Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day, so we wanted each of you to take a moment to celebrate the contributions women make in our society and recognize the struggles women still face around the world. Women have come a long way, especially in this country. Not only are women just as competitive as men in the labor market, more women are receiving college degrees than men. Women are also taking on more and more leadership roles worldwide. While we celebrated the viability of a female candidate for president in the United States two years ago, other countries in the developed and developing world already had women heads-of-state (Angela Merkel, prime minister of Germany) and representatives (55% of the seats in Rwanda's lower house of representatives are held by women). Women are also making valuable contributions to the world -- and finally getting recognized for it. In 2009, three women won Nobel Prizes for science.

And that's not all.

Increasingly, leaders and organizations are recognizing that women are the key to development. By educating girls and empowering women, we are able to lift families and communities out of poverty. In "The Women's Crusade," journalists tell the story of Saima, a wife and mother in Pakistan who was once beaten by her husband and taunted by other women in the community for not being able to feed her family and provide sons to work. She had no self-respect and was devastated when her husband considered getting a second wife. When she applied for and received a $65 loan, she was able to buy materials to begin her own embroidery business. Soon she was making enough money to send her three daughters to school, renovate their home, employ many of her neighbors and pay off her husband's debt. By giving a small amount to one women, the benefits were spread throughout the community. Furthermore, Saima can hold her head up high, and her husband no longer takes out his frustrations on her violently. By putting money in the hands of women, we can better ensure that the money will go directly toward providing nourishment and education for children, since men are more likely to waste money on alcohol and other unnecessary items. Still, women throughout the world are in danger everyday.

• Millions of girls are sold to men as modern-day slaves.
  
• Three-fourths of the hundreds of millions who cannot read are women.
  
• One woman every two minutes is killed in India because her dowry is insufficient or her husband wants to remarry.
  
• Girls there are also less likely than boys to be vaccinated and receive medical attention when they are sick. As a result, girls between 1 and 5 are 50% more likely to die than boys of the same age. --"The Women's Crusade," New York Times. 17 Aug. 2009 and UNDP
  

I could go on, but I'm sure by now you can understand the shockingly brutal reality many women face around the world. Women's rights are supposed to be protected, not only in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which demands equality and respect for everyone, but also in a separate rights document called the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Countries that adopt the Convention are required to eliminate all laws that are discriminatory based on gender, punish those who discriminate against and abuse women, and establish institutions that see to it that womens' rights are being protected.

The Millennium Development Goals also call for empowering and protecting women. Goal Two, ensuring universal primary education will mostly benefit girls who are forced to stay home and take care of chores rather than learn valuable skills. The third goal directly aims to empower women and end gender inequality through education and helping women finance small businesses. Improving maternal health, goal five, will also save millions of womens' lives who receive inadequate care during childbirth.

Boys and girls like you should join the fight to protect and empower women, because when women win, everyone wins. Stand up for women who are victims of abuse here in the US and across the globe. Celebrate the achievements of women throughout history. NY Times provides some ideas about exploring women's rights issues.

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!