Women
Women also merit UNESCO's special attention in preventive
education. Like youth, " women " do not exist as an abstract category. Their
identity is neither homogeneous nor uniform, differs from culture to culture,
from one social situation to another, and varies according to economic status
and religious denomination. Women occupy a wide variety of places in society and
play an increasingly important role in socio-economic development. Moreover,
women can be mothers, teachers, prostitutes, managers, politicians. They can be
in close proximity to young people living in situations at risk, or might
themselves live in precarious states or suffer from discrimination, i.e. in
high-risk contexts.
According to the Human Development Report (11)
«No country treats its women as well as it treats its men. «...
«In industrialized countries, gender discrimination (measured by the HDI)
is mainly in employment and wages, with women often getting less than two-thirds
of the employment opportunities and about hag the earnings of men. In developing
countries the great disparities, besides those in the job market, are in health
care, nutritional support and education. For instance, women make up two thirds
of the illiterate population...»
(11)Human Development Report, Op. cit.,
pp. 16/1
As a result of these conditions of inequality and modern social
vulnerability, women in general, and each woman in particular, are particularly
exposed to drug abuse.
Subject and object of preventive education, women are
privileged partners in some pilot projects set up by UNESCO, mainly in
innovative peer teaching educational strategies. On the eve of the World
Conference on Women organized by the United Nations, it is urgent to take into
account the increasingly important role of women in society within the context
of socio-economic and human development and to consider the multiple, transverse
and specific needs of women in the implementation of realistic and pragmatic
preventive education
strategies.
