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<title>For Immediate Release</title>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'>For Immediate Release<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Press Release<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'>7 March 2006 (International Women’s Day-Women
and Decision Making)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>WABA</span></font></st1:PersonName><span
lang=EN-GB> calls for enabling women in all forms of decision-making<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'>The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">WABA</st1:PersonName>) supports the call for women’s greater empowerment
and opportunity through realizing their right to livelihood, health, education,
and political participation, and especially to decision-making of all forms,
particularly those decisions that affect their lives and the lives of their
children.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'>International Women’s Day ( 8 March ) is a time
for taking stock of the overall status of the world’s women. Over a
decade ago the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women called for
increasing women’s capacity to participate in decision-making and leadership.
Yet for many women today, particularly in developing countries, these are only
words on paper. Women’s decision-making ability and participation in
public life are closely linked with women’s overall advancement. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Consider, for instance, that women earn only 10 per
cent of the world’s income and own less than 1 per cent of the
world’s property, but they put in two-thirds of the world’s working
hours. During the past 20 years the number of rural women living in poverty
has nearly doubled. Women constitute 60 per cent of the 1 billion adults who
have no access to basic education. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Women shoulder multiple burdens. By participating in
the workforce, they contribute to the growth of the national economy. They are
also the primary providers of social reproduction, the care and maintenance of
human beings. Yet because women’s care-giving is done at home, without
pay, nearly all countries overlook this contribution to the nation’s well
being and do not include it in their national economic accounts.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Frequently, cultural practices discriminate against
women. Even today, many women are unable to exercise their social and economic
rights, including rights to such basic necessities as food, health care, and
education. Women may have little say in managing their own bodies or personal
lives. They may be unable to determine how many children to have or when to
have them. Poverty, illiteracy, poor nutrition, ill health, too many children
at too close intervals—all these, added to social conditioning, result in
women’s suffering from low self esteem, with little awareness that they
could make decisions in matters concerning their own lives. Lacking the
opportunity to make choices on a daily basis, it is hardly any wonder that such
women do not participate in public and political life<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#0f228e" face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#0F228E'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'>The gender roles that a culture assigns to women
affect their ability to decide how to use their own time and energy. Indeed,
many women cannot even make decisions about what to feed their infants. They do
not have access to information, for instance on the benefits and management of
breastfeeding, and are easily misled by baby milk companies trying to convince
them that their own milk is valueless or inferior to artificial milks. Many
times in each 24-hour day, the mother of an infant or young child makes a
decision whether to give the breast, or to care for herself and her child in
some other way. In an enabling environment that respects her decision to
breastfeed, she is free to make that choice based on her needs and her child’s
needs. But all too often a woman’s decision to breastfeed is derailed by
economic necessity that forces her to take up a job with no maternity
protection—no paid maternity leave, no breastfeeding breaks at work, no
job protection. Even where maternity legislation exists, it may not be properly
implemented.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Breastfeeding seems like a private activity, yet
during the months or years when women are lactating (producing milk) they can
and should fulfil a variety of public roles in addition to their role as
mother. The civic decision-making process must be open to women and men with
family responsibilities. Child care facilities would make it possible for
people with young children to participate more fully in decision-making, and
quiet babies in arms should be welcomed with their parents. The voices of women
who breastfeed should be heard everywhere—in committee rooms and board
rooms, in union halls, in parliaments, in town meetings, at debates and
rallies. Breastfeeding must not be permitted to be an excuse for systematically
excluding women from the important policy discussions that affect all of our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><font size=3 color=black
face=OttawaPSMT><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:OttawaPSMT;
color:black;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><font size=3 color=black
face=OttawaPSMT><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:OttawaPSMT;
color:black;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 color=black
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black'>For more information, kindly contact:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 color=black
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black'>Sarah Amin<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 color=black
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black'>Co-Director, <st1:PersonName w:st="on">WABA</st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 color=black
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black'>Email: </span></font><font size=2 color=blue face=Tahoma><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:blue'>waba@streamyx.com<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 color=black
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black'>Tel. No. : 604-6584816<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 color=black
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black'>Chris Mulford<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 color=black
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black'>Co-coordinator<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 color=black
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black'>Women and Work Task Force<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 color=black
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black'>Email : </span></font><font size=2 color=blue face=Tahoma><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:blue'>waba@streamyx.com<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 color=black
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black'>Tel. No. 604-4816<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 color=black
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black'>2/2<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><font size=1 color="#0f228e"
face=OttawaPSMT><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:OttawaPSMT;
color:#0F228E;font-style:italic'>The World <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Alliance</st1:place></st1:City> for Breastfeeding Action (<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">WABA</st1:PersonName>) is a global network of individuals and
organisations<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><font size=1 color="#0f228e"
face=OttawaPSMT><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:OttawaPSMT;
color:#0F228E;font-style:italic'>concerned with the protection, promotion and
support of breastfeeding worldwide based on the Innocenti<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><font size=1 color="#0f228e"
face=OttawaPSMT><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:OttawaPSMT;
color:#0F228E;font-style:italic'>Declaration, the Ten Links for Nurturing the
Future and the WHO/UNICEF Global Strategy for Infant and<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><font size=1 color="#0f228e"
face=OttawaPSMT><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:OttawaPSMT;
color:#0F228E;font-style:italic'>Young Child Feeding. Its core partners are
International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), La Leche<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><font size=1 color="#0f228e"
face=OttawaPSMT><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:OttawaPSMT;
color:#0F228E;font-style:italic'>League International (LLLI), International
Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA), Wellstart International,<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><font size=1 color="#0f228e"
face=OttawaPSMT><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:OttawaPSMT;
color:#0F228E;font-style:italic'>Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) and
LINKAGES. <st1:PersonName w:st="on">WABA</st1:PersonName> is in consultative
status with UNICEF<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><font size=1 color="#0f228e"
face=OttawaPSMT><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:OttawaPSMT;
color:#0F228E;font-style:italic'>and an NGO in Special Consultative Status with
the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><font size=1 color="#0f228e"
face=OttawaPSMT><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:OttawaPSMT;
color:#0F228E;font-style:italic'>(ECOSOC) * <st1:PersonName w:st="on">WABA</st1:PersonName>,
<st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on">PO Box</st1:Street> 1200</st1:address>,
10850 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Penang</st1:City>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Malaysia</st1:country-region></st1:place> * Tel: 60-4-6584 816 *
Fax: 60-4-6572 655*<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><font size=1 color="#0f228e"
face=OttawaPSMT><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:OttawaPSMT;
color:#0F228E;font-style:italic'>Email: waba@streamyx.com * Website:
www.waba.org.my<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 color=black
face=OttawaPSMT><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:OttawaPSMT;
color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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