CEDAW/C/1996/3/Add.1 English Page 9 Office of Global and Integrated Environmental Health 31. WHO promotes a definition of occupation which includes all women's paid and unpaid tasks, performed inside or outside the home. Women are more likely than men to work in situations where they are not protected against exposure to potential health hazards. Outside the home, women tend to work in the informal sector or in smaller, less regulated enterprises. In rural areas women and men are frequently exposed to pesticides and other toxins. 32. Whether in the formal or informal sector, the health hazards relating to women's work have been inadequately studied, and as a result are poorly addressed. Women and violence 33. Violence against women and girls has gained increasing recognition as both a human rights and a public health issue and is extensively addressed in the Beijing Platform for Action. WHO's Colloquium on Women and Health Security in Beijing emphasized that violence against women has to be seen in its broadest context, referring not only to the physical and mental abuse to which women are subjected but also to the hidden violence that women face when they suffer from discrimination or are denied the basic human rights of food, medical care, education and a safe environment. A task force on violence and health is being set up in WHO and a plan of action for the health consequences of violence against women has been prepared. A database on violence against women is being set up to bring together quantitative and other data from both published sources and grey literature. Work in this area will focus on increasing the knowledge of the magnitude of the problem and its health consequences and improving the capacity of the health sector in prevention and management of the health consequences of violence against women and girls. Female genital mutilation 34. Another form of violence against women, certain harmful traditional practices, in particular, female genital mutilation, affect over 80 million girls and women, in around 30 countries. The Forty-sixth World Health Assembly adopted a resolution on maternal and child health and family planning (WHA46.18) that highlighted the importance of eliminating such harmful traditional practices and other social and behavioural obstacles affecting the health of women, children and adolescents. The Assembly requested that the DirectorGeneral provide additional information on the scope and health implications of such practices. WHO continues to provide technical and financial support for national surveys, for training of traditional birth attendants, midwives and other health workers and for grass-roots initiatives to put a stop to the perpetuation of such practices. 35. WHO recognizes that genital mutilation of girls and women represents a serious health hazard for them and reinforces the inequality suffered by women in the communities where it is practised and must seriously be addressed if the health, social and economic development needs of women are to be met. WHO has consistently recommended that Governments should adopt clear national policies to abolish female genital mutilation, and intensify education programmes to /...