International Women's day

"It has become clear that culture is not a sort of 'primordial constraint' from the past that hinders economic and social progress. Culture is constantly being changed by the people who construct it in the first place" - Thoraya O. Obaid, UNFPA executive producer.

Today is the International Women's Day. Various cities and countries of the world are mobilized on this occasion organising different cultural events, exhibitions and conferences on women's rights. For instance the UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund, which is a development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity) has created an interesting interactive web animation which proposes various alternatives to stop violence against women in the world. Women Watch (a UN inter-agency network) claims that "women’s empowerment and gender mainstreaming are key to tackling challenges, such as poverty, discrimination, educational gaps, high maternal mortality, disease and other ills". The UN is also launching a campaign aiming at ending impunity for violence against women and girls. "Violence against women has yet to receive the priority attention and resources needed at all levels to tackle it with the seriousness and visibility necessary", claims a Secretary-General’s study on violence against women. Finally a recent statistical summary developed by Eurostat explains differences and similarities between men and women throughout the EU (on demography, education, employment, skills, unemployment...). For example, women's life expectancy of in the EU should be more than 80 years by 2050 in all countries.