I am so not in a mood for this today. Cj has been sick since the weekend ... a high fever with no other symptoms, always a worrying combination ... and I have guests arriving next week, so a very long list of things that need doing in preparation.

I'm also becoming progressively more concerned that the upcoming conference on 'ethics and accountability' will end up serving as a respectability prop for some of the more vociferous anti-adoption voices, and therefore lose much of whatever positive impact it may have and further marginalize real and significant efforts to move adoption in the world ahead in the positive ways it needs to go to better serve the children who have no options.

Although there are some very impressive speakers on the agenda, the bloggers chosen to represent adoption consist of a fairly stacked deck.

I have written with my concerns, but with no response.

Anyway ... back to what I don't want to write about today ...

The tip of the ice berg is this, from a Bangladeshi doctor who heads the "The Girl Child Advocacy Forum" in that country on the consequences of gender discrimination.

Starting out with the pervasiveness of discrimination against the female sex and pointing out that it exists in every society and throughout the entire lifecycle of women ... "from conception to death" ... it details everything from lack of equality in education to forced pregnancy, often in children, prostitution and more.

With an estimated 14 million girls between 15 and 19 having babies, 1.8 million children in the sex industry, around 20 million women with HIV/AIDS, 99% of maternal deaths happening in developing countries, just as quick examples, the topic of gender discrimination should be a really hot one.

This particular paper was presented as part of the State of the World's Children 2007. (Want a PDF of the whole thing? Click here). This is a UNICEF endeavor, and a pricey one, I'm sure.

Continued in the next post.