Brazil's President-Elect Brings Gender to Government

Rousseff and Lula in the middle of the transition, together at the Planalto presidential palace.  Credit:Presidenta Dilma

In a move seen as a sign that gender will be important in her government, Brazil's president-elect Dilma Rousseff is preparing a Cabinet that is one-third women.

Rousseff, who on Jan. 1 will become the first woman president of this Latin American powerhouse, announced to the team making the transition from the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration that she plans to boost the female presence in government ministries.

The president-elect served as a government minister herself and has been among Lula's leading collaborators in his eight years in the presidency. Both belong to the Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT).

"It would be a very important gesture that the first-ever woman president concerns herself with women's matters," Teresa Sacchet, of the public policy research centre at the University of São Paulo, told IPS.

"I have hopes that the government will make a leap in regards to gender, that it will show more concern about gender inequality and others, like social inequality," she added.

Of Lula's 24 ministers, just three are women, although his two terms in office are seen as having advanced laws and policies that promote gender equality.

However, women were the stars of the October elections, and not just because they make up 51.7 percent of the electorate. In the first round of presidential voting, on Oct. 3, two women candidates came in first and third place: Rousseff with 47 percent of the votes, and Marina Silva, of the Green Party, with nearly 20 percent.

That is why Sacchet, who holds a doctorate in political science from Britain's University of Essex, believes that if one-third of Rousseff's ministers are women, "it would have great symbolic importance" because, among other things, it will encourage more women to participate in politics.

"The move by Dilma (as everyone in Brazil refers to their president-elect) to put women in the ministries is very important because Brazil is lagging behind in terms of women's participation in politics and in the arenas of power," stated Beatriz Galli, of IPAS Brazil, an organisation that promotes women's reproductive health and rights, as well as women's participation in power -- both in the public and private sectors.

"Gender equality has to begin with women's participation at the highest ranks of government," the IPAS consultant told IPS.

The trouble, according to the local news media, is that the transition team is having a hard time finding women to fill one-third of the Cabinet posts.

Many of the women contacted for the ministry positions are lawmakers and the parties of the governing coalition don't want them to give up their seats because it would weaken their presence in the bicameral Congress.

But the true roots of the problem begin with the political parties themselves. Brazil's electoral law requires a gender quota of 30 percent among the candidates the parties put up for election, but that portion is a long way from being met -- though some advances have been made in the last 15 years.

In 1994, before the implementation of the quota, Sacchet recalls that women represented 6.4 percent of the candidates for deputy posts in the national Congress, and 7.3 percent for the state chambers. In October, the figures were 12.9 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively.

That is a greater gender gap than is found in the other two Latin American countries that currently have women presidents.

In Costa Rica, women hold 38.6 percent of the congressional seats, and in Argentina, 38.5 percent, which ranks them 11 and 12 in the world for women's parliamentary representation, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Brazil is ranked 106, out of 136 countries.

The party leaders say they face difficulties in meeting the quota, which in the case of Brazil is practically voluntary. Among the challenges they cite is the lack of women who are active in politics.

But Sacchet has researched the matter and has come up with other explanations. She believes the low numbers are due to institutional and political obstacles that make it difficult for women to participate on equal footing with men -- and not gender bias among the electorate.

First of all, says the researcher, the party structure itself makes access for women difficult. Some parties argued, for example, that the times their meetings are scheduled tend to preclude women's participation.

Secondly, the women candidates usually don't have political support of the "party machine," or its financial backing. Sacchet's study indicates that women's electoral campaigns spend 40 percent less than men's, and "in Brazil there is a close correlation between electoral spending and the chance for victory."

"Because women have fewer financial options, it's more difficult for them to get re-elected. If they aren't given real opportunities to participate in equal conditions with the men, it will be difficult for women to get elected and to proportionally increase the elected posts held by women," she said.

The political scientist believes a change in Brazil's electoral system could provide solutions with a gender perspective.

Brazil currently has a system of proportional representation with open lists of candidates, which Sacchet says has several inherent problems. "It favours the individualisation of the campaigns and exacerbates financial expenditures amongst candidates," who end up competing with members of their own parties, she said.

She pointed out that women have a better chance in Argentina, where the system is based on a closed list. Furthermore, if Argentina's political parties fail to comply with gender quotas on their lists, they face sanctions.

The problem in Brazil can be illustrated by comparing the results from October's election and the election four years ago, according to Sacchet.

In 2006, 13 percent of the legislative candidates were women, and in 2010 the portion rose to 22 percent. But that was not reflected in the results. "Despite having nearly twice as many women candidates than in 2006, in this new legislature we lost a woman," she said.

The outgoing Brazilian Congress has 45 women deputies, and the new one will have 44. 


source: IPSnews

Congolese Women Refuse Poverty

 To see how women's associations in the Democratic Republic of Congo are helping their members improve their livelihoods, just follow the hubbub you can hear from Justine Kakesa's office: the Kikwit 2 market is bursting with merchandise made by women.

Women are making increasingly effective use of local materials and appropriate technology to produce goods for the local market - bread, soaps, varnishes and more.

"Thanks to the sale of products that we make in our group, I'm able to pay my children's school fees, to buy clothes, pay the rent and take care of other needs," said Justine Kakesa, president of the Young Congolese Women's Group (known by its French acronym, DJFC), an NGO based in Kikwit.

Samosas, for example, triangular pastry pockets with a beef and onion filling, are one of the products that earns money for the association, Kakesa told IPS. "We make them three times a week. Each time we make a basin-full... that amount of samosas sells for at least 60 dollars, so that's 180 dollars for the three batches."

Kakesa said the DJFC has 238 members in Kikwit, and more in other districts in the southwestern DRC province of Bandundu. Over the past three years, women's associations like DJFC have been developing a repertoire of products and techniques to earn money to look after their families.   "Through a variety techniques, methods and procedures, they''ve been able to transform or make products out of local materials," said Jean Bosco Kasinga, a development technician in Kikwit.

According to a 2009 report from the United Nations Development Programme, the majority of people in the DRC live on less than a dollar a day. The women of Bandundu are taking up the challenge of poverty within the limited means at their disposal.

Every morning, from 5 to 9 am, a special market is organised in front of the community hall in the Kazamba neighbourhood of the city, where women - and men - display all sorts of goods. The locally-made products, whether soap or biscuits, compare favourably in both price and quality with imported goods.

"Before making our products, we go through a series of trainings. Without that, the products would not be of good quality," said Célestine Lembagusala, the president of the Network of Active Women in Kikwit, which includes more than 30 women's groups.

"These women have to be encouraged. I often buy their products, and the prices are good. This is how the country can develop itself," Sylvain Mwashi, a Kazamba resident told IPS, leaving the morning market with fresh bread and locally-produced margarine.

"Once I get my share of the profits, I try to deposit part of it in a savings cooperative where I opened an account last year. Then when i'm in need, I can withdraw money," said Jeanne Mpilinkwomo, from the Bandundu Women's Group. Other women belong to informal savings group.

"I can only congratulate the women for the effort they put in... They are development actors," said Brigitte Mukwa, head of service for gender, family and children in Kikwit. 

Sexual Crimes Go Unpunished

Women at workshop assessing the government's recovery plan for the north: sexual violence is an aspect of the conflict that has not been addressed. Credit: Rosebell Kagumire/IPS

- Thousands of women were raped during Uganda’s war but there have been few government efforts to assist them, especially with psychosocial and counseling services.

Anna Grace Nakasi, recently chosen to contest next February’s local council elections for Tubur subcounty, in Soroti district in North Eastern Uganda, contracted HIV when she was raped during the war.

Nakasi was gang raped on three different occasions -- first in 1987, then 1988 and 1990 -- by soldiers who formed a heavy military presence in her village.

"The first time was in 1987 when I met nine soldiers on patrol who gang raped me until I lost consciousness. I later woke up in a hospital bed," she told IPS. "I could tell they were government soldiers."

Nakasi contracted HIV and developed a fistula. She was rejected by her husband and family and lived alone in a forest for many years.

She overcame her trauma with the support of different aid groups that have also supported her in campaigning for women’s economic empowerment and fighting stigma.

She runs paralegal activities, often following up cases of sexual violence in the area and encouraging women to face their offenders. She has a large support base for her candidature for council due to her work with people living with HIV and AIDS.

"I have so far managed to follow-up a case and have a man jailed for rape," she says.

Little support for victims of war-time rape

But Nakasi’s story of her rise from victim of sexual gender based violence to survivor and leader is a unique one.

The two-decades long war in northern Uganda between government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) resulted in the internal displacement of about 1.5 million people and the death of thousands. Women in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps suffered sexual violence from government soldiers and civilians. Although there are no official figures on the numbers of women affected, reports show this was wide spread. The rebels are well known for child kidnapping for use as child soldiers and the abduction of girls as sex slaves.

The war affected the north and north-eastern parts of Uganda until 2007 when the LRA rebels were pushed out to DRC after failed peace talks with the government mediated by the government of South Sudan.

A recent government post conflict recovery programme launched last year lacks a component on addressing the effects on victims of sexual violence in the war.

Further, recommendations calling for reparations for victims of sexual violence made by a commission of inquiry into violations of human rights in Uganda, covering the period from independence in 1962 through the second Obote Regime (1980 – 1985), have never been implemented.

Inadequate penalties

And according to a Uganda United Nations Security Council (UNSCR) Resolution 1325 monitoring report released on Nov. 9 by the Kampala-based Center for Women in Governance (CEWIGO), many cases of sexual violence in Uganda go unprosecuted. UNSCR 1325, which last month marked its 10th anniversary, acknowledged, for the first time, sexual gender based violence in conflict as a war crime and a crime against humanity.

The report, aimed at tracking Uganda’s progress on the implementation of the resolution, found that many cases are not reported. Rape is the least reported sexual offense in Uganda and the Ugandan law still does not recognise marital rape.

Of those cases that are reported, about half are prosecuted and very few carry penalties at the end of the day.

In 2009, Uganda registered and investigated 619 rape cases. Of those, 37 percent (228) were prosecuted and only five percent were penalised. More than seven thousand cases of the rape of children were reported and only 467 of these cases resulted in a penalty. Five hundred and fifty women reported indecent assault and only 79 were penalised.

An injustice to victims of sexual violence

Maude Mugisha from CEWIGO says most families cannot afford to take victims for medical examination or to transport the police to the crime scene. As a result, they opt to negotiate with the perpetrator. Criminal justice in Uganda requires any person who has been a victim of sexual violence to have a medical test, which is pertinent to the success or failure of a case.

However, only authorized police surgeons can carry out the examination. Not only are the police surgeons insufficient but victims must also pay between US$15 and US$25 to be examined.

"This is the greatest injustice that the survivors of sexual violence are subjected to in Uganda," says Judy Kamanyi, a consultant in gender and development issues.

Rebecca Kadaga, the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament concurs. "It cannot only be a police surgeon that can examine a victim if we are to deliver justice. The examination services should be even carried out by midwives so that women stop paying so much money to access justice."

Kamanyi says government should put in place shelters for women whose lives are in danger and also come up with an emergency plan for abused women and children that caters for their safety.

Access to justice for survivors of gender-based violence is also limited by the fact that sexual offenses are only tried at high court level and these are found in only in five regions of the country. Victims travel long distances to access the courts only to find there is no police surgeon present for the hearing. As a result, sexual offenses cases can take years to be heard.

According to CEWIGO, these gaps in delivery of justice to women victims of sexual violence show that Uganda is far from implementing regional and international instruments meant to safeguard women’s lives, especially in the case of war time rapes.

Miria Matembe, a founder member of CEWIGO says women must continue to pressure governments, especially in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, to implement resolution 1325.

"This resolution remains extremely important for us ... We are a continent still infested with conflict with high levels of gender based violence," she says.

The LRA rebels remain active in DRC, Central African Republic and South Sudan where they continue with abductions. 


ipsnews

Malawi's Women Pushing for a Place at the Table

 No sooner had Mariness Luhanga announced her intention to contest local elections in Mzimba district in northern Malawi, than she was summoned to appear before a village court on allegations of insulting men.

"I knew that some people in the village were not amused by my campaigns and had started to circulate stories that I was disrespectful to male candidates, that I was calling them names ," Luhanga, who wants to stand as a People Development Movement (PDM) candidate in Chapitamuno village told IPS.

Threats

Campaigning for the local elections had taken her from door to door, village to village through the district, as well as taking advantage of gatherings at her local church or traditional festivals to present herself as a candidate.

Luhanga believes she stirred up the hornets' nest when she described previous councillors - all men - as "brutes" and lacking in common sense for failing to bring tangible development to the area.

Narrow gender roles only part of problem"It is not a question of culture or traditions that is putting women off the local polls race: it's illiteracy," said Northern Region Women's Forum chair Lillian Dindi Kumwenda. "Most of the women who aspire for political office have never completed formal education. How do you expect them to articulate issues to prospective voters and convince them?" In a constitutency like Mzimba district, many of the leading candidates will be relatively well-educated: retired teachers, police officers and other civil servants, now returned to live in the village as farmers. Women candidates for office in Malawi also generally lack financial resources to produce the posters, t-shirts and printed kitenges that are the mainstay of campaigns here. They typically lose at the primary stage.

"I am quite emotional," she said. "I think I might have provoked their anger by saying that, but it’s the type of life we lead that has led me to contest the elections. Just imagine we don’t even have a borehole in this ward."

Luhanga started receiving anonymous SMSs warning her to withdraw from the contest. She saved one that frightened her most: "Don’t risk your life by contesting against men. You must have respect. Going ahead is at your own risk."

She suspects the messages came from supporters of some of the 10 male contenders for a council seat. Across the country, women who stand for office face hostility, despite the country's stated commitment to increasing female representation in decision-making posts.

Gender parity

The percentage of women in Malawi's parliament rose from 15 to 22 percent in the May 2009 elections, but Pan African Civic Education Network Executive Director Steve Duwa says there's more work to be done.

"It’s an attitude problem, regarding women as inferior to men," Duwa said. "On paper, the political situation is friendly, but in practice very few women are given the potential to pursue their dreams."

Duwa said this may have an impact on the government’s effort to achieve 50:50 representation of women in political and decision-making bodies in line with the Southern African Development Community's Gender Protocol.

Luhanga agrees with Duwa that it is not enough for Malawi to ratify or sign protocols without implementing them.

"Government and NGOs need to work hard to change people’s mindset on the status of women in Malawi because male politicians are violators of legislation that calls for women empowerment."

But Eric Ning’ang’a, Principal Secretary in the ministry of Gender and Child Welfare disagrees and says the government has now taken charge of the 50:50 campaign where previously NGOs were its champions.

"Government [has a] bigger machinery capable of influencing people and we intend to take the 50:50 campaigns seriously by training women in public speaking and building their capacity."

Pressing on

Luhanga faces a rough road. The mother of five, who relies heavily on remittances from her husband for income. Like many other men in the village, he made the long trek to South Africa in search of work eight years ago.

The first hurdle was the hearing in the village court. Since colonial times, courts - known as Phala in the local language, Tumbuka - have been convened to resolve important issues in rural areas.

The courts are presided over by the local chief, assisted by elders as the jury. The case against her turned on Luhanga failing to wear a kitenge, the wrap usually worn by a married or older woman - particularly where Luhanga has addressed a public gathering wearing a skirt that exposed part of her calves - this is considered an insult to custom and indicative of someone with loose morals, according to her accusers. In addition, she was accused of saying abusive things against men.

"In the village where most of us are born and bred, women are enjoined to respect men because men are regarded as breadwinners," says the litigant - and one of her rivals in the election - Dokiso Chizeve. Chizeve claims that although the Ngoni culture values the role they play in society, women's authority is largely limited to fellow women.

If found guilty, she could expect to be fined - chickens, goats, a quantity of maize, beans or groundnuts - and her campaign would likely suffer.

Luhanga counts off the arguments she made on her right hand.

"One, the fact that I wear or don’t wear a kitenge depends on the situation and that I should not be judged from that. Two, when I called people brutes, I did not mention names. And lastly I asked the court to find the people who had sent the anonymous SMSs to me and try them as well for disturbing my peace and freedom."

Her arguments found favour with Village Head Zefa Zimba.

"We found the evidence lacking and we therefore dismissed the case," he told IPS. "But we also reminded Luhanga of the status of women in our Ngoni culture vis-à-vis roles, mandate and authority."

Duly reminded, Luhanga is pressing on.

"I don’t have much in terms of finances," she said as her ox cart sets off along a country road to her next meeting, an all-female gathering, "but what I have I am grateful for."

And if she proves as determined and forceful in office as she has been so far in her campaign, the entire district may have reason to be grateful for her.


source: ipsnews

Rape Victims Fight a Mostly Losing Battle

It takes little to bring out the scars that many women who were raped in Bosnia still carry. Rumours, later shown to be unfounded, that Angelina Jolie would star in a film to be shot in Sarajevo on the war-time love between a Serb man and a Bosniak Muslim girl he raped, had women's groups lodging strong protests.

The false reports spotlighted the fate of thousands of Bosniak Muslim women believed to have been raped by Serbs mostly in eastern Bosnia in the 1992- 95 war. Many were repeatedly violated for months. Several were killed.

Many children they gave birth to were adopted or sent to orphanages. Hundreds of women terminated pregnancies, even late ones, in hospitals or health care centres after fleeing eastern Bosnia, according to aid organisations such as Women Victims of War and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF). Serbs deny that rapes occurred by their forces in eastern Bosnia.

The women say they still live with the trauma, and are fighting for a place in a society where they are stigmatised. Many have been rejected by their families. Almost all of them are still in therapy, and under medication.

"No one can ever film what we saw and went through," Bakira Hasecic (54), head of the association Women Victims of War (WAW) . "The whole thing about the movie has revived our pain and suffering." The association has a database with thousands of names of victims and even violators. The database includes records of girls and women between 12 and 80 years old when they were raped in 1992.

Hasecic, in her 50s, was a victim of repeated rape in eastern Bosnia. Visegrad where she lived was ethnically cleansed of its Bosniak population of 250,000. Only some Serb villages are now inhabited. Few Bosniaks have returned.

Under the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, eastern Bosnia went to the Republic of Srpska, the Serb entity in the state of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The other entity is the Muslim-Croat Federation.

Hasecic made it her mission to find war crimes perpetrators and bring them to justice. She has helped women who agreed to testify before the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague and before courts in Sarajevo.

"But that is horrifying as well, because victims have to retell their stories in detail, answer the most gruesome questions by judges, even meet family members of the accused in the courts' halls, going again through unimaginable humiliation," Hasecic says.

Enisa Salcinovic (58) says her children were the force that carried her through life after she was raped for months in the eastern town Foca in 1992, in front of her parents, children and in-laws.

Salcinovic heads the Association of Concentration Camps Torture Survivors (ACCTS) in Sarajevo. Bosniak Muslims were herded into camps by Serbs, tortured, killed or evicted to territories under Muslim control during the war. Men were also raped in those camps, but none want to speak about it.

"Rape is something people do not want to speak about in our primitive environment," Salcinovic says. "It is shameful, but the truth has to be told. In my opinion, rape ruins you both physically and mentally, and the feeling is shared by all the victims.

"My therapy is constant work, but as a woman I don't exist any more, I'm an empty shell. I have fear from men even when they pass me by in the tram," she says. Salcinovic has had several operations for conditions such as bile abnormalities and cancer.

A number of Bosnian Serbs have been convicted by the ICTY or by local courts for crimes against humanity, rape, and for the forced prostitution of Bosniak women. But many have got away with their crimes.

Bakira Hasecic says justice needs to be done in every case "in order that such things never ever happen again." Hasecic is not afraid to travel to eastern Bosnia with other victims and help them find men who raped them or killed their families.

Psychiatrist Dubravka Salcic, who has treated rape victims for 15 years now, says it is better to call them "survivors", as this gives them hope.

"But there is no final healing. With these women, it's not only rape. There is a succession of traumas among them - all of them have lost at least one family member, many a dozen - husbands, brothers, parents or children, their homes or property. It's hard to build a positive coping strategy among them," she said.

The women say reconciliation is a far-fetched goal the survivors can hardly think about as long as many perpetrators walk free.

The state provides 260 euros to each registered victim. It also partially covers medication and treatment. But even in material terms this is not enough.

Atrocities in Bosnia prompted the groundbreaking UN Security Council Resolution 1325 adopted 10 years ago. The resolution was the first to address the impact of war on women, and called on all parties to take special measures to protect women and girls from sexual violence and rape in conflicts.


source: ipsnews

Cost Major Obstacle to Reducing Maternal Mortality

Elizabeth Kaboré says she has paid for each of her visits to the clinic, despite a government promise that prenatal check-ups in health centres would be free.

"Far from being free, at each consultation, I've had to pay 600 CFA francs (around $1.20) to see the midwives," says Kaboré, several months pregnant. "For an injection, I pay 100 FCFA and the mid-wife explained to me that this money was for the guards at the facility."   Human rights organisation Amnesty International points to financial obstacles as one of the leading obstacles preventing the reduction of high rates of maternal mortality in Burkina Faso. 

"In our society, it's men who decide; women never have the power. Women are deprived of a number of their rights, and we are demanding that they be respected," said Gaétan Moutou, a researcher for Amnesty International. 

According to figures from the Ministry of Health, 307 women die for every 100,000 live births, around 2,000 deaths each year. 

According to Moutou, financial obstacles are the principal hurdle to women's access to care. He has seen firsthand the effect of subsidies for maternal care in various regions of the country, leadingto many more women presenting themselves at health centres for check-ups.   In 2006, the government adopted a subsidy, envisioning covering 80 percent of the cost of giving birth - and making it completely free for the poorest women, according to the ministry. 

The government does what it can within its means, says Dr Souleymane Sanou, the director-general of health in Burkina. "If donor partners can help us, that would be welcome." 

But according to Amnesty, the existence of the policy is not well known, and people are often exploited by unscrupulous health workers. Amnesty also feels that the lack of clear criteria to determine who the beneficiaries should be, and the share of the cost (20 percent must be paid by women seeking care) remains an important obstacle. 

The United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, which finances reproductive health issues, recognises that there is a problem, but believes solutions. 

"It's true that financial obstacles exist, and putting effective measures in place is difficult," says Olga Sankara, programme manager at the UNFPA office in Ouagadougou. 

The UNFPA has supported a communication campaign by the Ministry of Health to better inform people so that they are not exploited, Sankara told IPS.   Amnesty International has also called on the Burkinabé government to extend and improve access of women to family planning. 

The health ministry confirms that the prevalence rate for contraceptives is growing, but remains low. Just over 14 percent of women in Burkina Faso have access. 

According the the national programme for health development, the objective is to raise the rate of contraceptive use from six percent in 1998 to 19 percent in 2015. 

Nicaragua on Obstacle Course to Women's Equality

Nicaragua has made some progress promoting gender equity and the empowerment of women, but it will have to step up efforts and overcome a number of hurdles if it is to eliminate inequalities between the sexes at all levels by 2015.

This view was expressed by U.N. experts, Nicaraguan authorities and representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at a two-day seminar on Nicaragua: Women, Work and Leadership, which ended Thursday in Managua.

The 2015 deadline was set by the world's leaders in 2000 for achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The seminar dealt with the third MDG, on promoting gender equality and empowering women.

The eight MDGs are to halve the proportion of poor and hungry people in the world, from 1990 levels, achieve universal primary education, reduce child mortality by two-thirds and maternal mortality by three-quarters, promote gender equity, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership for development.

María Rosa Renzi, head of the MDGs unit in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office and the local representative of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), said Nicaragua has a good chance of eliminating gender inequality at all educational levels by 2015.

According to 2005-2009 figures from several sources, quoted by Renzi, more girls and women have entered the educational system in Nicaragua, and a solid framework of laws has been approved to support and guarantee women's rights.

Preschool, primary, secondary and university education enrolment rates in Nicaragua are now higher for women and girls than for men and boys.

"Enrolment in primary, secondary and university education has grown significantly in the last 10 years," Renzi said. Between 1997 and 2008, secondary education coverage rose from 29.9 percent to 48.1 percent of girls, and from 24.8 percent to 42.9 percent of boys.

The Nicaraguan constitution states that education is a basic universal human right that is both free and obligatory.

"Education is the key to development. That is why equity requires that women as well as men should have more and better education. If either sex falls behind on education it is a cause for concern," Renzi said.

Despite progress in formal school enrolment, gender equity in other spheres continues to face hurdles, according to the U.N. expert.

One problem is the quality of educational content: what is taught in classrooms reproduces gender stereotypes that perpetuate discrimination against women and their subordination in society, she said.

Women are also still exposed to gender-specific violence, Renzi said.

"At work, women receive unequal pay compared with men's wages. The proportion of women in political positions and government decision-making posts is low. The same is true in professional associations, trade unions and other areas," the expert said.

Furthermore, the labour market continues to perpetuate a gender-based division of labour, and women tend to be relegated to lower skilled jobs.

According to UNDP statistics, the rate of violence against women remains high, and they have little recourse to justice in these cases.

For example, the Institute of Legal Medicine reported 11,313 cases of domestic violence in 2009, compared to 10,189 in 2006. Over 70 percent of the victims were women.

Only one-quarter of the incidents were referred to the office of the public prosecutor for investigation and possible prosecution.

Isabel Green, head of the Nicaraguan Women's Institute (INIM), said these problems are a legacy of previous governments and neoliberal policies "that fostered models which excluded women in all spheres of Nicaraguan society."

Green attended the opening session of the seminar, which was organised by the international news agency Inter Press Service (IPS) in partnership with the UNDP, with the support of Puntos de Encuentro, an NGO. It was sponsored by The Netherlands through the MDG3 Fund.

The Nicaraguan official stressed that the left-wing government of President Daniel Ortega has generated "a culture of change and equality, through public policies and social programmes directed at improving women's quality of life."

According to Green, social programmes like Zero Hunger and the Bono Productivo Alimentario, a food production voucher scheme, have benefited over 50,000 poor women.

More than 35,000 women micro-entrepreneurs have benefited from funding and loans thanks to the Zero Usury programme, which according to Green demonstrates the government's commitment to the empowerment and independence of Nicaraguan women, and to the fight against poverty.

In September the government announced that the extreme poverty rate had fallen to 9.7 percent, from 17 percent in 2005.

Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, with 47 percent of its 5.7 million people surviving on less than two dollars a day. More than one million women, out of the nearly three million in the country, suffer extreme poverty, according to the Nicaraguan Institute of Information for Development.

In the view of Pablo Mandeville, the permanent UNDP representative and resident coordinator of U.N. agencies in Nicaragua, the MDGs, to a greater or lesser extent, "are achievable, but this will require additional efforts by all sectors."

"Without gender equity in a society, comprehensive development is not possible," he said, while calling for united efforts on the part of public institutions, civil society organisations, the media and journalists.