News from NFAs

Humanitarian appeal for Pakistan

The United Nations and its partners have launched an international humanitarian appeal for $543 million for Pakistan. The funds are needed to assist the 1.7 million persons displaced as a result of the fighting in Pakistan's Swat Valley in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) since 2 May. The IFUW
Board of Officers encourages all national federations, associations, branches and members to urge their governments to support this appeal and to express concern for the education, health and human rights of women and girls in the region. For more information, see the website of the UN Refugee Agency -
http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/4a2010ce4.html.

New IFUW e-mail discussion on "Women and health"
The next IFUW e-mail discussion will begin this Monday, 8 June 2009. The topic will be "Women & Wealth". In 1997 it was estimated that nearly 70% of the world’s 1.3 billion poor people were women.
Whatever the wealth of a nation, women as a group have a smaller portion of that national wealth than men as a group. In the coming three weeks we invite you to contribute to the store of knowledge about women and their relationship to wealth (and poverty), in your country and in your own experience. The topics for the three weeks will be:
* Week One, 8-14 June: The Situation in Your Country and in Your Experience
* Week Two, 15-21 June:Will Work Bring Wealth to Young and Old?
* Week Three, 22-28 June:What Needs To Be Done?What Can Be Done?
If you are not already a member of the discussions@ifuw.org group, you can sign up for the discussion by sending an email with the subject "Subscribe" and your name, city, country, NFA and branch (or Independent Member number) to discussions-sub@ifuw.org. A background paper will be posted later
this week at http://www.ifuw.org/networks/index.shtml#wealth.

Summary of the "Women and employment" discussion
If you missed the last IFUW e-mail discussion on “Women & Employment: working in a globalized world”, you can read the summary covering the formal and informal economy and possible solutions for creating a more fair system of globalization:
http://www.ifuw.org/docs/2009_women_employment_summary_discussion.pdf

The global downturn: Are women disproportionately affected?
The United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) just held its first Public Symposium on the effects of the global financial turmoil. One agenda item discussed whether women were disproportionately affected by the crisis. It concluded that women ARE indeed a factor in the economic crisis and that governments that do not empower women will be at an economic
disadvantage not using the work force at its full potential. The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) projections for 2009 suggest that the global unemployment rate for women will rise to 7.4%. Human trafficking, child labour and gender imbalances in general will increase, impacting education for young
girls. Current recovery projects unfortunately are too often based on outdated methods based on a male dominated work force. To read the full report:
http://www.ifuw.org/advocacy/reports/2009_UNCTAD_public_symposium.pdf
Erin Liepa, IFUW Intern

Swedish Federation receives grant for a "Leaky Pipe" Project
The Swedish Federation (KAF) has been awarded approximately 28 000 Euros from the Swedish Government for projects and other activities. Their first project, organized with the Network of AcademicWomen in the Nordic Countries (KANN), will be a workshop called “The leaky pipe”. Today, women are in majority among university students but few stay on and become professors or get higher academic positions. The “leaky pipe” is a concept that symbolizes this phenomena. The workshop, will take place at the 6th European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education, 5-8 August in Stockholm, will discuss why women are not staying on and where they actually go.
Beatrice Christensen Sköld, CIR, Swedish Federation

Canadian Federation Receives Recognition for work on Resolution 1325
The Canadian Federation (CFUW) was recently invited to take part in "Until the Violence Stops" a special national event organized by the Canadian All Party Parliamentarian Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity. The meeting looked at ways Canada could help end the use of sexual violence as weapon in war. The invitation reflects growing recognition of the CFUW's role as one of the leading national proponents of Resolution 1325. This landmark resolution, adopted unanimously in 2000, calls for women and a gender perspective to be an integral part of all conflict resolution and peace-building efforts. Among its many provisions, the resolution specifically calls for special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, and all other forms of violence in situations of armed conflict
Ardith Toogood, CIR, Canadian Federation

Appreciation for NFA solidarity
IFUW would like to express special thanks to the Irish Federation, Swiss Association and members of the Canadian Federation for recent contributions that have assisted NFAs in danger of losing membership because of arrears. The financial crisis has had a global impact, but is especially hard on many of IFUW's smaller affiliates already struggling to pay their dues. These special gifts have helped NFAs in five different countries to remain part of IFUW's international network. Other members wishing to help may contact IFUW Headquarters for more information - ifuw@ifuw.org.