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	Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50:50 by 2030 by Lakshmi Puri Deputy Executive Director of UN Women   Yayi Bayam Diouf became the first woman to fish in her small rural fishing village in Senegal despite initially being told by the men in her community that the fish wouldn’t take bait from a menstruating woman. When she started practicing law, Ann Green, CEO of ANZ Lao, was asked to make coffee or pick up dry cleaning (by men and women), simply because she was a young woman. The difficulties faced by Yayi and Ann in entering the labour force and at the workplace are not only unique to them, but sadly is the reality for many women across the globe.   These difficulties represent violations of women’s human rights to work and their rights at work with gender-discriminatory laws still in existence in 155 countries, resulting in the gender wage gap of 23 percent globally. Also, women represent 75 percent of informal employment, in low-paid and undervalued jobs that are usually unprotected by labour laws, and lack social protection.   Only half of women participate in the labour force compared to three quarters of men, and in most developing countries it is as low as 25 percent. Women spend 2.5 times more time and effort than men on unpaid care work and household responsibilities. All of this results in women taking home 1/10 of the global income, while accounting for 2/3 of global working hours.   These inequalities have devastating immediate and long-terms negative impacts on women who have a lower lifetime income, have saved less, and yet face higher overall retirement and healthcare costs due to a longer life expectancy.   Women’s economic empowerment is about transforming the world of work, which is still very patriarchal and treats the equal voice, participation and leadership of women as an anomaly, tokenism, compartment or add on. Despite recognizing progress, structural barriers continue to hinder progress towards women’s economic empowerment globally.   At the current pace, it may take 170 years to achieve economic equality among men and women – according to estimates from the World Economic Forum’s latest Gender Gap Report. This is simply unacceptable.   To accelerate the move to a planet 50/50 in women’s economic empowerment and work will require a transformation of both the public and private sector environments and world of work they create for women and also how they change it to make it a women’s space of productive and fulfilling work.   It will mean adopting necessary laws, policies and special measures by governments. It means their actively regulating and providing incentives to companies and enterprises to become gender equal employers, supply chains and incubators of innovation and entrepreneurship.   The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, together with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (on financing for development), position gender equality and the empowerment of women as critical and essential drivers for sustainable development. There is a Sustainable Development Goal on gender equality (Goal 5) which seeks to ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’ and sets out global targets to address many of the remaining obstacles to gender inequality.   The framework recognizes women’s economic empowerment as essential enabler and beneficiary of gender equality and sustainable development and a means of implementation of all the six targets of SDG 5, including ending all forms of discrimination against all women and girls; ending all forms of violence and harmful practices like child marriage: recognizing and valuing unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family; ensuring women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life; and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.   Achieving these targets would have a multiplier effect across all other development areas, including ensuring equal access to decent work and full and productive employment (SDG 8), ending poverty (SDG-1), food security (SDG-2), universal health (SDG-3), quality education (SDG-4) and reducing inequalities (SDG-10).   The 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61) will focus on “Women’s Economic Empowerment in The Changing World of Work”, as its priority theme providing the international community the opportunity to define concrete, practical and action-oriented recommendations to overcome the structural barriers to gender equality, gender-based discrimination and violence against women at work.   We live in a world where change is happening constantly, presenting new challenges and opportunities to the realization of women’s economic empowerment. The innovations – especially in digital and information and communications technologies, mobility and informality are also increasing rapidly. Emerging areas, such as the green economy and climate change mitigation and adaptation offer new opportunities for decent work for women.   Also, in the context of new digital and information technologies, it is estimated that women will lose five jobs for every job gained compared with men losing three jobs for every job gained in the fourth industrial revolution. Successful harnessing of technological innovations is an imperative as is women’s STEM (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education and capability building, financial and digital inclusion for the realization of women’s economic empowerment.   Achievement of women’s economic empowerment, as well its related benefits, requires transformative and structural change. In his report on the priority theme of the Commission on the Status of Women, the Secretary-General of the United Nations identifies are four concrete action areas in achieving women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work, including strengthening normative and legal frameworks for full employment and decent work for all women at all levels; implementing economic and social policies for women’s economic empowerment; addressing the growing informality of work and mobility of women workers and technology driven changes; and strengthening private sector role in women’s economic empowerment.   Progress must be provided from both the demand and supply sides of the labour market. From the demand side, the enhancement of capacity building and the creation of a value chain of education skills and training for women is key to accelerating change.   This will in turn lead to decent work opportunities as well as productive employment for women. From the supply side, there must be a creation of an enabling environment for women to be recruited, retained and promoted in the work place, including through promoting policies to manage trade and financial globalization.   These forces, profoundly altering the world of work should come as a benefit to women and the working poor in rural and urban areas; and macroeconomic and labour market policies must create decent jobs, protect worker rights, and generate living wages, including for informal and migrant women workers.   Enhanced interventions to tackle persistent gender inequalities and gaps in the world of work, and stepped-up attention to technological and digital changes to ensure they become vehicles for women’s economic empowerment are needed. The creation of quality paid care economy is also pivotal in employment creation and in empowering at least a billion women- directly and indirectly as well as providing much needed jobs for all!   Transformative change is not only possible but it would generate tremendous dividends for the economy. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, if women were to play an identical role in labour markets to that of men, as much as USD 28 trillion, or 26 percent, could be added to global annual GDP by 2025.   Moreover, the total value of unpaid care and domestic work, dominated by women, is estimated to be between 10 and 39 per cent of national GDPs, and can surpass that of manufacturing, commerce, transportation and other key sectors. With women’s economic empowerment the global economy can therefore yield inclusive growth that generates decent work for all and reduces poverty ensuring that no one is left behind.   With the United Nations Observance of International Women’s Day, we celebrate the tectonic shift in the way that gender equality and women’s economic empowerment has been prioritized and valued in the international development agenda and express the resolve that we will all do everything it takes including transformative financing to achieve the ambitious goal of Planet 50/50 in the world of work by 2030.   * Lakshmi Puri is Deputy Executive Director of UN Women: http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/csw   * Towards a better future for women and work: Voices of women and men – International Labor Organization (ILO)   The ILO, in collaboration with Gallup, surveyed men and women in 2016 to understand their perceptions about women and work. The results are based on interviews with some 149,000 adults in 142 countries. Worldwide, the majority of women would prefer to be working, and men agree. A total of 70 per cent of women and a similar 66 per cent of men would prefer that women work at paid jobs. Each of these figures is more than double the percentages of those who would prefer women to stay at home: http://bit.ly/2n499IC   Mar. 2017   Empowerment of rural women is fundamental for achieving 2030 Agenda (FAO/IFAD/WFP Joint News Release)   Leaders from the three UN agencies have marked International Women''s Day by calling for greater efforts to invest in the capacities of rural women as key agents of change in building a world without hunger.   The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) reminded the world that women and girls play a crucial role in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular, the goal of eradicating hunger and extreme poverty.   "Women play a critical role in agriculture and food systems - not just as farmers, but also as food producers, traders and managers," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva on the occasion of the Day.   "However, women still face major constraints in rural labour markets and in agricultural value chains. They are more likely to be in poorly paid jobs, without legal or social protection. This limits women''s capacity to advance their skills, earn incomes and access employment opportunities."   Graziano da Silva noted that the future of global food security depends on unleashing women''s potential. "Achieving gender equality and empowering women are crucial ingredients in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition which is strongly recognized by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," he said.   IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze said, "We need to face the fact that we will never overcome poverty and hunger without empowering rural women."   He added, "We have ample evidence from around the world that greater empowerment of women in rural and urban areas leads to higher economic growth and a better quality of life for women and men alike.   Despite progress, it is still the case today that rural women''s double burden of farm labour and unpaid domestic work prevents them from participating fully and fairly in income-generating activities.   Improving rural women''s access to technologies that save time and labour is essential to reducing their workloads. Transforming gender relations within the family is also crucial to empowering women and enabling them to make decisions about their lives."   WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said, "Empowering women economically is one of the key steps to realizing gender equality and achieving Zero Hunger. The changing world of work - as patterns of economic activity shift - provides the opportunity to achieve these goals.   "Ensuring women have adequate access to land, tools, fertilizers and credit improves their lives and the lives of their families; potentially freeing millions from hunger.   We also know that school meals are a powerful incentive to keep girls in class, boosting their chances of completing school and finding employment. Enabling women to seize these opportunities will transform lives and help bring the Sustainable Development Goals within reach," she said.   Bridging the gender gap   In developing countries, women make up 45 percent of the agricultural labour force, ranging from 20 percent in Latin America to up to 60 percent in parts of Africa and Asia. However, they do significantly more unpaid work than men - especially in providing care to families and communities - limiting their capacity to earn incomes and advance their skills.   Gender-biased social norms, laws and practices can also limit women''s access to essential assets including natural resources and education as well as social assets such as participation in rural organizations and other decision-making bodies.   As a result, their ability to reach their full potential and influence decision-making in economic, social and political spheres, for example, is seriously undermined.   Measures that are crucial to ensuring rural women''s economic empowerment in the changing world of work include improving their access to economic opportunities, productive resources, jobs, health services, social protection and education. Evidence shows that malnutrition rates fall significantly when women have access to education and employment opportunities.   In addition, policies and programmes must address gender disparities in leadership and entrepreneurship, as well as the specific needs of millions of rural women working in the informal economy, by promoting their access to formal markets and value chains, innovative technologies and practices. http://bit.ly/2ml2qM4 Visit the related web page
	People are dying of drought; our indifference is an outrage by UNCCD, IPS, IRIN News   Mar 2017   People are dying of drought; our indifference is an outrage, by Monique Barbut. (UNCCD)   The effects of the El Nino drought of 2015-2016 are barely over and we have a new emergency. More than 20 million people in northern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen are currently at risk of starvation. It could become the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of United Nations in 1945. Close to 30 million people are affected globally and the humanitarian support being pledged is insufficient. To make matters even more complex, there is a 40 percent chance of another El Nino event forming later this year.   The lives and livelihoods of millions hang in the balance every time a major drought hits. As we mark World Water Day (22 March) and World Meteorological Day (23 March), the indifference that persists in the face of deaths from drought is an outrage. This indifference persists despite the fact we can see drought coming.   In the early stages, drought is not a dramatic disaster like an earthquake. Drought disasters creep up on us slowly. Long before claiming human lives, rainfall levels drop, rivers dry up and plants wither and die. There is time to intervene early and prevent a human catastrophe.   Yet, there is no internationally agreed threshold of what constitutes a drought emergency. Each country decides when to declare a drought and when to declare it a disaster. Countries often declare a drought when it is too late. Some do not declare it at and rely on humanitarian aid to fill any gaps. In most cases, the people worst affected by drought live in remote, rural areas. They are largely dependent on rain-fed agriculture and are often extremely poor, scratching a living from the parched earth. Their political influence and voice is often very limited.   As a result, an effective drought management system is not prioritized and falls by the wayside in national economic planning, even if it would save lives. Unfortunately, our general indifference has led to institutional failure.   For example, as drought-affected developing countries often lack an effective domestic early warning and drought management system they are forced to rely heavily on international sources for drought forecasting.   There is a perception of hidden agendas as warnings, which should be consistent, deliver conflicting or contradictory information. It does not help that the data used to issue the early warnings is not easily accessible to the governments themselves or that organizations that offer humanitarian assistance, based on the data provided, are often in competition.   Tragically, even if a warning arrives on time, the most vulnerable countries end up acting too late.   We can and must do better. In countries with strong institutions and drought management policies in place lives are rarely lost. Affected populations have access to drought insurance or receive government support to deal with the impact of drought on their livelihoods.   Rather than funding “just in time” humanitarian aid, again and again, it would be smart and cost-effective to make such early warning and early action are the norm in vulnerable ecosystems and the poorest communities.   Delivering such long-term resilience affordably is not a pipe dream. Small changes can be enough. In the past, people in the Tigray region of Ethiopia braced themselves for death with every drought. However, since they started investing in simple sustainable land management techniques to manage rain water, households have fared better.   Life is no bed of roses but for the third time in a row, despite the debilitating drought crippling much of the Horn of Africa, communities have survived largely intact.   Policy makers understand the clouds and are learning from such experiences. Droughts are going to get worse. They are already becoming more intense and more frequent. Africa, in particular, has recognised this and wants to act decisively.   Its call, at a pan-African conference on Drought Preparedness in 2016, for an international framework to guide action on drought could create the incentives for countries to build long-term resilience. If our indifference ends, lives and livelihoods can be saved.   * Monique Barbut is executive secretary of the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). http://www2.unccd.int/issues/land-and-drought   February 2017   How much worse are African droughts because of man-made climate change, asks Peter Lind. (IRIN News)   The once-fertile fields of South Africa’s Western Cape region are filled with scorched patches of earth, dying plants, and wasted crops.   The scene is now common throughout eastern and southern Africa, as droughts for three consecutive years have decimated crops and caused widespread hunger. New research indicates that it is partly due to climate change driven by human action, which has worsened the El Niño weather phenomenon.   “This is about as bad as it has ever been,” said Chris Harvey, as he walked to his farm´s irrigation dam, where the water level has fallen six metres in 10 months.   “We might not be able to grow any vegetables next year,” his wife Sue added.   Dams in the area are drying out, symptomatic of the continent´s battle with years of poor rainfall. The droughts in eastern and southern Africa beginning in 2015 have affected tens of millions of people. The latest numbers from the UN suggest that 24 million people are facing food insecurity in eastern Africa alone, not counting millions of people in the southern region.   According to a new study published by the American Meteorological Society, such conditions will become increasingly normal as climate change takes its toll.   “We are advising governments to expect yearly disasters, droughts, floods, and also now diseases,” David Phiri, the UN´s food and agriculture coordinator in Southern Africa, told IRIN.   In South Africa, dams are down to 37 percent capacity, according to the government. Farmers say that actually means 27 percent in practical terms. “The last 10 percent are unusable,” said Harvey. “It´s been lying too long on the bottom.”   Researchers associated with the United States Geological Survey found that man-made climate change contributed to the 2015/2016 droughts and most likely to the reduced “short rains”, a second rainy season that usually occurs at this time of year in southern Africa.   Their research, published in the American Meteorological Society’s December bulletin, explains how man-made climate change worsened El Niño.   The phenomenon occurs naturally every several years as a patch of warm water appears in the Pacific Ocean, which can lead to weather fluctuations including unseasonably dry periods. It is often followed by La Niña, which is associated with below average ocean temperatures and can lead to weather impacts that are opposite to El Niño.   Lead researcher Chris Funk, a professor at University of Santa Barbara, described in an interview how the oceans warm due to climate change, and very warm surface temperatures develop in pockets of the sea. These warm patches often increase the impact of natural climate variations that accompany El Niño, which can intensify droughts in food insecure areas.   For Africa, increases of about 0.9 degrees in both sea temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and air temperatures in eastern and southern Africa have meant reduced rainfall.   “Our research shows that man-made climate change is making the impacts of both El Niño and La Niña climate variations stronger in Africa – meaning what we´ve seen in the last 18 months,” said Funk.   Although climate change alone did not cause the drought, it certainly made it stronger, according to Funk.   Richard Washington, a climate science professor at Oxford University, said he agreed with the findings overall, although he cautioned that they were based on “linear” research. “One limitation is for example: how does the Indian Ocean influence climate El Niño?”   The UN has labelled it “the worst drought in 35 years” in southern Africa. . Almost 580,000 children are in need of treatment for severe acute malnutrition, and more than three million children have reduced access to safe drinking water.   “We estimate that more than 40 million people will be affected by food insecurity until March,” said Phiri, the UN food and agriculture coordinator. “Crops from last year are gone, and no new crops are ready.”   The UN is targeting 13.8 million people in southern Africa alone for humanitarian assistance during the peak of the lean season, which lasts until April. The worst-hit countries – Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are being specifically targeted by the World Food Programme.   David Orr, a spokesman for the WFP in southern Africa, sees positive short-term signs, as rainfalls have started again. But he still expects more frequent and more intense extreme weather events in the near future. Those include “drought and flooding as a result of upsets in the global weather system”, he said.   “If extended weather events of this kind, covering several cropping seasons, become more frequent, they’ll have devastating consequences for millions of poor and vulnerable people,” said Orr.   http://bit.ly/2jWNcNU http://www.ipsnews.net/2017/04/the-unbearable-cost-of-drought-in-africa/ Visit the related web page
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