In Uganda: Disabled Women Experience Double Discrimination

In Uganda women with disabilities are stigmatized, discriminated against, violently attacked and usually live in absolute poverty….but the greatest challenge for many of them is centered on reproductive health issues.  They bear the brunt of being discriminated against for two reasons….because they are women and because they have a disability. 

Typically social programs in Uganda that deal with empowering women and gender equality issues do not target these women because of their disability.  Uganda has a disability policy including a People with Disabilities Act.  It is also a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that calls for the protection of rights for people living with disabilities.  But there are no efforts to incorporate reproductive health services into such legislation. 

Giving birth in Uganda is a dangerous and dirty business. The clinics where the impoverished can afford to give birth are so awful, unclean and ill equipped that many women would rather take the chance and birth at home, even though they may not have the proper or sanitary instruments necessary to guarantee a healthy and safe delivery. As a result, both infant and mother mortality are heartbreakingly high because of infection and lack of proper care. Often the mothers are left alone, in their pain and without support, only to be treated indifferently and harshly during the birth itself.

Many women are even hit by their midwives if they cry out or scream. Also, because of high instances of untreated malaria, mothers often miscarry in the second trimester. Caesareans are practiced with unnecessary frequency, abortions are primitive, and often mother's with HIV/AIDS aren't given the drugs available to prevent mother to child transmission at the time of delivery. All too commonly, the disease is passed to the child through her breast milk as a result.

Midwives have almost no training on how to handle expectant mothers with disabilities.  They don’t know how to move them properly or about the complications that specific disabilities can cause during delivery.  Making matters worse these health care facilities have beds that are not designed for women who have difficulty with mobility.  The beds are very high and cannot be adjusted.  The lack of special  beds often requires the mid-wife to squat on the floor to deliver a baby.

Midwives also cannot communicate with women who are visually impaired or deaf.  They cannot give vital information to expectant mothers about pregnancy or to new mothers on how to care for their babies.  There is a great need to train health workers — particularly midwives - on how to communicate with and educate women with disabilities.

The reproductive health rights of women with disabilities are not only violated during childbirth. Sexual exploitation is another huge problem that subsequently leads to unwanted pregnancies and complications during childbirth. It also increases the chances of these women contracting sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS.

Women Entrepreneurs In Vietnam Face Many Challenges

Although women have established themselves as entrepreneurs in Vietnam, many businesswomen do not enjoy the same level of services and support as their male counterparts. While existing laws and policies in do not overtly discriminate against female entrepreneurs, cultural factors in Vietnam such as dominant gender stereotypes pigeonhole women into domestic roles or into employment sectors that are undervalued and poorly paid. 

These factors have a direct negative impact on the education of female entrepreneurs in areas like marketing, business expansion and business technology.  There is also a lack of services tailored to meet specific women's needs, especially time management, skills training, leadership development and human resource management. 


Business development is widely recognized as contributing to economic empowerment of women and promoting gender equality. However, not all women are born as entrepreneurs; instead, business skills must be learned from colleagues, family and friends, formal training, or from experience. A recent nationwide survey found that businesswomen in Vietnam are crying out for additional support that can assist them in growing their businesses.


In order to promote female entrepreneurship in Vietnam there should be business support and facilitation that address the needs of women, specifically in the areas of business planning, financial management, marketing, and quality control.

Women entrepreneurs face a number of barriers preventing them from expanding their businesses.   These barriers include:   1) a lack of sufficient business management knowledge and skills, 2) being disconnected from the larger business community, and 3) a low level of encouragement and support from the government and society. During the past few years, a number of work related programs initiated by women's unions and some NGOs have mostly targeted poor women in rural and remote areas. However, middle class businesswomen in Vietnam also need support in order to catch up with male entrepreneurs. 

Empowering women: More Education + Better Health Care = Less Poverty

A young girl from India in the fifth grade says goodbye to her classmates because she won’t be attending school anymore.  Her mother died recently and she  has to stay home to cook and bring lunch to her father in the field where he works. Her grandmother is very old and blind, but she scolds her son for withdrawing his daughter from school. The grandmother says that she will do the cooking and tries to make her son recognize how important his daughter’s education is.  Nonetheless, the father doesn’t understand….to him it is more important for his daughter to keep house for him than go to school.

Poor, overworked and illiterate--this is the profile of many adult, rural women in a majority of developing countries. Although more girls and women are entering school now than ever before, huge gaps still exist in women's education and literacy, especially among adult women ...the caretakers and providers for whom the ability to read and write can make a world of difference.

If women are to contribute effectively to their community and the development of their country, they must be sufficiently equipped to actively participate by receiving quality education that will prepare them to enter any field, expose them to science, technology and communications and stimulate their creativity.

Women's health and access to health care are also of major concern in developing countries.   The health of the people in a country is pivotal to its prospects for sustainable development.  Women suffering from poor health status typically lack knowledge, information, work skills and access to essential health services.  Despite the fact that women are the primary providers of health care for their families (and sometimes for an entire village), they often lack access to such care for themselves. Statistics show that in many countries there are fewer women than men receiving timely treatment for illnesses, hospital care if needed, and receiving prescriptions for medication.

Women comprise a disproportionate share of the world's poor. Over the past 50 years, the number of rural women in developing countries living in absolute poverty has risen by about 50%  versus 30% for rural men.  Female poverty is a persistent and unevenly distributed liability that threatens the sustainability of developing countries.

DID YOU KNOW? More Than 1 in 3 Native American Women Will Be Raped In Her Lifetime

Native American and Alaskan Native women are greater than 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than other women in the United States.  Making matters worse, there is a complex maze of tribal, state and federal legal systems that gives perpetrators of many of these rapes impunity and in some cases even encourages assaults.  Sexual violence against Indigenous women in the USA is widespread -- and especially brutal.   Some Indigenous women report they didn’t know anyone in their community who had not experienced sexual violence. Though rape is always an act of violence, there is evidence that Indigenous women are more like than other women to suffer additional types of violence at the hands of their attackers. Statistics gathered by the US Justice system show that in at least 86 per cent of the reported cases of rape or sexual assault against American Indian and Alaskan Native women the perpetrators are non-Native men. Sexual violence against Indigenous women is the result of a number of factors including a history of widespread and egregious human rights violations against Indigenous peoples in the USA.   There are many infamous historical events (including the Trail of Tears between 1790 and 1830) where settlers and soldiers  raped indigenous women. Such attacks were not random or individual, but were the tools used to take over and   colonize the west. The underlying attitudes towards Indigenous peoples that supported these human rights violations then continue to be present in society and culture today. They contribute to the present high rates of sexual violence perpetrated against Indigenous women and help to shield their attackers from justice. There are three justice systems -- tribal, state and federal --  that are potentially involved in responding to sexual violence against Indigenous women.  Before any action is taken,  there has to be a determination of which of these systems has authority in the case.  The main factors that determine which system has authority to prosecute such crimes are whether the victim is a member of a federally recognized tribe or not and whether the offence took place on tribal land or not.  The answers to these questions are often not self-evident and there can be significant delays while police, lawyers and courts establish who has jurisdiction over a particular crime. The result can be such confusion and uncertainty that no one intervenes and survivors of sexual violence are denied access to justice. Tribal prosecutors cannot prosecute crimes committed by non-Native perpetrators. Tribal courts are also prohibited from passing custodial sentences that are in keeping with the seriousness of the crimes of rape or other forms of sexual violence. The maximum prison sentence tribal courts can impose for crimes, including rape, is one year. At the same time, the majority of rape cases on tribal lands that are referred to the federal courts are reportedly never brought to trial.  As a consequence Indigenous women are being denied justice and the perpetrators are going unpunished. In failing to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence, the USA is violating the rights of these women.  Indigenous women’s organizations and tribal authorities have brought forward concrete proposals to help stop sexual violence against Indigenous women – but the federal government has failed to act.

In Honor of Cambodian New Year - Status of Khmer Women

Cambodian woman are often compared to the celestial goddesses on the walls of the great temples in Angkor Wat. The pleasant smile and distant gaze are symbols  representing  water and purity… virtues that are responsible for upholding the family name.  But after twenty years of war, genocide and suffering both Khmer society and its people have redefined the roles of women in the Khmer culture.  These new roles have proven challenging in many ways and makes it almost impossible  to preserve the traditional identity as Khmer women.

Traditional Cambodian gender roles have relied on a unique concept of "gender equality" which is quite different from the "equality" considered by American standards.  Khmer women's roles and their behavior are connected to and greatly affect the status of their husbands, sons, and fathers.  As described in Khmer literature, the Khmer woman, must remain virtuous to uphold the image of her family. She is required to speak softly, walk lightly and be well mannered at all times. It is required for her to stay at home and serve as the caretaker and preserver of the home. A Khmer woman must be a virgin when she marries and be faithful to her husband after marriage, even though he is allowed to have extramarital affairs. It is assumed that if a wife is virtuous, the husband will not need to look elsewhere for happiness. A wife must be clever and wise bringing greater wealth and status to her husband.  Heavy consequences exist for women who disobey Khmer social standards.  Khmer women who are not considered virtuous are often punished by rape or end their lives in suicide from shame.

This traditional role is enslaving and has caused extreme hardship to women living in the new Cambodian social structure.  Many Khmer women, especially single mothers, have suffered through tremendous atrocities.  During the reign of the Khmer Rouge, women were often viewed as being less threatening to the regime and their lives were spared while they faced the death of their husbands, sons and fathers. Many continue to carry these painful memories throughout their daily lives.  Many of the widows believe that if they remarry it would be a betrayal to their deceased husband.  Even the women who try to establish themselves in the Cambodian labor market, lead lonely and celibate lives continually grieving for their husbands.  For the fortunate Khmer women whose husbands survived the war life can be even more difficult.  In many cases the husbands remarried and try to maintain both wives.

Khmer traditionalists compare a Cambodian girl to white cotton. A boy is compared to a gem. It is said that when white is soiled, it can never be washed to the purity and cleanness it once had. Gems, on the other hand, can be cleaned to shine brighter.  The atrocities of war, the violence and the hardship have made it necessary for women to take responsibility for their children, earn a living and become financially independent.  The male traditionalists feel that empowering women makes them dirty.   These men also feel  their own power has been undermined by the  new roles women are taking on.

Unfortunately, the women, caught between the responsibility of fostering the Khmer identity for future generations and finding their place within the new Cambodian culture are blamed (and blame themselves) for the re-shifting of gender roles.

Khmer women who are eager to take advantage of new opportunities have yet to gain the recognition from their communities. They find themselves alienated from family, friends and neighbors because they have lost the traditional traits of Khmer women. They are regarded as defectors if they remarry or even take a job. They are considered antagonists if they voice their opinions within the community.

Slowly women in Cambodia are emerging as an economic power within their society. Many younger women are realizing the task ahead is to rebuild their country.   They know they must eliminate the gender barriers in order to have a viable labor force.  Many younger women are trying to get an education so that they will be able to take an active and meaningful role in rebuilding their country. After twenty years, Cambodia is just starting to emerge from the depths of war and destruction with the Khmer women leading the way.