The trouble is, of course, that international codes are not self-implementing. Nor, for that matter, is national legislation, though it is an essential step on the way. At the intergovernmental level, for more than half a century, the Commission on the Status of Women has provided guidance, inspiration, and on occasion candid criticism, on steps related to women's status and advancement. Four world conferences have been convened over a 25-year period. They have also inspired women to make demands for public spending on issues of direct concern to them, most notably education and health services.
Women are victims of rape and sexual violence in the home, in war and in other forms of conflict.
The majority of the world's poor, and of its illiterates, are women. Women continue to earn 75 per cent, or less, of every dollar, euro, or yen earned by men. Women are more commonly found in part-time work, in the informal sector, among the unemployed and the underemployed. Women are also deprived of basic health rights, as you can see from the shocking maternal mortality rates in so many countries, and in the number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes every year. Things are changing, albeit much too slowly.