US women victims of discrimination, poverty, sexual violence: report

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US women victims of discrimination, poverty, sexual violence: report

Source:Xinhua Published: 2013-4-21 13:35:36

Women in the United States are facing discrimination in employment, more vulnerable to poverty and violence, with some falling into victims of sexual assaults, says a report on the US human rights record released on Sunday.

The US remains one of a few countries in the world that have not ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, says the report titled "the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2012", which was issued by China's State Council Information Office.

Women made up about two-thirds of all workers in the US who were paid minimum wage or less in 2011 and 61 percent of full-time minimum wage workers, the report says, citing the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On average, women have to work as far as April 17 into 2012 to catch up with that men earned in 2011, it says.

Pregnant women and new mothers face the danger of being forced out of the workplace, according to the report.

A Houston mother was reportedly fired from her job at a collection agency after asking to bring a breast pump into the office so she'd have plenty of fresh breast milk for her newborn. A new Connecticut mom said her new employer asked her to resign after she told them she was pregnant.

The poverty rate for women in 2011 was 14.6 percent, compared to men's 10.9 percent. Women are more likely to live in poverty and about 40 percent of women who head families live in poverty, the report cites the US National Women's Law Center (NWLC) as saying.

Women are the victims of violence and sexual assaults. A national census of domestic violence agencies in September 2011 found that more than 67,000 victims were served in a single day, the report says.

According to the Report on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, submitted by the Special Rapporteur to the General Assembly in 2012, most prison staff in the US is not adequately trained to prevent or respond to inmate sexual assaults, and prison rape often goes unreported and untreated, says the report.

Women in the US forces are the victims of widespread sexual abuse. Around 79 percent of women serving in the military reported experiences of sexual harassment. Military sexual trauma often leads to debilitating conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and major depression, according to the report.

The report also warns of the health of female minority groups. A media report in June 2012 says rate of HIV infection in heterosexual African American women in the poorest neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. nearly doubled the 6.3 percent infection rate two years before.

Minority women in the US are more likely to die during or soon after childbirth than white women, according to a report posted on the website of the Chicago Tribune on August 3, 2012.

Highlights:
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US women victims of discrimination, poverty, sexual violence: report

US scores low on children's rights protection: report

Racial discrimination remains rampant in US: report

Ethnic Americans in poverty due to discrimination: report

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US people's lives, personal security not duly protected: report

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