IWS Documented News INTERNATIONAL

IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) and Plan UK

Because You’re a Girl: Growing up in the Commonwealth [14 March 2011]

http://www.thercs.org/society/Filestore/PDFDownloads/BecauseYoureAGirl_Report.PDF

[full-text, 18 pages]

Press Release 14 March 2011

NEW RESEARCH REVEALS BEST AND WORST PLACES IN THE COMMONWEALTH TO BE BORN A GIRL

http://www.thercs.org/society/Filestore/PDFDownloads/BecauseYoureAGirl_PressRelease.pdf

[excerpts]

A new report published today by the RCS and Plan UK to mark the Commonwealth's 2011 theme, 'Women as Agents of Change', reveals that New Zealand is the best place in the Commonwealth to be born a girl, whilst Sierra Leone and Nigeria are among the worst.

'Because You're a Girl: Growing Up in the Commonwealth' compares how well girls/women are doing relative to boys/men in their country across eight indicators. The report suggests that it is political will - and not economic wealth - which is most important in advancing gender equality. Some of the poorest countries in the Commonwealth do relatively well against the eight indicators used in the report, while some rich countries remain a long way off gender equality.

Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Mind the Gap: Measuring Gender Equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Methodology: Drawing up the Report Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Growing Up a Girl: The Commonwealth Report Cards. . . . 10

Report Card 1: Life Expectancy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Report Card 2: Sheer Survival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Report Card 3: Education for Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Report Card 4: Early Pregnancy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Report Card 5: Studying Hard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Report Card 6: Political Participation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Report Card 7: A Sporting Chance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Report Card 8: The Pay Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

The Final Commonwealth Report Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

[Thanks to Kevin Adams, Food and Water Subject Matter Expert, ESR, Christchurch, New Zealand for the tip].

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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 255-2703                
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
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