THE MODEL UNITED NATIONS’19

STUDY GUIDE
UNWOMEN
 Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 4
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 5............................................................................................. 5
SDG GOAL 5 TARGETS ................................................................................................................................ 5
7 WOMEN EMPOWERMENT PRINCIPLES ......................................................................................... 6
PROBLEMS FACED BY WOMEN GLOBALLY ................................................................................... 7
Women as Agents of Peace ................................................................................................................................ 7
Negative Aftermath of Armed Conflict on Women ....................................................................................... 7
Women at High Risk of Poverty........................................................................................................................ 8
Women and Their Educational Rights .............................................................................................................. 9
Women and Their Political Rights ................................................................................................................. 11
Women and Their Employment Issues .......................................................................................................... 13
Gender Violence and Abuse ............................................................................................................................ 15
Women and Cyber Bullying ....................................................................................................................... 17
Women and Reproductive Health Issues .................................................................................................. 18
COMPLEXITIES FACES BY IMMIGRANT WOMEN ..................................................................... 18
ME TOO MOVEMENT ............................................................................................................................... 19
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILITION ........................................................................................................ 20
PAST UN MEASURES AND SOLUTIONS ............................................................................................ 21
QARMA ............................................................................................................................................................ 22
BIBLOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................................ 23
TOPIC: PROMOTING WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
THROUGH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION:
“No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you.”
Women empowerment majorly refers to the choices a woman makes in order to achieve
freedom of expressing her views and choices with confidence. Empowerment brings a sense
of stability in a woman’s life where she has an access to the available market opportunities
and resources those which can help her not only to convey her thoughts but also get her
initiatives implemented. Women are an integral part of the society and empowering them can
contribute to the economy of the country by a very large margin. Unfortunately, most of the
women in societies are confined to their four walls of home although they belong to a better
practical version of the economical world where they can outshine themselves on various
different platforms. There are a high number of obstacles and barriers which restrict women
from progressing in their lives on a professional level and restrict their capabilities to some
certain roles which are decided for them by the societies they live in.
There is no denying that women of today have come a long way but even with the current
progress the glass ceilings are still concrete as ever. The tag attached to women is the label which
portrays them as a weak gender in the society. Hence, the main focus should be to get women rid
of some certain hurdles which hinder their ways of success and to break all the glass ceilings in
order to help women explore themselves. This process needs to be done in accordance with
sustainable development to maintain the peace and stability in the societies .The challenge to
solve the problem through the mode of sustainability is massive but can be
conquered over if all the nations work through their diplomatic terms united as one single
team towards this one cause.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 5:

In 2015, United Nations General Assembly identified 17 global goals recognized as
Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs are part of resolution 70/1 of the United Nations
General Assembly which says, “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development”.This 2030 Agenda has its fifth goal focused on the promotion and
implementation of gender equality and women [Link] 5 is achieving day to day
success as their projects are running smoothly with satisfactory results.

Table 1.1: Ongoing global projects for women empowerment under SDG5:

Target: Project: County:

Food Security and Nutrition fir SANNHOS El Salvador
children and Salvadoran
households.
--Strengthening women’s ability SWAPNO Bangladesh
for productive new
opportunities.
Joint Program to support PSSN Tanzania
productive social safety nets.
Betterment in businesses like SDG Fund Program Occupied Palestinian territory
agriculture, services, textile and
clothing, and interior design.
Creation of employment, SDG Fund Program specifically Colombia
livelihood, better nutrition and in Cauca
peace in Cauca, through the
sustainable agricultural
production of indigenous crops.
Scaling up nutrition through a Joint Program between FAO SriLanka
multi-sector approach. and WFP

SDG GOAL 5 TARGETS:

a. End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.

b. Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private
spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.

c. Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital
d. Recognize and value 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 as nationally appropriate.

e. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at
all levels of decision making in political, economic and public life.

f. Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed
in accordance with the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and
Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review
conferences.

g. Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to
ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance
and natural resources, in accordance with national laws.

h. Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications

technology, to promote the empowerment of women.

i. Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of
gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.

7 WOMEN EMPOWERMENT PRINCIPLES:

The following principles are the result of collaboration between the United Nations Global
Compact and United Nations Women, and are adapted from the Calvert Women's Principles.
Input in these principles is gathered from across the globe while they are further informed by
real-life business practices. These principles are a fundamental back bone in the field of
business for women and are agreed upon by 1800 leaders around the world.

Seven Principles:
Principle 1: Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality.
Principle 2: Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support human rights and
nondiscrimination.
Principle 3: Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers.
Principle 4: Promote education, training and professional development for women.
Principle 5: Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that
empower women.
Principle 6: Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy.

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Principle 7: Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality.

PROBLEMS FACED BY WOMEN GLOBALLY:

Women as Agents of Peace
After the wars and conflicts come to their ends, there is an intense need for the establishment
of peace. Women and girls are seen as very active people in the processes of joint grass-root
peace building efforts targeting the redemption of economic, political, social and cultural
state of the societies. If we have a glimpse of past, when matters were getting complex in the
state of Balkans, Women in Black launched an anti-war campaign there that soon turned the
tables of conflict upside down. Moreover, in Fiji, as the tensions between Indo-Fijians and
indigenous peoples were getting worse, leading to the coup d’etat that occurred in 2000,
women from both ethnic groups established a Blue Ribbon Campaign peace movement.
However, formalized processes of peace, including negotiations, accords and reconstruction
plans, frequently exclude women’s and girls’ meaningful participation. Too often, women
and girls are actively involved in rebuilding local economies and civil societies but as soon as
the formal peace processes begin, women are then pushed into the background. This unfair
act is in practice since ages and needs immediate attention to get rid of from its roots.

Aftermath of armed conflicts resulting as long-term negative impacts on

women
Gender-based and sexual violence such as rape, forced marriage, forced impregnation, forced
abortion, torture, trafficking, sexual slavery and the intentional spread of STDs, including
HIV/AIDS are all the long-term scars left on women after the wars come to their ends. They
are weapons of warfare integral to many of today’s conflict. Not only genocide victimizes
women but slavery attacks them too. They become prime targets for the only reason of being
women-women who are known as culture bearers and reproducers of the ‘enemy’. Their
abuse is further heightened by their extreme vulnerability to it which exists in the first place
because of their maternal responsibilities and attachments. They are killed, injured, disabled,
tortured and enslaved.
Women go through economic and social dislocation and cutoff from social societies they live
in. Mental suffering gives them enough traumas to make them live the rest of their lives
uneasily with all the restless psychological impacts and zero peaceful state of mind. Most of
the times, they are traded as objects by men during the times of combat. They are forced to
join armed forces or insurgency movements in many cases while in some they are forced to
surrender themselves in every way. They experience weaponry violence and are at
heightened risk of diseases, including sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDs.

To counter such dilemmas resulting from wars and conflicts, there had been a unanimous
adoption in October 2001 of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which
included the special needs of women and girls during repatriation and resettlement,

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rehabilitation, reintegration and post-conflict reconstruction) and which further focused on
the importance of women participation in peace processes and the post-conflict period.
The first Independent Expert’s Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and
Women’s Role in Peace-Building has a chapter specifically on war and women’s health. The
authors traveled to 14 different war zones, interviewing women to present a picture of what
their experiences were like. For example they talked to women in a refugee camp in Liberia
only hours before it was overrun by militias, they went to the DRC and they talked to women
in Bosnia about their grief and sorrows. Authors argue that in addition to the effects wars
have on all population segments, women face special problems in war times.
Women are particularly vulnerable to vitamin and iron deficiencies in the diet because of
their physiology. Authors mention a study of Somali refugees, where up to 70 per cent of
women of reproductive age were found to be anemic. Anemia is a serious or even life-
threatening condition for pregnant women. Further examples were given from war ravaged
Afghanistan, where women were found to be seriously lacking in vitamin C; and from
Mozambique during the conflict, where a food shortage had forced rural people to eat bitter
cassava, leading to an epidemic of a type of paralysis (konzo) among women and children.

Women at high risk of poverty:

Women are paid less than men, even when they have the same qualifications and work the
same hours as men. Women who work full time earn only 77 percent of what men make—a
22 percent gap in average annual wages. Not lack of training or education but discrimination
is largely the cause of the wage gap. Even with the same qualifications, women earn less than
men. In 2007, full time, year round female workers aged 25 to 32 with a bachelor’s degree
were paid 14 percent less than men. Women are segregated into low paying occupations, and
occupations dominated by women are low paid. Women are tracked into “pink-collar” jobs
such as teaching, child care, nursing, cleaning, and waitressing, which typically pay less than
jobs in industries that are male-dominated.
Women spend more time providing unpaid care giving than men. Women are more likely
than men to care for children, elderly and disabled family custodial members. They are not
paid for their assistance yet all their hard work and potential hours of money making are
used. One study found that 69 percent of unpaid caregivers to older adults in the homes are
women. Women are more likely to bear the costs of raising children. When parents are not
living together, women are more likely to take on and bear the economic costs of raising
children. This can be visualized by a perfect fact where it’s concluded that eight in ten
custodial parents are women, and mothers are twice as likely to be poor as custodial fathers.
In a different scenario, domestic and sexual violence can push women into a cycle of poverty.
Experiencing domestic or sexual violence can lead to job loss, poor health, and homelessness.
It is estimated that victims of intimate partner violence collectively lose almost 8 million days
of paid work each year because of the violence perpetrated against them by current or former
husbands, boyfriends, or dates. While on the other hand, pregnancy affects women’s work

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and their educational opportunities at a very high margin. The financial costs associated with
pregnancy act as burden on women. Unplanned and mistimed pregnancies make it even
worse as they can result in the termination and eradication of education. They can also keep
the access of women limited from getting and sustaining solid employment.

Women and their educational rights:

Multiple obstacles limit the progress of women and girls in the society but the most
aggravating factor to the problem of women’s inequality is the lack of educational rights.
Their age, ethnicity, poverty, and disability in the equal employment of the right to quality
education are all the barriers which restrain the access of women to educational systems,
institutions, and classrooms. Moreover, harmful and wrongful gender stereotypes, child
marriage and unintended pregnancy, gender based violence against women and girls, lack of
inclusive and quality learning environments and inadequate and unsafe education
infrastructure, including sanitation, are the other co factors which make the situation worse
for women and girls. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) also takes a step
back in providing ownerships, use and access to women. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 32 million
fewer women have access to the Internet than men. In South Asia, 25 million fewer women
have access, and in the Middle East and North Africa, 18 million. Education plays a huge role
in helping women defining their career paths. However, those who fall in the literacy deprive
population are more forced into early marriages that itself has negative effects of having
stunted growth babies. Across 18 of the 20 countries with the highest prevalence of child
marriage, girls with no education were up to six times more likely to marry than girls with
high school education. Nearly one in five girls in developing countries meanwhile becomes
pregnant before age 18, while pregnancy-related causes account for most deaths among girls
15-19 in the developing world—nearly 70,000 die each year.
“Enhanced agency—the ability to make decisions and act on them—is a key reason why
children of better educated women are less likely to be stunted: Educated mothers have
greater autonomy in making decisions and more power to act for their children’s benefit,”
World Bank Group Director for Gender and Development Jeni Klugman said. “Educated
mothers have greater autonomy in making decisions and more power to act for their
children’s benefit.”
It can be seen as a researched and a proven fact that in Ethiopia, one-year-olds whose
mothers had a background of primary school education along with provision of antenatal care
were 39 percent less likely to have stunted growth, for example, while in Vietnam infants
whose mothers had attained a lower-secondary education were 67 percent less likely to have
stunted growth.
Ethnic minority status is a huge challenge that yet needs to be conquered over before it
magnifies the problem ever further. It has been estimated that nearly three-quarters of the
girls out of school globally belong to ethnic minorities in their countries. Here are some
examples from the Latin American region, where this challenge is being increasingly well-
recognized:
■ In Guatemala, 60 percent of indigenous women are illiterate, compared with 40 percent of
indigenous men and 30 percent of non-indigenous women.
■ In Bolivia, the probability that a Quechua speaking woman will complete secondary school
is 28 percentage points lower than that for a Spanish-speaking man.
■ In Brazil, white men generally earn the highest wages for any level of education, whereas
black women earn the least.
ALISON Geekie
BRCK Mindspark
EKStep Nafham
Eneza OLE
Enuma Rumie
WorldReader Ubongo

Table 1.2: Current Projects happening globally to bring efficiency in the processes of
women education provision are shown in the table above (A sustainable
mechanism created by the incorporation of technology with educational programs).
 Case Study 1.1:

In Ha Giang Province in northern

Vietnam, Hmong children and
adolescents, especially girls, face
various disadvantages. Among the
Hmong ethnic minority, poverty
rates exceed 80 percent, compared
with 20 percent for Vietnam as a
whole. Girls have to invest their
time in the work of domestic
households as traditional
preference for sons and filial piety
is at its peak. Only 4 percent of
Hmong girls are enrolled in
secondary school and as adults
their opportunities for paid work
are negligible. Rates of child
marriage and total fertility for
Hmong are double the rate for the
Kinh majority ethnic group. Hmong
girls also have inadequate access
to sexual and reproductive health
information and services. In recent
fieldwork in Ta Lung commune,
girls often struggled to imagine
future lives that differed from
those of their mothers. Being
targeted from extreme
discrimination in terms of gender
and age,these women have been
Women and their Political Rights: reported to have a little say in
family [Link] of the mothers
In 2017, there is only 23.3 percent of the female parliamentary seats in said,“My daughter will finish grade
the world, which is very limited. The question arises that why women nine only, and then she will get
are not the leaders inpolitics? When women participate in politics, what married. My son won’t go
problems do they face in front of them? If we see the state of anywhere; he will live with me, so I
USA,women are 51% of the population yet they only get to represent let him reach the high grade.”
19% of Congress and only a quarter of state [Link] are
multiple challenges and obstacles that hinder the participation of
women in politicsand grant them limited political rights only.

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Social Cultural factors: Women are restricted to their primary roles of being
housewives and mothers according to the old ideologies and traditions which are
being followed in countries since [Link] segregated roles are favoured by the
values of patriarchy and traditional cultural values defy and oppose against the
advancement,progress and participation of women in any political [Link] has
detrmined for women their ‘women’s place’ which is apolitical and low paid and calls
women to only work as [Link] situation has gotten to extreme as in many
countries women depend over men for the knowledge of how to vote as they
themselves are not aware about the rules and procedures for [Link] assumed that
leadership is a masculine trait and so women still face domination by men and
prejudice in this [Link] evaluate autocratic behaviour by women more
negatively than they do from [Link], there is a belief that women are needed
to be led but not to lead. In fact stereotyped notions about women constitute major
barriers: societal perception about leadership ability of women and women’s lack of
[Link] of socialization focus on telling the significance of enduring
division of sex roles within a society especially the existence of egalitarian or
traditional attitudes towards women in the private and public spheres.

Economic Factors: Lack of economic resources are one of the most fundamental
reasons why women are left behind in the game of politics. Women achieve material
independence along with professional skills and grater self-confidence through
working jobs which further enhance women’s access to political life. Access to means
of production and finance is highly encouraged by the employment of women.
Women always need to get permission from their fathers to buy some consumption
materials and other resources of the household. Even if women are salaried, most of
the time their income is controlled by men. Sometimes, if father and mother have
their own income independently, women cover household expenses while men enjoy
outside home like hotels and bars. Hence, women are always dependent on men
economically which is the main cause for their low participation to politics of the
country.

Gender Roles Patriarchy: Powering gender inequality,patriarchy plays a very

significant [Link] defines the rule of father in a family and at a wider scale it
establishes men as dominant leaders over women in a [Link] have relatively
higher social status and whatever they suggest and say are regarded as better than
whatever opinion women put forward on the [Link] greatest psychological weapon
available to men is the length of time they have enjoyed dominance over women, who 12
have taken it for granted especially in the area of politics that often continue to
stereotype women and justify their [Link],since the early ages
women are considered as weak and incapable of making smart decisions and that they
 only have the ability to share their views in gossip and trivial [Link],the
greatest psychological weapon available to man is the length of time they have
enjoyed dominance over women, who have taken it for granted especially in the area
of politics that often continue to stereotype women and justify their subordination.
Fig1FIG1.2:Women.3:Womeminministers,Percentage,Percentage,20172017Source:Source:OECD International Developv lo ment Statistics:
Gender, Institutions and DevelopmentGender,Institutions(Edition and2014)Development (Edition 2014)

Women and their Employment issues

Gender Pay Gap: There are differences in salaries of women as compared to those of
men for the same skill, time and effort requiring job. There are differences in pay
capture with differences among many possible dimensions, including worker
education, experience and occupation. When the pay gap is calculated by comparing
all male workers to all female workers – irrespective of these differences along these
additional dimensions – the result is the 'raw' or 'unadjusted' pay gap.

Racial and Ethnical racism: According to Status of Women in the States: 2015, a
project of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), women and immigrants
of different color than white make less than white women. Luckily, movements and
role models like Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey are shifting these views, but the
average working woman is still being faced with this subtle and saddening
discrimination.
Pregnancy Discrimination: A working woman if becomes pregnant receive negative
circumstances in the terms of continuing her job. Many women are afraid of starting a
family knowing that their career will most likely be affected and they will be fired in
result. In fact, The Guardian reports that approximately 50,000 women per year lose
their jobs due to pregnancy or having had a child, while many female workers return
to work only to realize that their job duties have changed or that they can no longer
progress within their role.

Gender Bias: Women have been designated and allocated some specific roles by
society and are limited for what they can do. There are some tasks which are labeled
to be performed by men only. Women are disregarded in this matter and are not
considered eligible for such jobs and hence are not provided to them in the end.

CBMUN 2019
One study on women of color in science in the United States found that 100% of the 60
scientists interviewed experienced gender bias in the workplace.

Another study found that Asian women make up 42.6% of all mid-level women in tech, but
Black women and Latinas have low representation across all levels:

Table 1.3

Level Black Women Latinas

Entry Level 4.6% 4.1%

Mid Level 2.7% 3.0%

High Level 1.6% 0.0%

Gender Violence and Abuse:

Sexual Harassment in Workplace: Equal opportunity Act of 2010 states that sexual
harassment in workplace is illegal. Its defined as to an unwelcome sexual behavior,
which could be expected to make a person feel offended, humiliated or intimidated
and can be in the forms of physical, verbal or written. It’s a behavior which is neither
mutually agreed upon nor it is a part of consensual interaction and friendship.

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Offenses like indecent exposure, stalking, sexual assault and obscene or threatening
communications, such as phone calls, letters, emails, text messages and posts on
social networking sites are all terms in which sexual harassment occurs.

Sexual Assault in Intimate relationships: In a study, it was found out that the
sexually assaulted women have worse mental and physical health than women who
had been physically but not sexually abused. These women have more post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and more STDs Sexually transmitted diseases.
Unwanted pregnancies also emerge as results. These women also get addicted to
alcohol, illicit drugs, or nicotine after they are sexually assaulted by their intimate
partners. They also start to have suicide temptations.

Women trafficking: Women and girls are often traded for the purpose of sexual and
economic exploitation, particularly prostitution and pornography, forced labor mostly
for work in commercial agriculture and domestic work. They are even sold as brides
for arranged marriages. Furthermore, they are even used in recruitment for
participation in hostilities and such related purposes as sexual services, portage and
domestic functions in conflict situations.

Female children sexual abuse/rape in educational institutions: Female children

who are sexually abused develop low self-esteem, a feeling of worthlessness and an
abnormal or distorted view of sex. They may become withdrawn and mistrustful of
adults, and can become suicidal as well.

It is estimated that 35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced either physical
and/or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner (not including
sexual harassment) at some point in their lives. However, some national studies show that
up to 70 per cent of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an
intimate partner in their lifetime. Evidence shows that women who have experienced
physical or sexual intimate partner violence report higher rates of depression, having an
abortion and acquiring HIV, compared to women who have not.

Similar to data from other regions, in all four countries of a multi-country study from the
Middle East and North Africa, men who witnessed their fathers using violence against their
mothers, and men who experienced some form of violence at home as children, were
significantly more likely to report perpetrating intimate partner violence in their adult
relationships. For example, in Lebanon the likelihood of perpetrating physical violence was
more than three times higher among men who had witnessed their fathers beating their
mothers during childhood than those who did not.
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 It is estimated that there are 650 million women and girls in the world today who were
married before age 18. During the past decade, the global rate of child marriage has
declined—from one in four young women (aged 20-24) being married as children, to almost
one in five. Still, in West and Central Africa—where this harmful practice is most common—
over four out of 10 young women were married before their 18th Child marriage often
results in early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupts schooling, limits the girl’s
opportunities and increases her risk of experiencing domestic violence.

Adult women account for 51 per cent of all human trafficking victims detected globally. Women
and girls together account for 71 per cent where there are girls representing nearly three out of
every four child trafficking victims. Nearly three out of every four trafficked women and girls are
trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Globally, one out of three students (aged 11 and 13 to 15 years) have been bullied by their
peers at school at least on one day in the past month, with girls and boys equally likely to
experience bullying. However, boys are more likely to experience physical bullying than girls,
and girls are more likely to experience psychological bullying, particularly being ignored or left
out or subject to nasty rumours. Girls also report being made fun of because of how their face
or body looks more frequently than boys. School-related gender-based violence is a major
obstacle to universal schooling and the right to education for girls.

Women and Cyber Bullying:

Cyber bullying is one of the crimes which are committed in a very high number against
women and girls. Women are harassed through the means of social media as it happens very
often when they see inappropriate content being inbox to them or their accounts getting
hacked and their privacy being breached. Private content which includes pictures, videos and
personal information of women gets leaked to random public after their accounts getting
hacks. Sometimes, it’s the opposite which occurs, the hackers blackmail women by
threatening them online of leaking their private content which not only results in women
doing whatever the hackers demand them too but also make women suffer extreme mental
sickness and depression. One in 10 women in the European Union have been reported of
experiencing cyber-harassment since the age of 15 (including having received unwanted,
offensive sexually explicit emails or SMS messages, or offensive, inappropriate advances on
social networking sites). The risk is highest among young women between 18 and 29 years of
age. 17
Women and Reproductive Health Rights
WHO states that about 35% of women worldwide have experienced either sexual or physical
intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their life .This type of violence
have a terrifying effect on women’s physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health and may
increase vulnerability HIV. In Africa, 83% of women have had first sexual intercourse by age
20. 55% of women hadtheir first child by age 20.6,500+ young people are intecrede with HIV
daily or at the rate of 5 per [Link] humanitarion and crises settings, women and girls face
considrable barriers to sexual and reproductive health care and services, such as access to
contracepation, safe-abortion and post abortion [Link] major effects refer to the
diseases, disorders and conditions affecting the function of male and female reproductive
system. It include birth defects, develpmental disorders, teenage pragnancy and
[Link] major problems in reproductive health includes post partum period,voluntory
waiting period and un-avaliablity of of Aidstocia.
Recently published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, examined patterns of
workplace discrimination and harassment in the U.S. and the consequences for physical and
mental health. We sought, first, to determine how pervasive these types of mistreatment were
for women, as well as for men. Numerous studies show that women tend to report worse
health compared to men, and we wanted to see if workplace discrimination and harassment
might be contributing to this disparity.
As with other studies, our results showed that women report significantly worse mental and
physical health compared to men. When asked, “Now thinking about your mental health,
which includes stress, depression, and problems with emotions, for how many days during
the past 30 days was your mental health not good?” women reported an average of 3.6 days
of poor mental health in the past 30 days. Men, in comparison, reported significantly less: an
average of 2.8 days. When asked about their days of poor physical health in the past 30 days,
women reported an average of 2.7 days, with men reporting an average of 2.2 [Link].

Complexities faced by female immigrants:

There is a wide range of problems which are faced by immigrant women. One of the initial
occurring problems they might suffer is the lack of acceptance by the present community of
that new country. They do through extreme discrimination, bullying, xenophobia and racism.
Newcomer women in situations of violence also sometimes fall through the cracks between
women’s organizations and settlement organizations due to a lack of awareness and training
of front-line workers regarding the particular vulnerabilities and problems they face. They
also have the threat dangling upon them of being reported to the immigration authorities and
being deported. Female immigrants who are mothers often see themselves in heart tearing
situations where they are getting separated from their children due to some certain laws and
policies of host nations. Education and health facilities are also limited to them. Women
compete for hygienic health due to lack of supplies and medications provision to them. These
women sometimes go through isolation and are unable to defend themselves because either

18
they are not aware about their legal rights or they face language barriers hindering their
means if communication.

Me Too Movement:
Recent social movements such as the Women’s March, #MeToo, #TimesUp,
#BalanceTonPorc, and #SayHerNamehave drawn attention to the broad spectrum gender-
related violence that is pervasive in the United States and around the world. Social science
research takes a different form than protests, but paints a similar picture. A recent report by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men in
the U.S. experience contact sexual violence in their lifetime. Due to all these incidents
defined by these stats and figures, this movement established its origin.

The Me Too movement, with a large variety of local and international alternative names, is a
movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault. The movement began to spread
virally in October 2017 as a hash tag on social media in an attempt to demonstrate the
widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace. It
followed sexual-abuse allegations against Harve Weinstein. Tarana Burke, an American
social activist and community organizer, began using the phrase "Me Too" as early as 2006,
and the phrase was later popularized by American actress Alyssa Milano, on Twitter in 2017.

The movement started on social media with the hash tag #MeToo, where a survivor tells their
story of sexual assault by writing posts. By putting these stories in the public domain, it aims
to get support from people. This has also some advantages―it united survivors, and dispels
the fear of speaking, especially after listening to others’ stories.

Yet it is also true that many of the most high-profile women in the #MeToo movement have a
host of advantages in their lives. They include wealthy white women, with white-collar
professional jobs or influential careers in entertainment, academia, or politics. Women in
low-wage service-sector jobs face tremendous power differentials between themselves and
their employers or customers, and they fear being easily replaced if they call attention to
abuse.
 Female Genital Mutilation:
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) comprises various procedures which remove or damage
the external female genital organs for no medical reason. FGM has no health benefits and is
recognized to cause severe short and long term damage to both physical and psychological
health. Although FGM is primarily performed in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, migration
of FGM practicing communities means that the health complications of FGM will have a
global impact. It is important that health professionals worldwide are aware of the damage
FGM causes to long term health. FGM is a deep rooted tradition practiced by specific ethnic
groups in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines
FGM as “all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia
or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons”. The WHO divides the
main FGM procedures into four categories, Types 1–4. FGM is carried out in a wide range of
settings. Practitioners may in many cases have little training in antiseptic, surgical techniques.
In these settings, the risk of short-term complications is obvious.

Infections:
Chronic genital infections
Chronic reproductive tract infections.
Urinary tract infections

It is estimated that more than 200 million of girls and women alive today are undergone
FGM in the countries where the practice is concentrated. Furthermore, there are an
estimated 3 million girls at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation every year.

FIG 1.6: FGM practice worldwide.

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 FIG 1.7:Countries dominated by the practice of FGM.

PAST UN MEASURES AND SOLUTIONS

1. UN Member ensures women’s full and equal participation and leadership in the economy,
as well as women’s right to work and rights at work, as a vital step to achieving sustainable
development. This strong pledge to women’s economic empowerment came at the closing of
the 61st session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61).
2. At the same time, CSW members acknowledged that providing equal pay and social
protection will create decent work for paid care and domestic workers.
3. The Commission calls for strengthened efforts in both public and private sectors to retain
women in the workforce and seek more gender balance in managerial positions.
4. The commission calls for awareness programs that will promote the agenda of women and
girls everywhere having equal rights and opportunity in all the market fields.
5. UN Women is supporting government institutions and civil society organizations, so that
together they can raise awareness and end impunity towards crimes against women and girls.

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QUESTIONS A RESOLUTION MUST ANSWER (QARMA)

1. What is the success rate of SDG 5 since its implementation?

2. What are the success parameters of 7 women empowerment principles?
3. Is a woman being used as an agent of peace justified?
4. What are the immediate measures that can be taken to solve the problems women go
through on daily basis?
5. What initiatives need to be taken for complete eradication of FGM? How their
implementation process will be monitored?
6. How can the provision of educational,political and reproductive health rights be
ensured and sustained?
7. What short term and long-term solutions are recommended for difficulties women
face during the armed conflicts?
8. What are the pros and cons of Me-Too Movement?
9. What principle framework of policies will be designed to grant female immigrants’
rights similar to those of native women?
10. What are the loopholes of past UN measures taken to tackle the problem at hand?
11. What are the boundaries of women privacy breached through cyber bullying? What
measures are needed to be taken in order to solve the issue?
12. What are the permanent solutions to help women tackle poverty?
13. In what ways women experience sexual abuse and exploitation? What measures can
be taken to help women acquire security rights?

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
[Link]
statistics
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statistics
[Link]
[Link]/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs/sdg-5-gender-equality
[Link]/data-appendix/w24904/[Link]
[Link]

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