The credit is used for such projects as livestock raising, opening small shops and paying school fees. More than 15,000 Cambodian women have obtained small loans, for example, and Viet Nam has seen a dramatic increase in school enrolment among daughters of borrowers. Efforts are also under way to end traditional practices that violate women and girls. A number of groups are beginning to have some success in persuading both men and women that FGM claims too high a price. Another hopeful sign is recent action by Canada and the US to grant political asylum to some women threatened by FGM in their home countries, thereby defining the practice as a legitimate criterion for refugee status.
Political power is also crucial to women s empowerment.
Although a female Head of State does not guarantee equal rights for her sex, women in positions of authority throughout political systems clearly have a beneficial effect, not least by the example they set. But there is far, far to go. The State and other institutions of authority can be indispensable allies. The 1990s have been a decade of unprecedented achievement in women s human rights. But international recognition of violence against women as a human rights issue did not happen without a struggle.