Marking Egyptian Women's Day, 16 March, Dina Ezzat looks into the main obstacles that impede the progress of women in their struggle for empowerment

Still fighting

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Half moons It takes two wings to fly

AS THE UNITED Nations celebrated International Women's Day on 8 March, the picture of women's rights -- or rather the lack thereof -- across the world carried many a similar feature to that of the status of Arab women.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a strong message on domestic violence. Physical abuse of women, he said, continued unchecked "in every continent, country and culture" because it was frequently concealed or tacitly condoned. The violence "takes a devastating toll on women's lives, on their families and on society as a whole," he added.

Also marking the day, the World Health Organisation released a shocking report saying that one girl in five was a victim of sexual violence before the age of 15.

The UN labour watchdog said women were joining the workforce in record numbers but they were still not paid as much as men, not educated so well, and were more likely to be fired from work.

Juan Somavia, head of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), said: "Despite some progress, far too many women are still stuck in the lowest paying jobs, often in the informal economy with insufficient legal protection, little or no social protection and a high degree of insecurity."

A record 1.2 billion women were working last year out of a total global workforce of 2.9 billion people, an ILO report said. In the United States women remain greatly under- represented in top executive positions, according to another study.

"At the current rate of change, it could take women 47 years to reach parity with men as corporate officers of Fortune 500 companies," the study said.