On the Occasion of International Women’s Day

More Women Heading Businesses, Urges the INSTRAW Director

"Women’s participation in political and economic decision making both is slow and unsatisfactory", points out Carmen Moreno, Director of the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW)

(Santo Domingo, 08 March 2006) --- On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Director of the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) reiterates the call made by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to “ensure that half the world’s population takes up its rightful place in the world’s decision-making.”

Carmen Moreno also emphasizes that the recent election of 3 women as heads of State or Government – Michelle Bachelet in Chile, Ellen Jonson-Sirleaf in Liberia and Angela Merkel in Germany – represents an important step for women’s progress in decision making. “Now we need mini-Bachelets, mini-Johnson-Sirleafs or mini-Merkels in the communities, in the municipalities and in the city councils”, stated the head of the only UN Institute specializing in gender. “We have a head but we lack feet. How can women continue to advance without greater participation at the base?”, asks Carmen Moreno.

Women’s presence in local government is still unsatisfactory despite the advances achieved in the past years. With 30% of women’s representation, Africa surpasses all the other regions including Europe (23%), South America (26%), Central America (23%), Asia and Pacific (17%) and the Middle East (2.1%), according to data from United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). In order to support greater political participation of women at the local level, INSTRAW has initiated a project in several Latin American countries financed by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation [Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional] (AECI). Insofar as women’s representation in parliaments, Latin America had the greatest percentages in 2005 with 23% in Honduras, according to information from the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

“Even more dramatic is women’s under-representation in businesses at the highest levels of decision making”, the INSTRAW Director highlights. In the business world in most developed countries, women continue to face discrimination in terms of salaries and are excluded from high ranking posts despite having achieved insertion into the labour market.

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the country with the most women administrators and executives is not Japan, United Status or Finland but the Philippines. “Women who get a job do not necessarily achieve a business career, not even in the Nordic countries, considered as pioneers in political participation,” Carmen Moreno points out.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the INSTRAW Director urges governments and business groups to adopt concrete measures that promote greater participation of women in high-ranking posts in the private sector.

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