[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 37 (Monday, March 5, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2631-S2632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

 SENATE RESOLUTION 93--SUPPORTING THE GOALS OF ``INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S 
                                 DAY''

  Mrs. BOXER (for Mr. Biden (for himself, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Cantwell, 
Mrs. Clinton, Mrs. Feinstein, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Landrieu, Ms. 
Mikulski, Mrs. Murray, and Ms. Stabenow)) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                               S. Res. 93

       Whereas there are more 3,000,000,000 women in the world, 
     representing 49.7 percent of the world's population;
       Whereas women continue to play the predominant role in 
     caring for families within the home, as well as increasingly 
     supporting their families economically by working outside the 
     home;
       Whereas women worldwide participate in diplomacy and 
     politics, contribute to the growth of economies, and improve 
     the quality of the lives of their families, communities, and 
     countries;
       Whereas women leaders have recently made significant 
     strides, including through the 2007 election of 
     Representative Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of 
     the United States House of Representatives, the 2006 election 
     of Michelle Bachelet as the first female President of Chile, 
     the 2006 election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as President of 
     Liberia and the first female President in the history of 
     Africa, and the 2005 election of Angela Merkel as the first 
     female Chancellor of Germany and who will also serve in 2007 
     as the second woman to chair a G-8 summit;
       Whereas women now account for 80 percent of the world's 
     70,000,000 micro-borrowers, 75 percent of the 28,000 United 
     States loans supporting small business in Afghanistan are 
     given to women, and 11 women are chief executive officers of 
     Fortune 500 companies in the United States;
       Whereas, in the United States, women are graduating from 
     high school and earning bachelor's degrees and graduate 
     degrees at rates greater than men, with 88 percent of women 
     between the ages of 25 and 29 having obtained high school 
     diplomas and 31 percent of women between the ages of 25 of 29 
     having earned bachelor's degrees;
       Whereas even with the tremendous gains for women during the 
     past 20 years, women still face political and economic 
     obstacles, struggle for basic rights, face discrimination, 
     and are targets of gender-based violence all over the world;
       Whereas women remain vastly underrepresented worldwide in 
     national and local legislatures, accounting on average for 
     less than 10 percent of the seats in legislatures in most 
     countries, and in no developing region do women hold more 
     than 8 percent of legislative positions;
       Whereas women work two-thirds of the world's working hours 
     and produce half of the world's food, yet earn only 1 percent 
     of the world's income and own less than 1 percent of the 
     world's property;
       Whereas, in the United States between 1995 and 2000, female 
     managers earned less than their male counterparts in the 10 
     industries that employ the vast majority of all female 
     employees;
       Whereas, of the 1,300,000,000 people living in poverty 
     around the world, 70 percent are women;
       Whereas, according to the United States Agency for 
     International Development, two-thirds of the 876,000,000 
     illiterate individuals worldwide are women, two-thirds of the 
     125,000,000 school-aged children who are not attending school 
     worldwide are girls, and girls around the world are less 
     likely to complete school than boys;
       Whereas women account for half of all cases of HIV/AIDS 
     worldwide, approximately 42,000,000 cases, and in countries 
     with a high prevalence of HIV, young women are at a higher 
     risk than young men of contracting HIV;
       Whereas each year over 500,000 women globally die during 
     childbirth or pregnancy;
       Whereas domestic violence causes more deaths and 
     disabilities among women between the ages of 15 and 44 than 
     cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war;
       Whereas worldwide at least 1 out of every 3 women and girls 
     has been beaten in her lifetime, and usually the abuser is a 
     member of the victim's family or is someone else known to the 
     victim;
       Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and 
     Prevention, at least 1 out of every 6 women and girls in the 
     United States has been sexually abused in her lifetime;
       Whereas, in the Unites States, one-third of the women 
     murdered each year are killed by current or former husbands 
     or boyfriends;
       Whereas 130,000,000 girls and young women worldwide have 
     been subjected to female genital mutilation and it is 
     estimated that 10,000 girls are at risk of being subjected to 
     the practice in the United States;
       Whereas, according to the Congressional Research Service 
     and the Department of State, illegal trafficking in women and 
     children for forced labor, domestic servitude, or sexual 
     exploitation involves between 600,000 and 900,000 women and 
     children each year, of whom 17,500 are transported into the 
     United States;
       Whereas between 75 and 80 percent of the world's 27,000,000 
     refugees are women and children;
       Whereas, in Iraq, women are increasingly becoming the 
     targets of violence by Islamic extremists, street gangs, and 
     elements within the anti-occupation insurgency;
       Whereas, in Darfur, a growing number of women and girls are 
     being raped, mainly by militia members who use sexual 
     violence as a weapon of war;
       Whereas, in Afghanistan, Safia Ama Jan, the former Director 
     of Women's Affairs, became the first female assassinated 
     since the fall of the Taliban; and
       Whereas March 8 of each year has been known as 
     ``International Women's Day'' for the last century, and is a 
     day on which people, often divided by ethnicity, language, 
     culture, and income, come together to celebrate a common 
     struggle for women's equality, justice, and peace: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) supports the goals of ``International Women's Day'';
       (2) recognizes and honors the women in the United States 
     and in other countries who have fought and continue to 
     struggle for gender equality and women's rights;
       (3) reaffirms its commitment to ending discrimination and 
     violence against women and girls, to ensuring the safety and 
     welfare of women and girls, and to pursuing policies that 
     guarantee the basic rights of women and girls both in the 
     United States and in other countries;
       (4) urges the President to reaffirm his commitment to 
     pursue policies to protect the health and rights of women and 
     girls; and
       (5) encourages the people of the United States to observe 
     International Women's Day with appropriate programs and 
     activities.

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to submit a Senate resolution 
designating March 8, 2007, as International Women's Day. Since 1911, 
International Women's Day has provided a chance for people all over the 
world to pause and observe the remarkable steps that women have made in 
their fight for equality and recommit themselves to dosing lingering 
gender disparities. I am particularly pleased that I am joined by a 
tremendous group of women who are original co-sponsors of today's 
measure, Senators Boxer, Cantwell, Clinton, Feinstein, Klobuchar, 
Landrieu, Mikulski, Murray and Stabenow. These nine senators are living 
testament to the progress and promise of women's achievements. They are 
trailblazers and role models to whom we owe a great deal of gratitude.
  Besides the steady increase in the number of women senators, I need 
only look down the hallway to see another sign of extraordinary 
progress in 2007--the first ever woman Speaker of House, Representative 
Nancy Pelosi. Similar electoral accomplishments can be found in other 
countries. For instance, Michelle Bachelet became the first female 
President of Chile and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became first female 
President in Liberia in the history of Africa. In 2005, Angela Merkel 
became the first female Chancellor of Germany.
  Of course, participation in the political process is but one marker 
of women's empowerment and equal footing. Access to education, economic 
security, employment nondiscrimination, eradication of poverty, 
equality before the law, access to HIV/AIDS prevention and other health 
care services, and freedom from gender-based violence, including human 
trafficking--these are all critical benchmarks of women's progress.
  An essential component to achieving gender equality is ending 
violence against women--an issue about which I care deeply. The time is 
now to concentrate our energies on efforts to end domestic and sexual 
violence abroad.

[[Page S2632]]

Last year Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act of 2005, an 
accomplishment that shows real consensus and momentum to end gender-
based violence and heal America's families. The United Nations and the 
World Health Organizations have released ground-breaking studies on the 
prevalence and impact of domestic violence globally. Finally, 
international service organizations are finding that their efforts to 
help women in the field, be it opening the school doors to girls or 
getting HIV/AIDS medicine to young women, are ultimately ineffectual if 
we do not help these same women escape from violent homes.
  Furthermore, gender-based violence is pervasive in conflicts around 
the globe. In Darfur, women are systematically raped as a weapon of 
war. In Afghanistan, Safia Ama Jan, became the first female 
assassinated since the fall of the Taliban. Just last week, two Iraqi 
women accused the Iraqi national security forces of gang-raping them in 
Baghdad headquarters. This year's theme for International Women's Day 
is ``Ending Impunity for Violence Against Women and Girls''--a fitting 
mandate for all of us.
  I am working on legislative measures to fight the global epidemic of 
gender-based violence. In addition, International Women's Day is also a 
perfect opportunity for the Administration to review its position and 
support ratification of the International Women's Rights Treaty 
(formally known as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)). I whole heartedly support this 
human rights treaty that brings together in one document women's 
economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights and is an 
important tool for women rights advocates around the globe.
  I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Ending the systemic 
discrimination of women is not just a woman's issue, it is not just the 
responsibility of heads of state or Nobel Peace Prize winners, it is 
everyone's moral responsibility. You cannot build peace and you cannot 
build democracy when half of the population is not free. And no country 
can reach its full potential when women are not allowed to fully 
contribute. Spreading democracy must mean empowering women, ending 
domestic and sexual violence and holding abusers fully accountable. I 
urge my colleagues to join our Resolution to Commemorate International 
Women's Day on March 8th and thank advocates everywhere who work day in 
and day out I to improve women's lives.

                          ____________________