A mother sits with her daughter in a poor neighbourhood of Pokhara, Nepal. Photo by: DEDDEDA
Today, March 8th is International Women’s Day (IWD), which was established to commemorate the struggle women and girls across the globe continue to endure in obtaining their basic human rights. In 2011, the United States made the presidential proclamation that the entire month of March will be Women’s History Month. 2012’s theme is Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures; by connecting girls with resources to ensure their basic rights, girls will see their potential and future. Inspiring girls’ futures betters the community, the country and the world.
Each year the United Nations also declares an overall International Women’s Day theme. The UN’s 2012 theme is Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty. Women and girls in rural areas face the largest disparities and barriers than any other population in the world. Rural women and girls comprise one in four people worldwide. They work long hours with little or no wadges, yet produce a large proportion of the food agriculture. These women and girls are one of the biggest keys in the fight against poverty. “Providing women farmers with equal access to resources would result in 100 to 150 million fewer hungry people. Providing women with income, land rights and credit would mean fewer malnourished children. Studies show that higher levels of gender equality correlate positively with higher levels of per capita gross national product. Opening economic opportunities to women would significantly raise economic growth and reduce poverty,” stated Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, on the importance of addressing this year’s UN theme (UN Women).
While significant progress has been made for the improvement of the lives of women and girls across the globe since 1911, millions of women and young girls are denied the right to equal and fair access to education and healthcare. Women and girls continue to face some of the biggest inequalities across the globe, especially in obtaining access to social services, and the right to own land and other sustainable assets. These injustices deprive women and girls, and our global community, from reaching their full potential. In many communities the discrimination and injustice begins at birth and continues with each generation. Millions of women and girls every day suffer from gender inequality, and many are faced with gender-based violence such as: female genital mutilation (FGM)/female circumcision, child marriage, child trafficking, selective abortions/gendercide and other gender and sexually-based human rights abuses.
Issues affecting women and girls must be on the forefront of all development, aid and community planning. As women and girls comprise seventy percent of the world’s poor, addressing gender inequality is essential to achieving sustainable development goals. While many women and girls still struggle, others have set forth to be industry and world leaders, and it is these female leaders that will pave the way forward for the those who still struggle to achieve their rights. The role of women and girls in all aspects of society is vital to a peaceful global community. Celebrate women and girls not just today, but everyday and empower them; they will lead us towards a better tomorrow!
International Women’s Day Resources:
