[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3175]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 IN HONOR OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of International 
Women's Day. More than 30 years ago, March 8 was designated by the 
United Nations as a day to reflect upon women's struggle for equality, 
justice, peace and development. In the decades since, International 
Women's Day has become a holiday in many countries around the world, 
and acts as an annual catalyst for the advancement of women.
  Throughout our history, the United States has been a leader in 
advancing women's rights and opportunity. While much work remains here 
and abroad, I join many of my colleagues and constituents in saluting 
the contributions of women around the world.
  Many of those contributions have been made through the recent 
election of women political leaders. Chile, Jamaica, Germany and 
Liberia have all elected women to head their governments in the past 6 
months. Despite this encouraging trend, governments led by women remain 
an anomaly. Only 11 out of the more than 200 members of the United 
Nations have women leaders. Moreover, there remains persistent 
underrepresentation of women serving as legislators, parliamentarians, 
and government ministers. Globally, women hold only 16 percent of all 
seats, a disappointing increase of only 5 percent since 1975. The 109th 
U.S. Congress boasts 84 female Members, the highest number in our 
history, but women still make up only 6.4 percent of the membership of 
the House and Senate, well below the world's average.
  Development experts and advocates have long identified education as 
the key to improving women's well-being. More than 180 governments 
committed to achieving gender equality in education by 2005 as one of 
eight U.N. Millennium Development Goals, but we have a long way to go.
  In the developing world, 60 million girls aged 6 to 11 are not in 
school, which severely limits their political, physical, and social 
opportunities.
  In developed countries, an increasing number of women are pursuing 
higher education, but they have been unable to secure academic 
employment or research funding proportionate to their male colleagues. 
Policymakers have become increasingly concerned about a growing 
shortage of men on America's college campuses, but several important 
departments in our universities remain disproportionately the province 
of men, especially at the graduate level. The percentage of women 
earning advanced degrees in science or engineering is especially low. 
Only one in four master's degrees in these fast-growing fields is 
awarded to a woman. Even women who do earn Ph.D.s in computer science 
and engineering earn, on average, $9,000 less per year than men in 
similar positions.
  This income disparity is reflected throughout the workforce where 
women continue to face multiple impediments to their advancement. 
American women still earn an average of 25 percent less than their male 
colleagues, a wider wage gap than that in other developed countries, 
which affects women of all ages, races, and education levels. 
Unfortunately, the wage disparity is being narrowed at a rate of less 
than half a penny a year.
  In the 108th Congress, I was proud to cosponsor the Paycheck Fairness 
Act to combat gender-based wage discrimination by requiring that 
employees be educated about their rights, and permitting women to seek 
recourse under the Equal Pay Act.
  There are some positive trends. While less than one third of 
employers in the developing world are women, this percentage is 
growing, especially in the United States. Between 1997 and 2004, the 
number of American companies primarily owned by women grew by 23 
percent, well above the 9 percent overall increase in U.S. businesses 
during this period.
  Here and abroad, though, women remain vulnerable to violence. I was 
proud to cosponsor the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 
2005, and I have been a longtime advocate of efforts to prevent and 
treat domestic violence, child abuse, dating violence, and sexual 
assault. I have consistently advocated for greater Federal funding for 
research and treatment programs for breast cancer, ovarian cancer, 
heart disease and postpartum depression.
  In acknowledging the challenges faced and overcome by women, I want 
to commend the sacrifices of America's brave women serving overseas, 
especially in Iraq. Women have served in every U.S. military conflict 
since the Revolution and have played an official role in the U.S. 
military for over 100 years. Today, women make up almost 15 percent of 
Active-Duty personnel. One in every seven U.S. soldiers in Iraq is a 
woman, and they are engaged in the conflict on a far greater scale than 
ever before, piloting helicopters, accompanying infantry on raids 
against insurgents, searching Iraqi women suspects for pistols and 
suicide belts. The contribution of American women has come at a high 
price. To date, 48 service women have been killed in Iraq and more than 
300 have been wounded, but their service has inspired their compatriots 
on the front lines and here at home, as well as millions of women in 
Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world, as symbols of women's courage 
and capacity. And today, we salute them and all women for their 
contributions.

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