From Associated Press, July 11, 2002
"Women discuss business opportunities in international
marketplace at Summit in Barcelona"
Barcelona, Spain (AP) _ Although women-run businesses represent more
than 30 percent of those in Europe and the United States, women still lag far
behind men in earnings and in job status; in developing countries, the disparity
is even greater.
This weekend, government and private business representatives from 76 countries
including deputy heads of state and international human rights leaders will
explore business opportunities for women in the international marketplace during
the Global Women's Summit being held in Barcelona. "We're here to find
ways to improve our economic lives and those of the women in our respective
countries," said Irene Natividad, former President of the United States'
National Women's Political Caucus and Director of the Summit.
Natividad said the Summit was focused on "sharing solutions that work," not on
discussing the known problems women face or on making resolutions to governments
or aide organizations, although she said she hoped individual participants would
make thier voices heard in support of international issues like women's rights
in Afghanistan. "This is about women helping themselves, not abou waiting
around for the government to come and try to help us," she said.
Most of the 600 women participating in the
Summit own small or medium size businesses, although women's rights activists,
like Afghanistan's Sima Samar, president if the country's Human Rigts
Commission, are also present.
Though women do not own businesses there and
most girls are still not in schools she said that, "the masses of Afghanistan
are not really against women. The way the Taliban portrayed the culture is
not true." She added that nevertheless, "the women's situation in
Afghanistan is really bad. Women are invisible."
She said that the first step the country must
take to equalize women's position is to ensure Afghanistan's security and she
called on the international community to help.
Topics to be covered at the Summit include
political issues that are impacting women's development, e-commerce, financing
and balancing work and family.
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