Women Remain At The Bottom Of The Heap

Equal opportunity for women has been around us for years, yet while many men may talk all the eifhr words, the scales are definitely balanced against women. In the latest list of the world’s billionaires, women have a very low presence. Only two women are found at numbers 12 and 13, in the top 20.

Women continue to hold a very low position in the places of power. “Discrimination is changing at a snail’s pace and still needs to be challenged,” says Nicole Brewer, of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

Isabelle Allendale, author, says: “Women are paid less than men for the same work, if paid at all. Women remain vulnerable because they have no economic independence and are constantly threatened by exploitation, violence and abuse. If a woman is empowered, her children and family will be better off. ” Yet for every dollar spent on programs for women, $20 are given to programs for men.

Under cover of secrecy, the world’s most powerful and wealthiest people, came together in an unprecedented secret meeting, at Rockefeller University, in the home of the president of the Manhatton medical school, at the invitation of David Rockefeller Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

“We came together to see if we could join together to do more to help, in the light of the world economic downturn,” said one of the attendees. “This group is very committed to philanthropy.” It was reported the agenda for the five hour afternoon/dinner meeting was to consider ways to use their considerable financial resources to come to the aid of people in the midst of financial crisis.

Those attending the meeting included such billionaire moguls as Michael Bloomberg, George Soros, Peter Petersen, Ted Turner and Eli Broad. All are well known for their philanthropic endeavours. However, it seems the only female billionaire to attend the secret meeting was Oprah Winfrey

Yet for all the advances women have made on the frontier of equality, they are still way behind the eight ball.

• Women amount to less than 1% of departmental heads, editors, media owners, yet they make up one third of working journalists
• 80% of all purchasing decisions are taken by women
• Women perform 66% of the world’s work, yet they only receive 10% of world’s income
• Women have ownership of less than 1% of the assets of the world
• Universally women make up 42% of Internet users
• The 1 billion plus illiterate adults, who have no access to basic education, are comprised of 66% of women
• Only 21% of all news subjects are on women

Finally – a piece of trivia: Women use 20,000 words a day, compared to 7,000 used by men.