|
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
A Historic Time for Gender Planning in India
Highlighting Women at the 2011 UN General Assembly Debate
The 66th General Debate of the UN General Assembly closed this week with evidence of firm commitments to gender equality throughout the speeches of high-level government representatives. Emphasizing the importance of international efforts to achieve gender equality, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also announced USD 5 million to UN Women.
This year’s debate was the first since the formation of UN Women in January 2011. Held annually, it is attended by heads of state and government, foreign ministers and other officials of UN Member States. In 2011, in another first, a woman opened the session — H.E. President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil.
She stressed that in Brazil, “women have been fundamental in overcoming social inequalities…yet my country, like every country in the world, still has much work ahead of it when it comes to empowering women.”
She welcomed the creation of UN Women, paying tribute to its Executive Director, Michelle Bachelet.
“I add my voice to those of the women who dared to struggle, who dared to participate in politics and in the workforce, and who forged the political space without which I could not stand here today,” Rousseff proclaimed.
During the General Debate on 26 September the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, H.H. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, announced a contribution of USD 5 million to UN Women.
“The UAE sees the importance of supporting international efforts in the field of women’s empowerment,” Sheikh Abdullah said.
The Foreign Affairs Minister pointed to the UAE’s own constitution, which “guarantees equal rights for both men and women” in a number of areas, including the right to education and employment. He noted women there now comprise 70 percent of university graduates and occupy two-thirds of government jobs.
The President of Nigeria, H.E. Mr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, said that Nigeria’s substantial support for UN Women reflects “our desire to harness the potentials of women in the task of nation building.”
Thirty percent of his own Cabinet members are now women. He commended the Executive Board of UN Women on the successful take-off of the new entity.
Other presidential endorsements of UN Women came from Finland, which stated that UN Women provide a strong and unified voice for women and girls, along with Chile, Croatia, and Ghana. The Foreign Minister of Spain called women’s equality a basic human right, and pledged her Government’s full support to UN Women in fulfilling its mandate.
Several world leaders made reference to the need to empower women economically. The President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom spoke of tearing down the economic barriers still facing women.
Other states linked gender equality with economic growth and development. The Foreign Minister of Indonesia called enhancing the role of women in the economy right and smart, leading to balanced and equitable growth, while the Deputy Foreign Minister of Norway underlined evidence that states with discriminatory policies tend to remain poor.
Citing recent research findings that empowering women in agriculture would reduce hunger by 30 percent, the President of Slovenia affirmed that Slovenia “strongly” supports UN Women in its efforts to tackle gender discrimination around the globe. The Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland referred to the global hunger crisis, and stressed the need to build the productivity of small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, 80 percent of whom are women.
Stopping violence against women figured in the speech of the President of Côte d’Ivoire, who said he was committed to fighting this scourge. The Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso announced that the African Group of states would introduce a draft resolution on female genital mutilation.
Several countries highlighted national measures to increase gender equality. The Vice-President of Liberia drew attention to a new national gender policy, while the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea noted that his Government recently passed the first vote on a parliamentary bill reserving seats for women in 2012 elections.
The Foreign Minister of Tunisia announced that it had withdrawn all reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW, and adopted a mandatory parity system for its upcoming Constituent Assembly elections.
This year’s debate was the first since the formation of UN Women in January 2011. Held annually, it is attended by heads of state and government, foreign ministers and other officials of UN Member States. In 2011, in another first, a woman opened the session — H.E. President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil.
She stressed that in Brazil, “women have been fundamental in overcoming social inequalities…yet my country, like every country in the world, still has much work ahead of it when it comes to empowering women.”
She welcomed the creation of UN Women, paying tribute to its Executive Director, Michelle Bachelet.
“I add my voice to those of the women who dared to struggle, who dared to participate in politics and in the workforce, and who forged the political space without which I could not stand here today,” Rousseff proclaimed.
During the General Debate on 26 September the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, H.H. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, announced a contribution of USD 5 million to UN Women.
“The UAE sees the importance of supporting international efforts in the field of women’s empowerment,” Sheikh Abdullah said.
The Foreign Affairs Minister pointed to the UAE’s own constitution, which “guarantees equal rights for both men and women” in a number of areas, including the right to education and employment. He noted women there now comprise 70 percent of university graduates and occupy two-thirds of government jobs.
The President of Nigeria, H.E. Mr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, said that Nigeria’s substantial support for UN Women reflects “our desire to harness the potentials of women in the task of nation building.”
Thirty percent of his own Cabinet members are now women. He commended the Executive Board of UN Women on the successful take-off of the new entity.
Other presidential endorsements of UN Women came from Finland, which stated that UN Women provide a strong and unified voice for women and girls, along with Chile, Croatia, and Ghana. The Foreign Minister of Spain called women’s equality a basic human right, and pledged her Government’s full support to UN Women in fulfilling its mandate.
Several world leaders made reference to the need to empower women economically. The President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom spoke of tearing down the economic barriers still facing women.
Other states linked gender equality with economic growth and development. The Foreign Minister of Indonesia called enhancing the role of women in the economy right and smart, leading to balanced and equitable growth, while the Deputy Foreign Minister of Norway underlined evidence that states with discriminatory policies tend to remain poor.
Citing recent research findings that empowering women in agriculture would reduce hunger by 30 percent, the President of Slovenia affirmed that Slovenia “strongly” supports UN Women in its efforts to tackle gender discrimination around the globe. The Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland referred to the global hunger crisis, and stressed the need to build the productivity of small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, 80 percent of whom are women.
Stopping violence against women figured in the speech of the President of Côte d’Ivoire, who said he was committed to fighting this scourge. The Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso announced that the African Group of states would introduce a draft resolution on female genital mutilation.
Several countries highlighted national measures to increase gender equality. The Vice-President of Liberia drew attention to a new national gender policy, while the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea noted that his Government recently passed the first vote on a parliamentary bill reserving seats for women in 2012 elections.
The Foreign Minister of Tunisia announced that it had withdrawn all reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW, and adopted a mandatory parity system for its upcoming Constituent Assembly elections.
Related Video
It’s Your General AssemblyA living factory
Special software and data connectors will in future allow computers to produce graphical representations of new production lines automatically. Pictured: The production plant for the C-Class Mercedes in Bremen. Photo: © Daimler AG
As soon as DNA is mentioned, we automatically think of biology and living beings. It is the DNA molecule found inside each and every cell that holds the encoded blueprints for humans, animals or plants. But factories too have a master plan of this kind. All modern manufacturing facilities resemble living organisms in their complex structure. And, just as in biology, all their constituent parts are linked to one another and have to be painstakingly coordinated. Now, the Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe has taken up the challenge – together with Fraunhofer IPA in Stuttgart and Fraunhofer IPT in Aachen – of decoding “factory DNA”.
It’s a catchy concept, but one that is bound up with solid goals: The aim is to reduce the costs that arise whenever products or machines have to be changed. Up to now, the interplay between a factory’s various systems has not been optimal. This problem is at its most obvious when production is being switched to a new item, such as a new model of car. The simple addition of a manipulator to a production line – or even just an operating system update – can cause havoc, since the slightest of changes has an impact on the entire operation.
What is lacking is an intelligent link between components: the products being manufactured, the facilities doing the manufacturing, and the IT systems controlling things. This is where the experts from the IOSB are stepping in. They want to make the factory smarter by way of new interfaces that will enable it to react more or less autonomously to any changes. In this endeavor the researchers are benefiting from their years of experience of developing software solutions for factories. They are working first and foremost with Daimler AG: Their “ProVis.Agent” production management system manages around 2,000 machines in the plant where the C-Class Mercedes is made.
The key thing is to put in place intelligent links between the manufacturing facilities and the IT systems. Today, if a product is changed, the first step is to rearrange the production line. Only then is the IT system reconfigured. What’s more, the details of each machine that belongs on the line have to be entered manually into a computer. This work is tedious and error-prone, involving as it does a multitude of cryptic alphanumeric combinations. “And the trouble is, you only notice any mistakes when the line is back up and running,” says Dr. Olaf Sauer, division director at the IOSB.
Thankfully, the research scientist and his team have managed to come up with a more elegant approach: Now employees can simply plug in a data cable and that’s that. The magic words are “plug and work”.
Home computing underwent a similar development. In the past, you had to install the appropriate driver before you could connect a peripheral device. Nowadays, all you need to do is plug in a USB cable. The new device uses this to communicate with the PC and to identify itself. This is effectively the approach that is set to be taken in modern factories, even if things there are a little more complex.
For instance, a factory will often have many different kinds of machine built by many different companies. And the sector is nowhere near having standardized software – or even a standard software language. So the researchers have invented and patented a digital translator to take the various digital device descriptions and convert them into a standard machine language called Computer Aided Engineering Exchange (CAEX). This information is then sent to a special data storage system, which is also being patented by the Institute.
“Together, these two components are enough to make a simple USB-type solution feasible,” says Sauer. “Once the data have started to flow, the computer can design a process control plan for the new production line unaided.” The IT specialists have proved that the procedure works by putting together a miniature model facility comprising four components: a conveyor belt, a turntable, a testing device, and a further conveyor belt.
Work has already started on an initial real-world application. 
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)