Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10COPENHAGEN2
2010-01-05 08:43:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Copenhagen
Cable title:  

WOMEN'S ISSUES - USG ENGAGEMENT

Tags:  KWMN PHUM DA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHCP #0002 0050843
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 050843Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 5383
UNCLAS COPENHAGEN 000002 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/PGI:JIM KUYKENDALL, EUR/NB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KWMN PHUM DA
SUBJECT: WOMEN'S ISSUES - USG ENGAGEMENT

REF: 09 STATE 124579

(U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. NOT
FOR INTERNET DISSEMINATION.

UNCLAS COPENHAGEN 000002

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/PGI:JIM KUYKENDALL, EUR/NB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KWMN PHUM DA
SUBJECT: WOMEN'S ISSUES - USG ENGAGEMENT

REF: 09 STATE 124579

(U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. NOT
FOR INTERNET DISSEMINATION.


1. (SBU) INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY: Denmark is a leader in
promoting gender equality at home and abroad. It
consistently ranks in the top ten in the World Economic
Forum's Global Gender Gap Report (seventh in 2009; the United
States ranked 31st). While some Danish women have identified
"glass ceiling" issues in business, the principal USG
engagement with Denmark on women's issues is to exchange best
practices and explore possibilities of joint action abroad.
END INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) The WEF Global Gender Gap Report rates Denmark
number one in the world when it comes to parity of
educational attainment; in tertiary education, females
outnumber males by 40 percent. Thanks to educational parity
and state-funded childcare, a high percentage (70.8 percent)
of Danish women participate in the labor market; however,
wage inequality persists due to lingering discriminatory
attitudes in society and de-facto gender-segregation in
fields of employment: women are over-represented in service,
social and health fields, and under-represented in
construction, crafts and engineering. Certain Danish women
have shared with Ambassador Fulton their view that
state-provided childcare leave (52 weeks' paid leave to be
shared between the parents),while helpful to new families,
ends up disadvantaging women who seek to pursue careers due
to their extended absence from the workplace. Women's
political participation is above average, without quotas: 37
percent of the members of parliament are women, as are 42
percent of Cabinet ministers.


3. (SBU) Denmark's development assistance programs have
emphasized Millennium Development Goal 3 ("Gender Equality
and Women's Empowerment"),focusing on gender mainstreaming
as well as special attention to the needs of females. In
2007, Denmark launched a Global Call to Action in support of
MDG3. On April 23, 2009, Secretary Clinton accepted a
symbolic MDG3 torch from Danish Minister for Development
Cooperation Ulla Toernaes; in so doing, the Secretary noted
that she was joining UNSYG, the President of the World Bank
and other leaders in the public and private sectors in
becoming a "Torch Bearer" in this effort. She pledged to
work with the Danish government and others "to expand
equality and opportunity for women and girls." First Lady
Michelle Obama accepted an MDG3 torch from Toernaes on
October 2 in Copenhagen.


4. (SBU) Among the most vulnerable groups of women and girls
in Denmark are immigrants from traditional Muslim societies.
The generous social welfare system that facilitates women's
participation in the labor market can also, perversely, make
it easier for immigrant families (accustomed to a more modest
standard of living than is the norm here) to keep their women
at home. The Danish Government has stepped up efforts to
promote integration; among countless state initiatives is a
recently-announced program to pay immigrant women 15,000
Danish Kroner (approx. USD3,000) to learn the Danish
language. The Embassy has active engagement with the
mostly-Muslim immigrant community and with Danish entities -
both public and private - that promote integration. One
novel idea developed by an adult-education center for
immigrants in Copenhagen is the creation of groups of Muslim
women who are trained to identify stay-at-home immigrant
women and to visit them with information and guidance about
Danish society and expectations, such as full-time attendance
at schools for their children.


5. (SBU) Ambassador Fulton has reached out to Danish women's
groups, including the self-styled Albright Gruppen (named in
honor of former Secretary Madeleine Albright),encouraging
and facilitating networking among professional women, as well
as networks of business women, women involved in
breast-cancer issues, and "international" immigrant women in
Odense, Denmark's third-largest city. The Ambassador is in
discussion with the Department and the Danish ministries
regarding a proposed joint conference to be held in the
latter half of 2010 in Copenhagen on the theme of "Global
Security - The Importance of Women." The intent of the
conference is to convene Nordic leaders on women's issues to
highlight humanity's shared interest in gender equality,
exchange best practices, and explore possibilities for
enhanced cooperation in the years to 2015, target date for
attainment of the MDGs.


6. (U) Ambassador Fulton cleared this message in draft
before departing on leave.
MCCULLEY