[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 56 (Wednesday, April 13, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2063-S2064]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPORTING THE GOALS OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 401, S. Res.
388.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 388) supporting the goals of
International Women's Day.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution, which had been reported from the Committee on Foreign
Relations, with an amendment and an amendment to the preamble, as
follows:
(Strike out all after the resolving clause and insert the part
printed in italic.)
(Strike the preamble and insert the part printed in italic.)
Whereas, in March 2016, there are more than 3,640,000,000
women in the world;
Whereas women around the world--
(1) have fundamental rights;
(2) participate in the political, social, and economic
lives of their communities;
(3) play a critical role in providing and caring for their
families;
(4) contribute substantially to economic growth and the
prevention and resolution of conflict; and
(5) as farmers and caregivers, play an important role in
the advancement of food security for their communities;
Whereas the advancement of women around the world is a
foreign policy priority for the United States;
Whereas, on July 28, 2015, in Mandela Hall at the African
Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the President told
individuals in Africa--
(1) ``if you want your country to grow and succeed, you
have to empower your women. And if you want to empower more
women, America will be your partner''; and
(2) ``girls cannot go to school and grow up not knowing how
to read or write--that denies the world future women
engineers, future women doctors, future women business
owners, future women presidents--that sets us all back'';
Whereas 2015 marked the 20th anniversary of the Fourth
World Conference on Women, where 189 countries committed to
integrating gender equality into each dimension of society;
Whereas 2016 will mark the 5-year anniversary of the
establishment of the first United States National Action Plan
on Women, Peace, and Security, which includes a comprehensive
set of commitments by the United States to advance the
meaningful participation of women in decisionmaking relating
to matters of war or peace;
Whereas the first United States National Action Plan on
Women, Peace, and Security states that, ``Deadly conflicts
can be more effectively avoided, and peace can be best forged
and sustained, when women become equal partners in all
aspects of peace-building and conflict prevention, when their
lives are protected, their experiences considered, and their
voices heard.'';
Whereas there are 58 national action plans around the
world, and there are 15 national action plans known to be in
development;
Whereas at the White House Summit on Countering Violent
Extremism in February 2015, leaders from more than 60
countries, multilateral bodies, civil society, and private
sector organizations agreed to a comprehensive action agenda
against violent extremism that--
(1) highlights the importance of the inclusion of women in
countering the threat of violent extremism; and
(2) notes that ``women are partners in prevention and
response, as well as agents of change'';
Whereas women remain underrepresented in conflict
prevention and conflict resolution efforts, despite the
proven success of women in conflict-affected regions in--
(1) moderating violent extremism;
(2) countering terrorism;
(3) resolving disputes through nonviolent mediation and
negotiation; and
(4) stabilizing societies by improving access to peace and
security--
(A) services;
(B) institutions; and
(C) venues for decisionmaking;
Whereas according to the United Nations, peace negotiations
are more likely to end in a peace agreement when women's
groups play an influential role in the negotiation process;
Whereas according to a study by the International Peace
Institute, a peace agreement is 35 percent more likely to
last at least 15 years if women participate in the
development of the peace agreement;
Whereas according to the Bureau of International Narcotics
and Law Enforcement Affairs of the Department of State, the
full and meaningful participation of women in security forces
vastly enhances the effectiveness of the security forces;
Whereas, on August 30, 2015, the Secretary of State and the
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of
the United Kingdom highlighted, ``our goal must be to build
societies in which sexual violence is treated--legally and by
every institution of authority--as the serious and wholly
intolerable crime that it is. We have seen global campaigns
and calls to action draw attention to this issue and mobilize
governments and organizations to act. But transformation
requires the active participation of men and women
everywhere. We must settle for nothing less than a united
world saying no to sexual violence and yes to justice,
fairness and peace.'';
Whereas according to the United Nations Children's
Emergency Fund (referred to in this preamble as ``UNICEF''),
in 2014--
(1) 700,000,000 women or girls had been married before the
age of 18; and
(2) 250,000,000 women or girls had been married before the
age of 15;
Whereas, on October 11, 2013, the President strongly
condemned the practice of child marriage;
Whereas according to UNICEF--
(1) approximately \1/4\ of girls between the ages of 15 and
19 are victims of physical violence; and
(2) it is estimated that 1 in 3 women around the world has
experienced some form of physical or sexual violence;
[[Page S2064]]
Whereas according to the 2012 report of the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime entitled the ``Global Report on
Trafficking in Persons''--
(1) adult women account for between 55 and 60 percent of
all known trafficking victims worldwide; and
(2) adult women and girls account for approximately 75
percent of all known trafficking victims worldwide;
Whereas women in conflict zones are subjected to physical
or sexual violence, including rape, other forms of sexual
violence, and human trafficking;
Whereas 603,000,000 women live in countries in which
domestic violence is not criminalized;
Whereas, on August 10, 2012, the President announced the
United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based
Violence Globally, the first interagency strategy to address
gender-based violence around the world;
Whereas, in December 2015, the Department of State released
a report on the implementation of the United States Strategy
to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally that
states, ``Addressing GBV is intimately tied to a range of
global efforts that address gender equality and women's and
girls' empowerment, whether in peacetime or in the midst of
conflict. This includes addressing GBV as part of efforts to
raise the status of adolescent girls and through women's
economic empowerment activities.'';
Whereas the ability of women and girls to realize their
full potential is critical to the ability of a country to
achieve--
(1) strong and lasting economic growth; and
(2) political and social stability;
Whereas according to the United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization, \2/3\ of the
775,000,000 illiterate individuals in the world are female;
Whereas according to the World Bank Group, 150,000,000
children currently enrolled in school will drop out before
completing primary school, not less than 100,000,000 of whom
are girls;
Whereas according to the United States Agency for
International Development, in comparison with uneducated
women, educated women are--
(1) less likely to marry as children; and
(2) more likely to have healthier families;
Whereas the goal of the United Nations Millennium Project
to eliminate gender disparity in primary education was
reached in most countries by 2015, but more work remains to
achieve gender equality in primary education worldwide;
Whereas in September 2015 world leaders rededicated
themselves to ending discrimination against women and girls
and advancing equality for women worldwide;
Whereas according to the United Nations, women have access
to fewer income earning opportunities and are more likely to
manage the household or engage in agricultural work than men,
making women more vulnerable to economic insecurity caused
by--
(1) natural disasters; or
(2) long term changes in weather patterns;
Whereas according to the World Bank Group, women own or
partially own more than \1/3\ of small- and medium-sized
enterprises in developing countries, and 40 percent of the
global workforce is female, but female entrepreneurs and
employers have disproportionately less access to capital and
other financial services than men;
Whereas according to the United Nations, women earn less
than men globally;
Whereas despite the achievements of individual female
leaders--
(1) women around the world remain vastly underrepresented
in--
(A) high-level positions; and
(B) national and local legislatures and governments; and
(2) according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, women
account for only 22 percent of national parliamentarians and
17.7 percent of government ministers;
Whereas according to the World Health Organization, during
the period beginning in 1990 and ending in 2015, global
maternal mortality decreased by approximately 44 percent, but
approximately 830 women die from preventable causes relating
to pregnancy or childbirth each day, and 99 percent of all
maternal deaths occur in developing countries;
Whereas according to the World Health Organization--
(1) suicide is the leading cause of death for girls between
the ages of 15 and 19; and
(2) complications from pregnancy or childbirth is the
second-leading cause of death for those girls;
Whereas the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees reports that approximately \1/2\ of--
(1) refugees and internally displaced or stateless
individuals are women; and
(2) the 59,500,000 displaced individuals in the world are
women;
Whereas it is imperative--
(1) to alleviate violence and discrimination against women;
and
(2) to afford women every opportunity to be full and
productive members of their communities;
Whereas, on October 10, 2014, Malala Yousafzai became the
youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her work
promoting the access of girls to education; and
Whereas March 8, 2016, is recognized as International
Women's Day, a global day--
(1) to celebrate the economic, political, and social
achievements of women in the past, present, and future; and
(2) to recognize the obstacles that women face in the
struggle for equal rights and opportunities: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) supports the goals of International Women's Day;
(2) recognizes that the empowerment of women is
inextricably linked to the potential of a country to
generate--
(A) economic growth;
(B) sustainable democracy; and
(C) inclusive security;
(3) recognizes and honors individuals in the United States
and around the world, including women human rights defenders
and civil society leaders, that have worked throughout
history to ensure that women are guaranteed equality and
basic human rights;
(4) reaffirms the commitment--
(A) to end discrimination and violence against women and
girls;
(B) to ensure the safety and welfare of women and girls;
(C) to pursue policies that guarantee the basic human
rights of women and girls worldwide; and
(D) to promote meaningful and significant participation of
women in every aspect of society and community;
(5) supports sustainable, measurable, and global
development that seeks to achieve gender equality and the
empowerment of women; and
(6) encourages the people of the United States to observe
International Women's Day with appropriate programs and
activities.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
committee-reported amendment to the resolution be agreed to; the
resolution, as amended, be agreed to; the committee-reported amendment
to the preamble be agreed to; the preamble, as amended, be agreed to;
and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the
table with no intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The committee-reported amendment in the nature of a substitute was
agreed to.
The resolution (S. Res. 388), as amended, was agreed to.
The committee-reported amendment to the preamble in the nature of a
substitute was agreed to.
The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
____________________