Fina Bella
"We Can Do It ........... Together"
"Nous Pouvons Le Faire ........ Ensemble"
"We Can Do It ........... Together"
"Nous Pouvons Le Faire ........ Ensemble"
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing”.
- Helen Keller -
“Life Is A Journey, Not A Destination”
- Helen Keller -
“Life Is A Journey, Not A Destination”
Women
Women and Work
• Women account for only 11 to 12 percent of corporate officers in the 500 largest
corporations in the USA (1999).
• Women’s work is never done: through the world, they feed families, carry water,
and collect fuel. This is not counted as work (1995).
• 90 percent of the rural female labor force are called "housewives" and excluded
from the formal definition of economic activity.
• In both developed and developing countries, women work 35 hours more than men
every week (1996).
• Women produce 80 percent of the food on the planet, but receive less than 10
percent of agricultural assistance (1995).
• Women make up 82.3 percent of employees in Export Processing Zones (EPZs),
which are tax free industrial areas for foreign companies and where labor laws are
often suspended and workers unprotected. In 1995, there were EPZs in 60 countries
around the world, mostly in Asia (1995).
Women and Money
• There is no country in the world where women's wages are equal to those of men
(2000) .
• Women own approximately 1 percent of the world’s land (1995).
• 70 percent of people in abject poverty (living on less than $1 per day) are women
(UNIFEM - 1995).
• Only 5 percent of those in need of microcredit access are receiving it (1995).
• In Silicon Valley, for every 100 shares of stock options owned by a man, only one
share is owned by a woman (1995).
Women and Politics
• Women are denied voice or power over the most fundamental human decisions,
such as whether and when to bear children, to get an education, or to go to work.
• In early 2000, only nine women were heads of State or Government.
• 12% of the world's total parliament seats are held by women (1999). Women’s
representation, on average, was highest in Western Europe (21 percent) and in the
“developed” regions outside Europe (18 percent). Only Nordic countries and the
Netherlands have at least one third women parliamentarians (1999).
• In UN agencies, only 21 percent of senior officials are women (1999).
• There are currently only 39 women ambassadors to the UN.
Women and Violence
• Everyday, 6000 girls are genitally mutilated - more than 200 000 per year
(2000).
• Every year in India, 5000 brides are murdered or commit suicide because their
marriage dowries are considered inadequate. (2000)
• In the US, one in five women will be victims of rape in their lifetime. A woman is
raped every 3 minutes. 55 percent of American women report having experienced
rape and/or physical assault in their life-time. 10 women are killed by their
batterers each day (1998).
• In Russia, half of all murder victims are women killed by their male partners.
(1995)
• Israel, Japan, Trinidad & Tobago, Brazil, Pakistan, Peru, Argentina, Costa Rica,
Malaysia, Bangladesh, Ecuador and Tunisia each have less than 10 shelters for
battered women (1995).
Women and Education
• Two thirds of the world’s 876 million illiterates are women (2000).
• Primary school enrollment among girls in the developing world is 6 percent lower
than boys’ enrollment (1999).
• Secondary school enrollment among girls in the developing world is only 41
percent, whereas enrollment of boys is 53 percent (1999).
• For every year beyond fourth grade that girls go to school, family size drops 20
percent, child deaths drop 10 percent, and wages rise 20 percent; yet, the
international aid dedicated to education is declining (1995).
• Women make up 29 percent of world internet users. In the Philippines, Croatia,
France, Sweden, Australia and the USA, they represent more than 40 percent of the
users (2000). .
Women and Armed Conflict
• In times of conflict, women and children are sold into forced servitude and slavery.
• In the former Yugoslavia, 20,000 women and girls were systematically raped by
both sides of the conflict during the first months of the war.
• 75 percent of the refugees and internally displaced in the world are women who
have lost their families and their homes. As refugees, women are particularly
vulnerable to sexual violence while in flight, in refugee camps and/or during
resettlement (2000).
Women in Canada
• Women form the majority of poor people in Canada – one in five Canadian women
(2.8 million) lives in poverty (2000).
• Single mothers and other “unattached women” are most likely to be poor, with
poverty rates for those groups reaching as high as 56 percent for single mothers
under 65, and 49 percent for unattached women over 65 years of age (1997).
• Single mothers with children under seven had poverty rates as high as 82.5
percent in 1995, and single mothers under age 25 had a poverty rate of 83 percent.
• In 1990, 33 percent of Aboriginal women, 28 percent of visible minority women,
and 21 percent of immigrant women were living below the low-income cut-off. As
well, 25.2 percent of all adult women with disabilities were poor in 1991.
• In 1999, 55 percent of all women ages 15 and over had jobs, compared to 42 percent
in 1976.
• In 1999, 28 percent of all employed women worked less than 30 hours per week
compared with just 10 percent of employed men.
• In 1997, the earnings of women employed full-time were equivalent to 73 percent
of what men earned that same year.
• In 1997, there were 44 births for every 1000 women aged 15 to 49 in Canada,
whereas in 1956, there were 116 births per 1000 women in the same age range.
• In 1986, 51 percent of women university graduates worked in high-level jobs
compared with 74 percent of men. By 1998, 49 percent of women and 62 percent of
men university graduates aged 25 to 64 were working in high-level jobs. Sources: -
WomenWatch, The UN Working for Women: Who is Who at the UN (http://www.un.
org/womenwatch/un/who/htm, 02/04/01); - Statistics Canada, Women in Canada
2000: A Guide to Understanding the Changing Roles of Women and Men in Canada
(http://www.statcan.ca/english/ads/89-503-XPE/hilites.htm, 02/04/01); - Women
and International Development: Statistic on women 1997-1998 (http://www.
womensedge.org/development/womenstats1998.htm, 05/04/01); - “Female Genital
Mutilation” (June 2000). World Health Organization Fact Sheet #241 (http://www.
who.int/int-fs/en/fact241.html); - “Nations Worldwide Support a Women’s Right to
Choose Abortion”(March 2000), CRLP Publications (http://www.crlp.
org/pub_fac_atkwwsup.html); - Azza Karam, et al., Women in Parliament: Beyond
Numbers (Stockholm, Sweden: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral
Assistance, 1998); - “UNICEF Executive Director targets violence against women”,
UNICEF web site (http://www.unicef.org/newsline/00pr17.htm); - Joni Seager, The
State of Women in the World Atlas (Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1997); - The
World’s Women 2000: Trends and Statistics (New York: United Nations, 2000); -
“Women and Poverty: Fact Sheet”, Marika Morris, CRIAW, Spring 2000
(http://www.criaw-icref.ca/Poverty_fact_sheet.htm); - United Nations The World's
Women 1995: Trends and Statistics (New York: United Nations, 1995); - Heyzer,
Noeleen, ed., A Commitment to the World’s Women: Perspectives on Development
for Beijing and Beyond. (New York: UNIFEM, 1995); - United Nations Development
Programme, Human Development Report 1999 (New York: Oxford University Press,
1999); - United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 1998
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1998); - United Nations, Women: Looking
Beyond 2000 (New York: United Nations, 1995); - United Nations Development
Programme, Human Development Report 1995 (New York: Oxford University Press,
1995).
General Statistics - The 3 RICHEST PEOPLE in the world own assets that exceed the
combined gross domestic products of the world's POOREST 48 COUNTRIES. - Among
the 4.5 billion people who live in developing countries, nearly 1.3 BILLION PEOPLE
do not have access to clean water, - one in seven children of primary school age is out
of school, - about 840 MILLION are malnourished, - approximately 1.3 BILLION
PEOPLE live on less than $1 per day, - 3 MILLION PEOPLE die each year from air
pollution and more than - 5 MILLION die from diarrhoeal diseases caused by water
contamination, - about 340 MILLION women are not expected to survive to age 40, -
the 20 percent of the world’s population that lives in the richest countries
CONSUMES 84 PERCENT OF THE WORLD’S PAPER, - THREE-FIFTHS have no access
to basic sanitation, - almost ONE-THIRD are without safe drinking water, - ONE-
QUARTER lack adequate housing, - ONE-FIFTH live beyond reach of modern health
services, - and ONE-FIFTH of the children do not get as far as grade five in school.
Basic education for all would cost $7-8 BILLION a year-- - $8 BILLION is spent
annually for cosmetics in the United States alone.
Installation of water and sanitation for all would cost $9 BILLION plus some annual
costs-- - $11 BILLION is spent annually on ice cream in Europe.
Reproductive health services for all women would cost $12 BILLION a year--
- $12 BILLION a year is spent on perfumes in Europe and the United States.
Basic health care and nutrition would cost $13 BILLION; - $17 BILLION a year is
spent on pet food in Europe and the United States. - $35 BILLION is spent on
business entertainment in Japan; - $50 BILLION on cigarettes in Europe; - $105
BILLION on alcoholic drinks in Europe; - $400 BILLION on narcotic drugs around the
world; - and $780 BILLION on the world's militaries. - It is estimated that, per year,
crime syndicates gross $1.5 trillion.
Sources: United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report
1999 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999); United Nations Development
Programme, Human Development Report 1998 (New York: Oxford University Press,
1998).
Body Image and Self Esteem
Body image affects how you feel about yourself. It's an important factor in self
esteem for women, men, adolescents and children. The modern world glorifies the
perfect body and if you're a woman it's difficult to be positive if you believe you are
fat, ugly, too tall etc. This page focuses on the affects and what to do to improve your
self attitude and boost your self esteem.
Image and women
Self esteem in women these days seems dependant on how they think they look.
Many women check the scales several times a day.
"I'm fat, short, skinny" - these are opinions you hold and maybe not true. However, I
know people who are fat and happy and others who are slim and unhappy.
Guess what? Some men like large, some small, some thin and some tall. You don't
have to be thin to be attractive! Someone will like your appearance and if you have
a good feeling about yourself even better!
Your body is unique, enjoy it and love it. Focus on your good points. If someone likes
you they will see the good and not the bad. Make yourself worthy of love and like
yourself first.
Image and men
Poor opinion of your body can cause you to have very low self esteem and self
confidence.
Men worry about how tall, strong or big they are. The worst thing for men is
probably being short. They believe the tall, dark, handsome myth. Most men will
suffer low self esteem if they think they are short or too thin. Like women these
men can become obsessed.
Look at previous issues
Many women don't like muscle men and even prefer shorter men. Sensitivity is a
real plus.
Image and adolescents
Adolescents worry how they compare and appear to their friends and others. Looks
and physical appearance are highly important! Teenagers want to look like the
stars and pop idols they see on TV. These stars are not average looking people.
Adolescents fall into the trap of believing that if they are not like these wonderfully
attractive stars they are not worth anything.
Bad self image can be a killer! If people had confidence and liked themselves then
eating disorders, bulemia and suicides would decrease.
Raise your self esteem
Focus on the parts of your body you like
Dress to emphasis what you have and look good Stop comparing yourself to others
Start an exercise program
Eat healthy food and stay away from diets
Play sports as often as you can
Walk as much as you can
Don't smoke at all or drink too much
Write down compliments you receive about how you look
Straighten up, smile and look straight ahead - you'll look and feel more confident
All Rights Reserved 2008
The Fina Bella Group
www.finabella.org (Lobby/Issues)
www.finabella.ca (The Fina Bella Coalition Against Domestic Violence)
http://www.facebook.com/fina.bella
The Fina Bella Group
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"Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred
Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels".
Faith Whittlesey - Director of Valassis Communications since
January 1992. She has had a long career in government, law and
diplomacy at local, state and national levels.
Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels".
Faith Whittlesey - Director of Valassis Communications since
January 1992. She has had a long career in government, law and
diplomacy at local, state and national levels.