an ovorview of the situation of women in Burkina Faso and 87. She provided noted that the social status of women, who made up 51.8 per cent of the total population, was characterised by a vulnerability as regards health; a low -level of educationi and a heavy burden of household tasks. Women controlled in subsistence Xhe mejor part of the non-monetary eaonomy , espeaially agriaulture, the education of children and household tasks. She added that 85.1 per cent of the active population worked in agriculture and cottage industries. Witb regard to eduaatlon, she stated that the ratio of female to male 88. pupils had been roughly lt3 between 1994 and 1985. Girls were better ~~ ~~ represented in seaondary technioal sahools (54 per cent of the total stwlent ~population) because of the searetarial and business branches. In higher She added that in 1985/86, eduaation, women were very weakly represented. only 916 girls had obtained scholarships compared with 3,441 boys. She pointed out that those discrepancies were mainly on account of certain sociocultural pressures. ~~-rr-ag. As regards employment, the representative mentioned that, in January 1986, only~20.7 per cent of the posts in the public sector had been emoocupied by women. Most of the female officials were to be found in the secretaries, teachers and nurses, --middle ranks as, for example, In the ~~ -private seator, in 1980, only 4.9 per cent of the employees had been women. A survey of the National OfEice for the Promotion of Employment had revealed a concentration of woman in administrative axd business j-ohs. 90. As not many statistics considering making statistics the assessment of thy role carried out in the context United Nations Development were disaggregated by gender, the Government was on women more transparent, which would improve of women in the eaonomy. That task would be of a regional project to be undertaken by the Progreanme (UNDP). out that the country’s global goals went hand-in-hand with 91. She pointed the basic erticlee of the Convention. The basio task was to raise the awareness of the population in order to bring about the attitudinal changes ne~e.ssary for a liberation of the society from the burdens of tradition. 92. -After her introduction, the representative drew the attention of members -to the new government institutions that had been created to eliminate Among those were the Department for the ~.-discrimination against women. Promotion of the Family and the Department of Family Health in the Ministry of Realtb and Social Action, as well as tbe Ministry of Rural Cooperative Aation Furthermore, the and the Ministry of Primary Education and Mass Literacy. Union of Women of Burkina Faso, a political organisation, was devoted to raising women’s cons0iousn0se~ I .I 93. The aativities of those new entities included Beminars, training as well as an operation entitled “Operation workshops and pilot projeats, w, wh$b provided political education to women throughout the country, * 94. With regard to legislation, she noted that an orcler signed on 4 August 1984 governing sgrioultural and agrarian reform accorded women the female -6sme rights to farm land as men. A dearee of 19 March 1986 entitled , and a law on the civil service of civil servants to receive family allowances 26 October 1988 gave women equal access to jobs in the civil service. -2o-