[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 9, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1497-S1498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2011

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today to express my support for 
International Women's Day.
  Since the beginning of last century, determined and courageous women 
have fought hard and made important strides towards ensuring that women 
are guaranteed equality and basic human rights. Too often in the past, 
women were seen as victims that needed to be protected or saved. But 
today, on the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, women 
should be viewed as they really are: farmers, entrepreneurs, 
businesswomen, teachers, policewomen, caretakers, doctors, lawyers, 
politicians, mothers, wives, astronauts and presidents.
  While we should reflect on incredible progress that women have made 
in pushing for greater rights and equal opportunities, we must be 
vigilant about the facts on the status of women around the world. We 
know women are still being discriminated against; still being abused; 
and still being treated unjustly. We know about the trafficking of 
young women and girls; the lack of maternal health care; the lack of 
access to an education or basic economic opportunities. These are the 
facts.
  What we also know is that empowering women around the world to 
participate in the political, social and economic life of their 
communities and their families is one of the most important tools that 
we have to alleviate poverty. Decades of research and experience prove 
that when women are able to be fully engaged in society and hold 
decision making power, they are more likely to invest their income in 
food, clean water, education, and health care for their children. This 
creates a positive cycle of change that lifts entire families, 
communities and nations out of poverty. Simply put, when women succeed, 
we all do.
  Right now, over a billion people worldwide live on a dollar a day or 
less let's be conscious of the fact that women are most likely to be 
among them. This is a problem that affects all of humanity--when women 
are poor, entire communities suffer because they are not free to earn 
an income, feed their families, or protect themselves and their 
children from violence. And their efforts are critical to rebuilding 
fragile countries like Afghanistan and Haiti. Until women around the 
world have improved access to economic, political and social 
opportunities, the great challenges we face today will go unresolved.
  Many people do not realize is that violence against women and girls 
is a major source of poverty. Violence and poverty go hand and hand. 
Violence prevents women and girls from getting an education, going to 
work, and earning the income they need to lift their families out of 
poverty. We know that one in three women will be the victim of physical 
or sexual abuse in her lifetime. But we also know that women have the 
potential to lift families and communities out of poverty.
  And this undeniable connection means that we cannot ignore or 
sacrifice women's rights for political expediency. If meaningful 
reforms for women are rolled back or not implemented at all, 
particularly in places like Afghanistan, real and sustainable 
development will fail. Although conditions for women in Afghanistan 
have improved since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, they still face 
serious challenges in many aspects of life. And we cannot accept the 
status quo that women face in many of these countries as the ``cost of 
doing business.'' The U.S. government must continue to press the 
fundamental values of the rights of women--to vote, to attend school, 
to own land, to live their lives without violence, to make their own 
choices--if we expect to see a sustainable peace in Afghanistan.
  Even in countries not in a state of conflict, women's equality and 
access can make the difference between life and death for her family. 
Janet Wamalwa owns a 1-acre farm plot in rural Kenya that used to lay 
bare and was difficult to cultivate. Like many areas of sub-Saharan 
Africa, her land was plagued by soil erosion and low productivity. And 
for a subsistence farmer like 32-year-old Janet, when her crops don't 
grow, her family doesn't eat. And when the mother of five could not 
make ends meet, the first cost-savings remedy was to pull the children 
from their studies. To save money, Janet said that they lived on one 
meal a day during the dry season.
  But no more. Today, Janet's crops are thriving and her family is 
eating better because of several sustainable farming techniques she 
implemented with the help of an international NGO and Kenya's Ministry 
of Agriculture. Janet's approach is just one example of how small-scale 
farmers in Africa--

[[Page S1498]]

most of whom are women--can use a diversity of simple practices to 
stave off hunger, earn an income and, ultimately, improve their lives, 
and the lives of those around them. And for Janet, the benefits have 
been life-changing. Now, she said her children's overall nutrition is 
better. Meanwhile, the extra income Janet earns from selling products 
in local markets means she can pay her children's school fees.
  If we ignore the reality and the influence of empowering women, the 
results will undoubtedly be negative. When development programs fail to 
consider gender differences, women are the ones that are left behind. 
The World Bank states that, at the macroeconomic level, there is 
evidence that removing gender disparities spurs growth. According to 
one estimate, growth rates in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East 
would have been 30-45 percent higher had these regions closed the 
gender gaps as East Asia did during the school years of 1960 and 1992. 
In Kenya, if women farmers were given the same level of agricultural 
inputs and education as men, they could increase their yields by more 
than 20 percent.
  Therefore, if we open women's access to the means of agricultural 
production such as: farming land, fertilizers, farm labor, credit and 
technical skills--the end results are crucial to guaranteeing food 
security and enhancing the nutritional status of children. When we 
invest in women and they have the opportunity to augment their own 
incomes, their families and communities thrive.
  As we in Congress and in the administration move forward with the 
vital process of revamping and modernizing our foreign assistance, we 
have an opportunity to make women's empowerment a central focus of U.S. 
foreign policy. We must all remember the lesson that an investment in 
the empowerment of women is an investment in the future. As chairman of 
the International Development and Foreign Assistance Subcommittee at 
Foreign Relations, I vow to make that the case. Investing in women is 
the best way to secure stronger communities and economies around the 
world.
  Today, let us reaffirm the commitment to end gender-based 
discrimination in all forms, to end violence against women and girls 
worldwide, as we encourage the people of the United States to observe 
March 8 as International Women's Day.

                          ____________________