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WAFE works to: 90% of the United Nations member states recognise that women’s advancement is crucial to human development. Women’s equality is unfortunately strongly opposed by some regimes, above all where religious Fundamentalists hold power. Maltreatment of women is endemic in all these regimes; from denying them equal human rights and status to daily petty restrictions. All the evidence is that communities benefit from women’s advancement. Family size diminishes, children are healthier and better educated, educated women gain better employment, national prosperity rises and marriages are happier. We work to raise awareness of this threat alongside our work to ensure women realise their full potential. We publish current international reports of women’s advancement and treatment under repressive regimes. We also hold meetings and seminars to raise awareness of these issues. We use our website to bring you up-to-date worldwide information on these issues. Please let us know how we are doing. Comments, suggestions and new contributions are always welcome. NEWS FLASHPlease note our change of title: WAFE now stands for Women Advancing Freedom and Equality This new title enables us to oppose all patriarchies, religious or secular, which deny women their full human rights. We still see religious extremism in all faiths as the focal source of gender discrimination. Denial of women’s rights in the name of God is surely the ultimate blasphemy. Many political leaders call on God or placate their country’s priests to justify women’s subjugation. These tyrants must be confronted. We must support all women who oppose them. We stand for a different vision - the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which recognises the equal rights of us all regardless of gender, colour, race, ethnicity, or any other category. Elizabeth Sidney OBE Chair |
