United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has disclosed that more than half a million women die each year during pregnancy and childbirth because their rights to sexual and reproductive health are denied.
In his July 11 message on World Population Day, Ban indicated that 99 percent of these cases do occur in developing countries, while many more of these women suffer serious complications that have a severe impact on the quality of life for them and their families, www.allafrica.com reported.
Using the theme “Men as Partners for Maternal Health,“ the UN Secretary General said this year’s theme focuses attention on the fundamental role of men in supporting women’s right, including their right to sexual and reproductive health.
According to the UN boss, almost all of the causes of these deaths and sufferings are preventable and so, as partners of maternal health, men can save lives since they often make decisions about family planning and the use of household resources that influence the well-being and prosperity of the whole family.
He pointed out that the support of an informed husband improves pregnancy and childbirth outcomes and can mean the difference between life and death in cases of complications, when women need immediate medical care. He added that supportive fathers can play an important role in the love, care and nurturance of their children.
In his statement, Ban said although several countries have succeeded in significantly reducing maternal death rate in the space of a decade, but yet more needs to be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of improving maternal health around the world by 2015.
The UN Secretary-General however called on all men to become partners and agents for change, supporting human rights and safe motherhood in every way possible; thus contributing to creating a world of greater health and opportunity for all.

A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Manama, Bahrain, November 25, 2006.

Bahrain Premier Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa has pledged a pivotal role for women in the country’s fast-track development. Bahraini women have already become ministers, ambassador, judge, MP, Shura Council member and Public Prosecutor, he said, tradearabia.com wrote.
At international level, one has become President of the United Nations. The prime minister was speaking during an interview with London-based magazine Sayidaty. He said that the UN award he received would spur Bahrain’s development. It had also turned the global spotlight on Bahrain’s pioneering reforms.
“The success of one Arab state is success for the whole Arab nation,“ he said, referring to PGCC solidarity.
The Premier said that women empowerment in Bahrain came at an early stage owing to the encouragement they received at both official and civil levels.
Women in Bahrain have always had a distinguished status and performed a key role in the comprehensive development programs on the political, economic and social fronts, he said. They have received a lot of appreciation and attention and have been granted full political rights under the National Action Charter and they have been able to exercise these rights since the 2002 elections, he said. They were even allowed to vote at the national referendum which preceded the elections. Women’s rights are protected by the constitution which treats them as equal to men in politics, culture and economy without violating Islamic principles, he added.
The prime minister said that the establishment of the Supreme Council for Women had created a framework for efforts by women.
The council derives its importance from being under the supervision of him and the presidency of his wife, Shaikha Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, he said.
Shaikh Khalifa expressed his pride in Bahraini women and their achievements. They have succeeded in reaching leading positions that were restricted to men in the past, he said.

Culture and tradition help to give individuals in a society a sense of meaning, belonging and identity, as well as define behavior.
But, in sub-Saharan Africa, traditional and cultural practices are increasingly being identified as the bane that puts women and girls at risk for diseases and death.
The boundaries of tradition and culture are holding women back from much-needed progress, leaving them vulnerable to the vicious cycle of HIV infection, poverty, stigma, violence and death, said Rhrealitycheck.org.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, 60 percent of the people living with HIV/AIDS are women,“ said Kenyan Preside Mwai Kibaki in opening remarks at the Summit. “Much more work needs be done in empowering women and girls.“
A key imperative is strengthening the overall health systems in the worst AIDS affected regions. Currently, many of the women have little to no access to appropriate health care services, and, most importantly, they cannot access sexual and reproductive health services.
While in affluent countries mother-to-child transmission of HIV has been virtually eliminated, 80 percent of the estimated 500,000 children born with HIV annually are in sub-Saharan Africa (PDF).
In Kenya, as in many other countries, fewer than one in ten of eligible women is benefiting from anti-retroviral prophylaxis to prevent transmission to their babies.
Economic interventions targeted at women, particularly micro-finance mechanisms, can release the power of impoverished women.
To ensure effectiveness, women themselves have to be in the driving seat to change their lives and their communities.
“When women control household income, they gain decision making power. When women make decisions they invest in health promoting activities that benefit family and communities,“ said Chan.
Given the fact that women are the bedrock of family and communities, they can help to influence the social change required to stem the AIDS epidemic.

A demonstrator (l) makeuped as Indonesian maid Ceriyati Dapin takes part in a protest against maids working conditions in Malaysia, in front of the embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, June 20.

When Indonesian maid Ceriyati Dapin could no longer bear the alleged abuse, she took the shortest route to freedom: The 33-year-old woman secretly made a rope of towels, sheets and clothes and climbed out the window of her employer’s 15th floor apartment.
Dapin’s dramatic escape--firefighters rescued her after she got stuck outside the 12th floor--focused public attention on the mistreatment faced by many Indonesian maids in Malaysian homes, AP wrote.
Indonesian diplomats say at least 1,500 maids seek help at their offices across Malaysia each year. Most complain of unpaid wages, but many also claim they were physically or emotionally abused or, in rare cases, even raped.
In response, Malaysian authorities have stepped up efforts to deter the abuse. The government set up a 24-hour hot line for maids to call with complaints and temporarily suspended the licenses of nearly 20 maid recruitment agencies until they settled unpaid salaries.
But Indonesian officials in Malaysia and human rights activists say more is needed to protect some 300,000 Indonesian maids who live here in search of a better life.
Indonesian maids can earn about 450 ringgit (US$130) a month, a small fortune for the women, who typically come from impoverished backgrounds.
Victims who turn to the courts often face an agonizing wait in Malaysia’s notoriously slow criminal court system.
Some former maids such as Nirmala Bonat, who said her employer scalded her with a hot iron and poured boiling water over her in 2004, remain at the embassy shelter for years waiting for their cases to be heard.
Irene Fernandez, director of Tenaganita, a Malaysian assistance group, said maids need better legal protection because they have scant negotiating power in their employment terms and work in isolation.

A tribal woman from Ilam province makes bread. (Photo by Hossein Khodang)

The belief that male drivers are ruder than their female counterparts has been turned on its head--at least in modern Britain.
A survey by car giant BMW of 1,000 Brits found that at least in this one European country, women motorists are more likely to be the ones that hurl insults at other drivers. The survey also found that Brit women are more likely to call other drivers ’idiots’ and less likely to apologize, reports The Sun.
Even when it comes to polite gestures, Brit women fall a bit behind their male counterparts. While 48 percent of men will thank another driver who lets him into a line of traffic, 46 percent of women do the same.
The survey also found that over time, a new unofficial “language“ has developed in the world of motorists. When it comes to saying ’thank you’, most will put their hazard lights on and off. However, an ambivalent gesture is flashing headlights, as that can be used to show either appreciation or anger.

The trafficking of women and children within the Greater Mekong Sub-region was at the top of the agenda at a forum in Hanoi, Vietnam, on July 12-13. Ha Thi Khiet, President of the Vietnam Women’s Union and Chairwoman of the National Committee for the Advancement of Women, stressed at the forum that human trafficking has now moved beyond a national or a regional issue to one that holds global significance, VNA reported.
The trafficking of women and children is an action that violates basic human rights, shatters the family unit, affects social order and impedes the development of each country, she said.
Khiet said her organization is continuously introducing new methods to educate the community in a bid to combat the crime.
At the Mekong Women’s Forum, participants from Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam shared their experiences in preventing the trafficking of women and children, as well as in assisting victims who had been previously traded for sexual and labor exploitation to reintegrate into the community.
Sachiko Yamamoto, Regional Director for the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s Asia and Pacific Office, said the work against human trafficking and discrimination cannot rest solely in the hands of governments, but all societies and citizens, particularly women and women’s organizations, should play a greater role.
During the forum, organized by the Vietnam Women’s Union in coordination with the ILO, the participating countries are expected to put forth recommendations to boost cooperation between regional women’s organizations as well as between member countries to be implemented in the future.

Punjab government has made elaborate arrangements to provide financial assistance to needy Indian women in distress who have been facing divorce proceedings in a foreign country.
State Development of Women and Children Minister Swarna Ram said assistance would include meeting initial cost and incidental charges for documentation and filing of the case by the Indian women’s organizations or NGOs on the woman’s behalf, said Newkerala.com.
The assistance would be up to 1000 US dollars per case and will be released to the Indian community organizations/NGO concerned to enable it to take steps to assist the woman in documentation and preparatory work for filing the case.
The women’s organization/NGO will make efforts to enlist community advocates, preferably women advocates, to extend further legal assistance/ appearance in court etc on a pro-bono basis.
Giving more details regarding the scheme, Swarna Ram said that under the scheme Indian missions in the countries concerned would empanel credible Indian women organizations, Indian community Association, NGO’s and their member advocates to provide legal aid to the victims in distress.
However, the assistance would be extended to women subject to conditions that the concerned woman should be Indian passport holder, the marriage of the woman should be solemnized and registered in India, the woman should be deserted in India or after reaching abroad within two years of the marriage by her overseas Indian spouse.