Trinidad leading gender equality!

Good news - maybe the day is coming when I can rejoice!


 GENEVA, Switzerland, November 12, 2008 -

Trinidad and Tobago not only leads the Caribbean and Latin America in closing the gender gap, but it's among the top 20 countries in the world making that progress, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2008 released today.



The twin-island republic jumped 27 spots up from its ranking last year to be number 19 in the survey of 130 countries this time around.



"Trinidad and Tobago makes a remarkable climb up the rankings to hold the highest position in the region and to become the only country from the region to hold a place among the global top 20," the report said. "This is partly due to an improvement in the economic participation and opportunity sub-index, but can be mainly attributed to an increase in the number of women in parliament."



Argentina, at 24, is the second-highest ranking country in the region this year, moving up nine places due to an overall increase in political empowerment, driven by large gains in the percentage of women in parliament and among those holding ministerial level positions. Cuba, a new entrant last year, fell three places to 25; while Barbados, one spot down, took the fourth highest spot in the region as it entered the ranks for the first time this year.



Suriname (79), Bolivia (80), Belize (86), Mexico (97), Paraguay (100) and Guatemala (112) occupy the lowest positions in the region.



Norway leads the chart, followed by Finland, Sweden, Iceland and New Zealand. The United Kingdom is at 13 while the United States is ranked 27.

Read the full story here: Caribbean: News in the Caribbean - Caribbean360.com

44 women murdered in T&T so far this year...

In Trinidad and Tobago, 44 women have been murdered this year to date.
That's double the number from last year.

So Obama's in the White House, all's well with the world?

Not when women (the majority of the population) are being murdered in ever-increasing numbers, when US media commentators are not censured for abusing female candidates in ways that they would not dare to do to an african-american male; when in the Cairo courts last week, the magistrate informed the male accused on the best way to beat his wife without running afoul of the law;

and we are 52% of the population.

The world rejoices when a representative of a 15% minority wins an election, but what about the total lack of representation world wide of the 52% majority?

Women don't have anywhere near proportional representation in ANY government.

So when will I have a reason to go out into the streets and celebrate?

When the promises of Beijing are finally met, when half of our population is no longer paid less for the same work; when we are fully represented in the halls of government and in the White House; when we no longer live in fear of our husbands, our fathers, our brothers; when the courts of law cannot say provocation is a defense for the violence of rape; when anyone who expresses misogynistic views on cable or network television is treated as severely as if s/he expressed a racist view; when our daughters are proud to be female and have all the opportunities that should be there for the 52% majority of the population!

THEN I will put on my t-shirt, I will cry on television, I will run down the streets rejoicing.

Until then - I will contiue to work for TRUE change, change we can ALL believe in - change for the unrepresented and abused MAJORITY of the people of the world.

Change for the WOMEN of the world!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

BlogHer needs your help: Will you blog our donation widget to save women's lives in five countries?

I got this email the other day. I thought it was awesome to use blogging to raise funds to save lives. So please donate if you can, pass on the message, anything you can to assist in the drive.

Jacqueline

2008/04/11 18:07 Eastern Daylight Time

Hi everyone,

This week, as BlogHer launched a special campaign with GlobalGiving to raise money for lifesaving programs for women around the world, I watched three members of BlogHer's community show extraordinary leadership:

Jen Lemen launched an amazing effort to help her friend Odette bring her children home from Rwanda and has raised more than $5,000!

Bonggamom reminded everyone that Jill Asher is holding a bone marrow drive April 19 inspired by her mother's ongoing battle with cancer. Join me there - especially if you have a rare blood type?

Raquita gave her baby's car seat away to a young couple who drove up in front of her house holding a ten-month old on the front seat. Her only desire? That she'd had two car seats to give. Because they had a baby on the way.

Don't these stories just make you want to pump your fist in the air and hug your neighbor and donate your time and money to help them? Me, it does. Which is why I'm using today's newsletter to describe the hard work Denise Tanton and Erin Kotecki Vest have done to kick-off our final phase of BlogHers Act.

Our goal is to find out how many women's lives we can save by blogging to raise small donations -- $10, $15, $25, $50 --for critical clinics and educational programs for women, children and girls specifically in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Darfur, Nepal and South Africa. Denise and Erin chose these programs in partnership with the terrific team at GlobalGiving because GlobalGiving guarantees that your money will get where they say it's going. They research their programs carefully, and send your money to a well-defined project instead of to funding general operating expenses. And -- this is my favorite part -- if you're not happy, you can get your money back. More here.

As a team, we also really like the diversity of their programs in the developing world -- from feeding hungry children to maternal health. As Denise wrote in her announcement:

Over the weekend, I bought a domain name for $10. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with it yet.

* $10 covers the costs of a clinic in Nepal for two days. 2 days.

This morning, we spend $15 at Starbucks. We bought 2 Quad Grande Non-Fat Caramel Macchiatos and 1 Triple Grande Cinnamon Dulce w/whip.

* $15 also buys lunch for 50 girls in a West African village

* $15 can fund healthcare for medicine for 100 refugees in Darfur

We need to fill up the gas tank today, which will cost about $25.

* $25 also aids 20 Afghanistan women with reproductive health care and education

I was thinking about dinner at Satchel’s which costs about $50.

* $50 will provide AIDS counseling for 2 women in South Africa.

My money can make a difference - so can yours.

So far, this enormous BlogHer community has donated $1,280. I cannot wait to see what we can accomplish togther by Mother's Day, May 11, not to mention July's BlogHer 08! I believe that when you click through on this page to see these incredible programs, you'll agree. Denise and Erin have worked to make it easy, using a great little widget developed by GlobalGiving.com. If you will download this widget today and encourage your readers to donate, we can find out just how many women we can help.

Won't you join us?

Get the widget here: http://www.feedblitz.com/t.asp?/65740/748489/http://www.clearspring.com/widgets/47f4f6fb77077b5d

Take Action Now:

1) Grab a button or donation widget to place on your blog.

2) Share this information with your readers by blogging about maternal health, or this BlogHers Act initiative, or the individual project you're supporting.

3) Leave your link at the bottom of this post, using Mr Linky, so
others can hear your thoughts on these issues. (We'll also be featuring
many of you on BlogHer.com and in our newsletters.)

4) Donate to save women's lives, today.

As someone who is like a broken record about the extraordinary power of women who read and write blogs, I'm excited to see what we can do together. Thank you in advance for your help -- I encourage you to blog this now. Let's do this.

Peace,

Lisa

for Elisa, Jory and Lisa