[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1839-S1840]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today I wish to commemorate International
Women's Day, which occurred this past Friday, March 8, 2019. On this
day each year, we recognize and celebrate women's incredible
achievements and double down on our commitment to advance gender
equality and women's empowerment, both at home and abroad.
The theme of International Women's Day this year is ``Think equal,
build smart, innovate for change,'' which highlights the importance of
finding new ways to advance gender equality, especially by utilizing
technology. In January of this year, President Trump signed a bill
Senator Boozman and I sponsored, the Women's Entrepreneurship and
Economic Empowerment Act, WEEE Act, into law. This important,
bipartisan legislation allows women around the world, including those
living in poverty, to access critical tools to start and grow their
businesses. It requires that 50 percent of U.S. Agency for
International Development's micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise
resources are targeted to activities that reach the very poor, as well
as enterprises women own, manage, and control. The WEEE Act empowers
women to invest in themselves, their families, and their communities.
A McKinsey Global Institute report estimates that achieving global
gender parity in economic activity could add as much as $28 trillion to
annual global gross domestic product by 2025. The WEEE Act will help
women overcome the critical barriers they face when seeking economic
opportunity and the legislation will open doors for children, families,
and communities to benefit, too.
This year's theme of ``Think equal, build smart, innovate for
change'' also provides the opportunity to celebrate some of the
incredible and life-changing innovations being launched around the
world. In Cambodia, for example, CARE has developed a gamified mobile
app called ``Chat!'' to provide cost-effective and high-impact
reproductive health education to its young, female population working
in the garment industry. Cambodia has the largest youth and adolescent
population in Southeast Asia; two-thirds of the population are under
the age of 29. Increasing numbers of Cambodians, especially young
women, are migrating to urban areas to support its garment industry.
According to CARE, 85 percent of Cambodia's garment factory workers
are women, who are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. According to
the United Nations' research on women, one in three women are likely to
face violence in her lifetime. Therefore, applications like Chat! are
critical to reach this population and provide reproductive health
information and services, helping these women make informed and healthy
choices and prevent unplanned pregnancies.
While International Women's Day provides the opportunity to celebrate
such successes, it is also critically important to recognize the work
that lies ahead in the fight for gender equality, and especially the
challenges that female human rights defenders face in this fight. A
recent United Nations report on human rights defenders describes
increased resistance to the work of female human rights defenders at
multiple levels, linked to the rise of populism, fundamentalism, and
violent extremism around the world.
The report highlights the increasing number of countries that are
actively restricting fundamental human rights, including the freedoms
of expression, association, and assembly, and specifically notes the
enforced disappearances of female defenders in Saudi Arabia. Samar
Badawi and Nassima al-Sadah, for example, were arrested last summer for
advocating to lift the ban on female drivers and end the guardianship
system that prevents women from legal and social independence. Amal al-
Harbi was also arrested last summer for advocating for the release of
her husband, Fowzan al-Harbi, a human rights defender. These female
human rights defenders remain detained to this day, and several of
these activists are due to appear in Saudi court this week. With no
access to legal representation, I and many of my colleagues fear that
these activists will be charged and tried for crimes they did not
commit, as a result of engaging in peaceful activities to advance human
rights in Saudi Arabia, which are protected under international law.
The reduction in funding for women's rights in recent years is also
an immense challenge to future progress, a challenge exasperated by the
Trump administration's actions, particularly in the realm of women's
health. The Trump administration's reinstatement and expansion of the
Mexico City policy, often referred to as the Global Gag Rule, for
example, has closed the door on some of the most effective, lifesaving
family planning programs by disqualifying international organizations
from receiving U.S. family planning assistance if any non-U.S. funds
are used to provide abortion services or counseling. The implementation
of this expanded policy, as the aforementioned UN report notes, has
``threatened the integration of health services and created division in
civil society around the world.'' As underscored by the example of
Chat!, we know that family planning tools are critical to providing the
education, information, and services that help prevent unplanned
pregnancies and abortions.
As I have stated in the past, America's global leadership begins with
our progress here in the United States. This also extends into the
realm of gender equality. A critical challenge to progress here at home
is the fact that our own Constitution does not already guarantee women
the same rights and protections as men. The Fourteenth Amendment of the
Constitution guarantees ``equal protection of the laws,'' and the
Supreme Court, so far, has held that most sex or gender classifications
are subject to only ``intermediate scrutiny'' when analyzing laws that
may have a discriminatory impact. Ratification of the Equal Rights
Amendment, ERA, by State legislatures would provide the courts with
clearer guidance in holding gender or sex classifications to the
``strict scrutiny'' standard. That is why on January 25, 2019, Senator
Murkowski and I introduced a resolution to immediately remove the
ratification deadline and reopen consideration of the ERA for
ratification by the States and finally guarantee full and equal
protections to women in the Constitution.
While we have much to celebrate on this day, I want to take this
opportunity to remind my colleagues in the U.S. Senate that we must
continue to use our leadership positions to shine a spotlight on human
rights violations, wherever they occur, and push for the
[[Page S1840]]
immediate release of human rights defenders around the world,
imprisoned for exercising fundamental human rights. We must also end
the Global Gag Rule once and for all, and we must finally grant women
equality under the law. By doing so, we will truly recommit ourselves
to breaking down the barriers that remain for women's empowerment, so
that we can pave the path towards prosperity for generations to come.
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