[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 26 (Tuesday, March 8, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S2275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  SENATE RESOLUTION 74--DESIGNATING MARCH 8, 2005, AS ``INTERNATIONAL 
                             WOMEN'S DAY''

  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:

                               S. Res. 74

       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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