A meeting of Commonwealth countries began in Samoa on Monday with a focus on the income inequity, violence and structural discrimination faced by women, described by Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland as a "plague in our world."
Leaders and officials from 56 countries with roots in Britain's empire will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the small Pacific Islands nation.
At a forum on Monday, women politicians said gender inequality remains widespread among the group, which spans top economies such as Britain, Canada and Australia, the world's most populous nation India, and 14 "least developed" states in Africa and the Pacific.
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