What is the condition of women in Peru? This gender profile by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) offers a statistical overview of the condition of urban and rural women with respect to unemployment, status in the workplace, life expectancy and working and living conditions. Poverty is an ongoing concern and half the population continues to subsist below the poverty line. Rural women suffer the most with lower rates of literacy and fewer employment opportunities than urban women and men in general.

How does the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) affect the livelihoods of rural women in Asia? This paper, prepared on the occasion of the WTO-AOA review in 2003, analyzes the impact of the new trading rules imposed by the WTO on Asian peasants. It illustrates the inherent imbalances in the WTO-AOA's trade liberalisation policies which, among other things, flood local markets with highly subsidized agricultural imports from developed countries to the detriment of domestic agriculture.

This economic literacy pack, the third in this series, is a tool for educating local women's constituencies on trade rules and negotiations. It explores four main themes, firstly 'How the WTO Treats National Health Emergencies in the Rubric of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)'. This section demonstrates how the agreement protects the patent interests of private pharmaceutical firms based in developed countries, while jeopardizing the public health of the poor in developing countries.

Current momentum around women's economic empowerment offers huge scope for bringing about real changes in women's lives. But earning an income or having access to credit cannot be assumed to bring automatic benefits for women. We need to ask critical questions about how increased access to resources can be translated into changes in the strategic choices that women are able to make - at the level of the household and community, as well as at work. What of the terms on which women gain access to resources - are these empowering or exploitative?

This global survey examines the impact of current trends and policies on the overall social and economic situation of women. It starts by describing the main economic trends produced by globalisation: trade liberalisation; increased globalised production due to direct investment of multinational corporations; and financial liberalisation. The gender impact of those trends are then analysed in detail beginning with employment and displacement effects, including their influence on women's position within the household and the labour markets around the world.

How can gender be mainstreamed into programmes concerned with the sustainable use and management of biodiversity? The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has produced guidelines on how to integrate gender analysis into biodiversity research. The central role played by women in the maintenance of rural lands, and changing gender roles and relations resulting from cost of living rises and increased migration, are highlighted.

This article outlines how citizenship can be used as a political and theoretical tool by combining 'rights' and 'participation'. Participation in social, economic, cultural and political decision-making provides a more dynamic and active form of rights in which people work together to improve their quality of life. This must reflect the fact that certain types of participation such as 'informal' and/or local political participation are often those in which women take the lead, providing them with a sense of personal power.

Contains details of relevant websites, an overview of gender issues in natural resources data collection and analysis, facts and figures on various areas (eg. Gender and Land, Female Headed Households), and key references.

The topic of gender relations in the context of conflict covers highly sensitive terrain, not only within the war-torn society, but for intervening institutions. Like other international humanitarian agencies, Oxfam Great Britain (GB) has faced difficult questions about whether its presence has sometimes done more harm than good. External agencies also have to ask themselves whether their interventions impact negatively on women and gender relations.

This shadow report, produced by NEWA and EWLA, offers a critique of the Ethiopian government's CEDAW report by looking at three broad areas: economic and socio-cultural status of women, equality in marriage and family relations and violence against women. The report acknowledges the considerable efforts made by the Ethiopian government to address its CEDAW obligations, but cites weak enforcement, poor policy guidelines and a lack of institutional commitment as ongoing problems.

Case study of the gender aspects of small-scale farming in the Vihiga District of Kenya, focusing on gender differences in access, control and ownership of land, and gender relations and attitudes to land tenure.

How has citizen action resulted in national policy change in different parts of the world?