[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 3516]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                IN SUPPORT OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 8, 2011

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 100th Anniversary of 
International Women's Day. Around the world, this global milestone is 
marked as a time to celebrate women and their achievements throughout 
history. It is also a time to reaffirm our commitment to ending 
discrimination and violence against women and pursuing policies to 
guarantee the basic rights of every woman and girl.
  Over the past century, tremendous progress has been made in achieving 
full gender equality. Internationally, women account for 80 percent of 
the 70 million micro-borrowers, 67 countries have gender equity laws on 
their books, and women have been elected to government leadership roles 
in every country. Here in the U.S., women continue to play an important 
role in caring for their families, but now, more than 50% of college 
students are women and nearly 60% of the American workforce is female. 
I am also extremely proud that today in the United States, more women 
than ever before are being elected to public office. I was honored to 
serve with the first woman Speaker of the U.S. House of 
Representatives, and the 18 women Members of Congress from California.
  But there is still more work to be done. At this very moment, there 
are too many parts of the world where women and girls are denied access 
to education, lack adequate health care, die from preventable causes, 
or are targets of sexual and physical violence. Even here, in our own 
country, women on average still earn 77 cents for every dollar earned 
by their male counterparts. In the midst of our recession, pay parity 
is no longer solely a question of gender equity; it is an issue of 
economic necessity.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a cosponsor of Rep. Jan Schakowsky's 
International Women's Day Resolution. And while this day is of unique 
importance, I believe that we can and must treat every day as an 
opportunity to fight for gender equality around the world.

                          ____________________