices have been. Cultural influences do not change when people cross continents and so in policing terms, we have to learn to identify and respond appropriately to those women who are a part of our communities.

International Women’s Day is about having the opportunity to explore and challenge cultures. It is only through learning about and challenging cultures that I believe we really will achieve long term sustainable change thereby enabling women to maximise their potential and the contribution they can make to their world.

- Laura Currie is director of international communications at Right to Play. The opinions expressed are her own. _

On the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8, each year, the inevitable questions always arise: Have women made enough change? Are things as good as they are going to get?

I think that by definition, there will always be change; this will never stop. But what I find compelling is the amount of progress that women have made and that those who’ve had the opportunity to progress, continue to lead the charge and champion this chance for others.

Some women pursue this quietly and discreetly and others, in a more vociferous way. Some speak out and others take action. Some spend time with women or girls who need support and others perhaps educate boys on the role that they can play. It’s inspiring to see so many people working in their own personal way to further social and economic prospects for women.

When I joined Right To Play about a year ago, one of the things that struck me the most was the amount of focus that we, as an organisation, place on ensuring the inclusion of girls in our work and our programs. Right To Play is an international humanitarian organization that uses sport and play programs to improve health, develop life skills, and foster peace for children and communities in the most disadvantaged areas of the world.

Inclusion, as one of Right To Play’s two guiding principles (along with sustainability), is one of the key focuses of our programs. As many of the communities in which we work traditionally prioritize the education of boys over that of girls, and tend to view girls’ participation in sports and physical, public activity as negative, Right To Play has made it a primary goal to address gender equality in sports and education.

Many of Right To Play’s resources, especially “Youth as Leader” and “Team Up,” contain activities and educational games that specifically target gender equality in schools, in sports and in the community as a whole. These activities aim to encourage girls to take an active part in community life and to take on leadership roles within their schools and communities, increasing their own development and confidence and also inspiring other young girls as role models.

Right To Play training sessions for local teachers, Coaches and volunteers is another key element of our work. These training workshops also aim to include women and girls as leaders, giving children who participate in activities the chance to see women acting as community leaders and having a positive impact on others.

Right To Play continues to work to include as many girls and women as possible in our programs. In the fourth quarter of 2008, participation of girls was high at almost 50 per cent (of over 600,000 children regularly participating in activities) and more than 50 per cent of Coaches/teachers/leaders were female, out of almost 13,000.

Finally, Right To Play is proud to be supported by many female Athlete Ambassadors across the world who support Right To Play by helping to raise funds and awareness of our message. As visible role models, they play a key role in inspiring children through their visits to our field locations where they can have the chance to interact and bond with the children. The female athletes who visit our programs are not only providing young girls in disadvantaged communities with role models of successful confident women, but they also show girls that they can and should participate in sports alongside boys, and there are great physical, emotional and social benefits from doing so. Our female Athlete Ambassadors have conquered the world, and they usually welcome the chance to help other girls dream of doing the same.

Are things as good as they are going to get? No, and the fact that we stop once a year to evaluate women’s progress, to take a critical look at what else we can be doing and to celebrate women around the world, is a promising sign that we will always be striving for more.

- Reverend Dr. Miranda Threlfall-Holmes is Chaplain and Solway Fellow of University College, Durham. As a historian, she has published work on late medieval monastic history and the medieval economic history of the North East of England, notably “Monks and Markets” (Oxford University Press, 2005). Her current research interests are the history of the doctrine of the Trinity, and women’s issues in the contemporary church. She is a member of the General Synod of the Church of England, and a committee member for the group Women and the Church.

International Women’s Day on March 8, is an important opportunity for us to reflect on the fact that women are still taken less seriously than men all around the world. Even in supposedly equal cultures such as my own in the UK women continue, for example, to be paid less than men for the same work, and to suffer pregnancy-related discrimination in employment. Women are disproportionately under-represented in government and on the boards of large corporations. Women’s sport is generally less well funded and less popular than men’s, whilst women’s contribution to art and literature has a tendency to be marginalised - as “chick lit,” for example.

Of course, viewing women as of lesser value than men has a long history. We cannot expect such deeply held cultural stereotypes to be overturned instantly. But it does worry me that some people in our culture seem to believe that we have eradicated sexism from our society, and that further progress is therefore at best unnecessary, at worst signs of a suspicious “feminist agenda” aiming not for equality, but for superiority for women.

Just because we (thankfully) have laws in place for gender equality and against discrimination, does not mean that the fight for equality is over. Underlying attitudes and assumptions about men and women are much harder to change. The sexism that we are barely aware of, or accept as being “just the way things are”, is an extremely powerful disincentive to change.

It is a sad fact that for many people, the male is still seen as the norm for humanity, and the female as deviant from the norm. Even where this is not intended as a value judgement, it remains an insidious underlying assumption of a great deal of day to day activity and discourse. For example, medical trials are often based on men alone except for specific “female complaints.”

In the church, the debate over women’s ordination provides a good example of how the male is still seen as normative. In Christian theology, it is axiomatic that God is neither male nor female. Yet persistently over history God has been normalised as male, and men have therefore been seen as closer to God than women.

In arguments against women’s ordination as priests or bishops in the Church of England today, claims are still made that only men can represent Christ. Yet Christ in Christian theology is the ultimate representative human being, not the ultimate representative man.

Otherwise women would be excluded from the message of salvation, which is both absurd and offensive. Claims are also made that the weight of historical tradition means that women should not be ordained - an argument for never changing anything. Or that nothing should change until the worldwide Catholic and Orthodox churches all change together. But an international day like this shows us that the world never changes together or at once. Different cultures have very different starting points, and different issues of pressing concern.

But in all our cultures around the world, even the most apparently “developed,” things have not changed enough for women. For the benefit of women, men, girls and boys, we still need to strive towards full gender equality of opportunity, so that each individual may be free to reach their full potential and make their full contribution to society. What a waste - in Christian terms, what a sin - to settle for anything less.

- During Dany Cotton’s 20 years with the London Fire Brigade she has risen through the ranks to become a Deputy Assistant Commissioner, and is the highest ranking operational woman firefighter in the UK. She was also the first woman firefighter in Britain to be awarded the Queen’s Fire Service Medal. The opinions expressed are her own. -

International Women’s Day on March 8, is significant for me as it’s a reminder how far women have come in all industries, but particularly my own.

The term “fireman” is no longer in use within the fire service, but is still part of everyday language, used as a generic term for people who fight fires. I’m proof that women can succeed in the fire service though, and I’m certainly not alone. More women are joining in operational front line roles - as firefighters - and making a real impact.

People sometimes say, “Why does it matter if firefighters are male or female? If my house is on fire, I don’t care who rescues me.” This is true of course - it really doesn’t matter - and all of London’s firefighters are highly trained and ready to respond to emergencies.

However, the role of the fire service is changing, and it’s no longer simply about attending emergencies. In fact, the work we do now isn’t just complemented by a diverse workforce, it demands one.

It’s no coincidence that fires, and fire deaths, are decreasing. Today’s fire and rescue service is very much about prevention rather than cure, with firefighters visiting vulnerable people in their homes, attending schools and working with businesses to ensure their premises are safe.

Making links with our community - talking to people on their level - means that people with different perspectives, life experiences, language skills and cultural knowledge are becoming increasingly valuable. Of course, as firefighters we all need to meet physical standards, but this job is not just about climbing ladders. We would prefer to save someone’s life by providing information or fitting a smoke alarm than by pulling them out of a burning building.

I joined the fire service 20 years ago, and in that time there have been major improvements for women. On my first day of training I did have doubts. It was hard both physically and mentally but I really enjoyed it. When I joined there were very few women in the service and some people were quite wary and suspicious of us, so that was a real challenge. Things have improved greatly since though, both in terms of the attitudes to women and the facilities for women on fire stations.

Now there’s nothing unusual about a woman arriving at London Fire Brigade’s training centre, and as an organisation we are committed to increasing the amount of women we see coming into the fire service. The Government has asked the UK’s fire and rescue service to aim at a target of 15 per cent of trainees joining the Brigade by 2013, being women. Though this is a challenge, it’s one we will work hard to meet as the benefits of a diverse workforce make sound business sense.

It’s all about reaching people who wouldn’t have considered the fire service as a career and asking them to think about it. As more women join, more will sit up and take notice. I didn’t sign up to be a trailblazer for others, but if I inspire people to follow in my footsteps then that can only be a good thing.

London is now home to well over 200 women firefighters and many became aware of the career at our open days where women can try out the kit we use, take some of the physical tests that they would be expected to pass, and speak to serving women firefighters about their experiences.

My personal experiences are very positive. As a Deputy Assistant Commissioner much of my role these days is managerial, but I’ll never forget my most rewarding experiences as a front line firefighter, such as saving a young couple from a fire in South London. There have been traumatic times too, like attending the Clapham rail crash in the 80s, but there have also been a lot of laughs. These experiences would have been the same regardless of my gender. As a woman, and as a firefighter, it’s been a great career.

So, this International Woman’s Day is a great opportunity to remember that the fire service has changed, and is still changing for the better. Women are not a novelty any more and are joining, and crucially, progressing on merit into more senior operational roles. There is still plenty more to do, but looking back 20 years, or even 10 years, London Fire Brigade is a different place. The culture has changed and is still changing.

- Shelley Ross is secretary general of the Medical Women’s International Association, a non-governmental organisation representing women doctors from all continents. The opinions expressed are her own. -

The Medical Women’s International Association was created in 1919, not long after the first International Women’s Day in 1911. MWIA’s founder was an American by the name of Dr. Esther Pohl Lovejoy, who served as its first president. She was an obstetrician by training but an activist and humanitarian by action. Not only did she establish MWIA but she also founded the American Women’s Hospital Service during the First World War.

The motto of the Medical Women’s International Association, Matris Animo Curant, comes from Latin and translates to read, “She Heals with the Spirit of a Mother.”

From the time of Hygeia in ancient Greece to present day, women have had a significance influence on the practice of medicine.

To name three of its objectives, MWIA (1) works to overcome gender-related differences in health and healthcare between women and men throughout the world, (2) works to overcome gender related inequalities in the medical profession and (3) works to promote health for all through the world with particular interest in women, health and development.

International Women’s Day on March 8, gives us an opportunity to reflect on how we are doing with accomplishing these objectives.

Regarding gender-related differences in health and healthcare, a past Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, once said that no country treats their women the same as they treat their men. This is often more readily apparent in the developing countries, where family resources dictate that boys will receive medical care and girls will not. Reproductive health is another example of gender related differences in health care.

In 2009, women are still being denied skilled care during pregnancy, labour and delivery because they cannot access appropriate medical care. In sub-Saharan Africa, the cause is often lack of transportation to the medical facility whereas in the U.S., it is the lack of medical insurance.

Regarding gender-related inequalities in the medical profession, the biggest change has been in the number of women in medical school. In the developed world, female medical students equal if not surpass the number of male medical students. This has already changed the way medicine is practiced, as women have demanded a better work-life balance.

With this improvement in working conditions comes the danger of the profession becoming a Pink Collar profession, where the female predominance equates to lack of influence. One of MWIA’s jobs is to ensure that there are enough women in leadership roles to ensure that medicine continues to have the ability to influence policy makers and advocate for those in need of health care.

The number of women in medical school does not equate with the number of women in higher academic positions, such as deans of medical schools or heads of departments. For those women who wish to climb the academic ladder, there are many obstacles along the way, including the lack of female mentors. On the other hand, many women doctors feel that there is no discrimination, as they are busy balancing home and work and are quite happy to keep their head above water with their required day to day activities.

MWIA has had some successes when it comes to promoting health for all. MWIA has written a manual on how to make sure health care has a gender perspective and a manual on adolescent sexuality. MWIA was very involved in promoting immunization against Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which is the leading cause of cancer of the cervix. Thanks to MWIA’s work, there are many programs in schools that are immunizing girls and in some countries, boys, against this infection.

MWIA has spoken out for years against female genital mutilation (FGM). Dr. Koso Thomas of Sierra Leone wrote a book thirty years ago to help eradicate FGM, and recently starred in a Danish film, called “The Secret Pain,” that looks at FGM in her home country. MWIA has recently spoken out about osteoporosis, to help improve women’s awareness of the condition that predisposes them to major life changes. It is well known that once you have a hip fracture, your chance of leading an independent life ever again is less than 50 percent. MWIA holds international conferences that allow discussion on topics of timely interest. The next congress will be in Munster, Germany, in 2010. Visit the MWIA website at www.mwia.net for more information.

So, on International Women’s Day, the question is whether things are as good as they are going to get for women and the answer is no. MWIA will continue to work to improve the lot of both women in medicine and the health of all women.

- Glenda Stone is chief executive and founder of Aurora, a recruitment advertising and market intelligence company, and co-chairs the UK Women’s Enterprise Taskforce established by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The opinions expressed are her own. -

Most venture capital and angel investment tend to go to a specific breed of entrepreneur - innovative, well networked, intelligent, confident … male. Is this the result of deep-rooted discrimination or is this simply an issue of supply and demand? Women-owned businesses are largely under-capitalised and this leads to inhibited growth.

Access to finance is cited by numerous sources as the greatest barrier to the growth of women’s enterprise but “access” is only the consequence and “education” is the cause. More women need to participate in business education addressing business growth, technology, revenue models, and securing correct types of finance.

Globally women-led businesses receive less than 5 percent of venture capital. Women business owners also seek less bank loans and overdraft facilities. Regardless of country, women are more frugal - they do more with less, for less. Is this a flattering positive or is this a naive flaw that perpetuates women’s relegation to micro enterprise?

I co-chair a taskforce established by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. We advise on strategy relative to increasing the quantity and scalability of women’s enterprise. If women started and grew businesses at the same rate as their male counterparts, the economy would experience greater wealth and job creation and, needless to say, generate further substantial tax revenues for government.

The private sector is keen to encourage emerging markets of women entrepreneurs because this can result in an expanded customer base and vertical cross-selling opportunities. One of the biggest challenges facing the Taskforce is the disproportionate interest in micro versus fast-growth businesses, not so much from the private sector or senior experts in central government, but from business support providers and the actual women themselves. Perhaps the fast-growth female led businesses are simply busy doing business and do not view gender-based networks as relevant.
In addition to government programmes and private sector support typically from finance and technology corporations, thousands of businesswomen’s networking groups also exist around the world to encourage and support the rise of female entrepreneurs. Serving an important need, many of these networks provide various training programmes and events but the networks themselves usually lack revenue models and so each month many new networks launch while others simply disappear.

Although recent years have seen an emergence of women’s funding networks predominantly in the US, Canada and the UK, most networks tend to focus on micro-enterprise and social networking rather than on formal business education. In addition, media coverage tends to focus on small women-owned businesses in retail that have a good story for high audience appeal rather than on the more scalable and complex business-to-business enterprises that may be of less interest to mainstream media audiences.

Media coverage of women starting their business from the kitchen table in an area they have always enjoyed as a consumer, all while working flexibly caring for children, certainly predominate both online and offline media. Such stereotypes, while important for their inspiration, simply reinforce a narrow concept of women’s enterprise. “Women’s enterprise” is often acknowledged as one homogenous group with little market segmentation. Is this ignorance or because it is a market not considered to be worth pursuing?

International Women’s Day on March 8, celebrated annually since 1911, provides an excellent opportunity for reinforcing the importance of women’s equality through economic advancement - and creating wealth through enterprise is key to this. With around 15 per cent increase in the level of International Women’s Day activity year on year around the world, there is certainly considerable energy for positive change.