[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 74 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 74

      Designating March 8, 2005, as ``International Women's Day''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 8, 2005

Mr. Biden (for himself, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Kohl, Mrs. Murray, 
 Mr. Lautenberg, Ms. Stabenow, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Bayh, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. 
Johnson, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Levin, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Sarbanes, 
   Mr. Corzine, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Obama, Mr. Salazar, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. 
   Mikulski, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Hatch, Mrs. Feinstein, and Mr. Reid) 
 submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
      Designating March 8, 2005, as ``International Women's Day''.

Whereas all over the world, women are contributing to the growth of economies, 
        participating in the world of diplomacy and politics, and improving the 
        quality of the lives of their families, communities, and nations;
Whereas discrimination continues to deny women full political and economic 
        equality and is often the basis for violations of women's basic human 
        rights;
Whereas worldwide, the lives and health of women and girls continue to be 
        endangered by violence that is directed at them simply because they are 
        female;
Whereas worldwide, violence against women includes rape, genital mutilation, 
        sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, honor killings, 
        human trafficking, dowry-related violence, female infanticide, sex-
        selection abortion, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization, and forced 
        abortion;
Whereas the World Health Organization asserts that domestic violence causes more 
        deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, 
        traffic accidents, and war;
Whereas worldwide, 130,000,000 girls and young women have been subjected to 
        female genital mutilation;
Whereas worldwide, at least 1 in 3 females has been beaten or sexually abused in 
        her lifetime;
Whereas worldwide, 20 to 50 percent of women experience some degree of domestic 
        violence during marriage;
Whereas 1 in 4 women in the United States have been raped or physically 
        assaulted by an intimate partner at some point in their lives;
Whereas somewhere in the United States, a woman is battered, usually by her 
        partner, every 15 seconds;
Whereas more than 3 women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in the 
        United States every day;
Whereas battering is the leading cause of injury to women aged 15 to 44 in the 
        United States;
Whereas it is estimated that 1 in 5 adolescent girls in the United States 
        becomes a victim of physical or sexual abuse, or both, in a dating 
        relationship;
Whereas worldwide, women account for \1/2\ of all cases of HIV/AIDS, and in 
        Africa, young women are 3 times more likely to contract the virus than 
        men;
Whereas worldwide, sexual violence, including marital rape, has been denounced 
        as a major cause of the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS among women;
Whereas between 75 and 80 percent of the world's millions of refugees are women 
        and children;
Whereas illegal trafficking worldwide for forced labor, domestic servitude, and 
        sexual exploitation involves between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 women and 
        children each year, of whom approximately 50,000 are transported to the 
        United States;
Whereas \2/3\ of the world's nearly 1,000,000,000 illiterate individuals are 
        women;
Whereas \2/3\ of the children denied primary education are girls;
Whereas these educational failures have serious consequences for the global 
        economy and the United States national security, as well as for tens of 
        millions of girls who are losing the chance to discover their worth and 
        importance as global citizens;
Whereas girls who are educated are more likely to have healthy and stable 
        families, lower mortality rates, higher nutrition levels, and delayed 
        sexual activity, and have less chance of contracting HIV/AIDS or having 
        unwanted pregnancies;
Whereas in most countries, women work approximately 2 times more unpaid time 
        than men do;
Whereas women work \2/3\ of the world's working hours and produce \1/2\ of the 
        world's food, yet earn only 10 percent of the world's income and own 
        less than 1 percent of the world's property;
Whereas 3 in 10 households are maintained by women with no husband present;
Whereas rural women produce more than 55 percent of all food grown in developing 
        countries;
Whereas it is estimated that women and girls make up more than 70 percent of the 
        poorest people in the world;
Whereas worldwide, women earn less, own less property, and have less access to 
        education, employment, and health care than do men;
Whereas microcredit is a stunningly simple, inexpensive tool that can forever 
        alter the economic landscape for the better;
Whereas women now make up 80 percent of the world's 70,000,000 microcredit 
        borrowers, and from India to Nicaragua to South Africa to Costa Rica, 
        women are proving that small loans can transform individual lives, 
        families, and entire communities;
Whereas nations should take steps to ensure the full participation and 
        representation of women in political conferences, committees, plenaries, 
        and parliaments;
Whereas social investment, particularly investments in women and girls, should 
        be an integral part of foreign policy;
Whereas despite extraordinary advances, women still comprise the majority of the 
        world's poor, illiterate, and uneducated, remain under-compensated for 
        the work they do, still do not have adequate access to medical care in 
        too many countries, are under-represented in leadership positions in 
        government and business, and continue to be targeted for unspeakable 
        atrocities in war and conflict;
Whereas March 8 has become known as International Women's Day for the last 
        century, and is a day on which people, who are often divided by 
        ethnicity, language, culture, and income, come together to celebrate a 
        common struggle for women's equality, justice, and peace;
Whereas the dedication and successes of those working all over the world to end 
        violence against women and girls and fighting for equality should be 
        recognized; and
Whereas the people of the United States should be encouraged to participate in 
        International Women's Day: Now, therefore be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) designates March 8, 2005, as International Women's Day;
            (2) reaffirms its commitment to--
                    (A) improve women's access to quality health care, 
                including HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment;
                    (B) end and prevent violence against women, 
                including the trafficking of women and girls worldwide, 
                and ensure that the criminals who engage in these 
                activities are brought to justice;
                    (C) end discrimination and increase the 
                participation of women in decisionmaking positions in 
                government and the private sector;
                    (D) extend full economic opportunities to women, 
                including access to microfinance and microenterprise; 
                and
                    (E) strengthen the role of women as agents of peace 
                because women are among the best emissaries for easing 
                religious, racial, and ethnic tensions, crossing 
                cultural divides, and reducing violence in areas of war 
                and conflict; and
            (3) encourages the people of the United States to observe 
        ``International Women's Day'' with appropriate programs and 
        activities.
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