According to a BBC article found at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7331813.stm

"Women are discriminated against in almost every country around the world, a UN-commissioned report says. It says that this is despite the fact that 185 UN member states pledged to outlaw laws favouring men by 2005. It adds that 70% of the world's poor are women and they own just 1% of the world's titled land. The report, which was prepared for UN Human Right Commissioner Louise Arbour, says rape within marriage has still not been made a crime in 53 nations."

The BBC article goes on to say:
".. even basic laws like the legal ages for marriage could have a huge impact on women's lives. Many states still have different ages of marriage for young women then they have for young men, and the age for girls is always lower then the age for boys. This leads to violations, for example of a girls' right education, if she has to leave school at 14 to get married, and this impacts upon her life chances. It ends up being a life-long violation of her rights in terms of forfeiting education, having children too early, possibly being damaged herself."

Anyone have any thoughts about this, vis-a-vis our learners?

Daphne