UN urges freedoms for Arab women

international | gender and sexuality | other press Friday December 08, 2006 12:25 by Marie Stopes

More than half top-scoring pupils are girls, despite disadvantages. Discrimination against women is holding back economic and social development across the Arab World, a report by the UN's development agency says.

Arab women must be given greater access to education, employment, health care and public life, the report says. The Arab Human Development Report is an annual overview compiled by Arab academics and experts in the field.

Islam is not to blame for the problem, the report says, but rather political inflexibility, male domination and war.