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March 2002

The month of March represents a milestone in our collective consciousness as people around the nation paused to reflect on the unbelievable events of September 11th--a mere six months ago. We Americans ponder the ways in which our country has changed, even if our own lives haven’t been affected as profoundly as those who lost loved ones in the attacks. We’re about to enter a new phase of the "war on terror," frightened about the increased risk of the use of nuclear weapons.

In the midst of determining which nations are our allies, and which nations are our foes, we are also struggling to determine what kind of country we want America to be in the future. What kind of freedoms will we lose in the interests of "homeland security"? And is security an illusion in this strange new world? Are we discovering what citizens of other countries have known all along - that the threat of terrorism can be a reality of daily life?

As America and the world grieves for those lost six months ago, we also grieve our shattered illusions. We are a nation that has lived with a short-term memory, geographically and psychologically isolated from the suffering of much of the rest of the world. Last year at this time, we included a few of the following distressing 1997 statistics on the status of the world’s women, from the United Nations:

Status of Women

  • Women have not achieved equality with men in any country.
  • Of the world's 1.3 billion poor people, it is estimated that nearly 70 per cent are women.
  • Between 75 and 80 per cent of the world's 27 million refugees are women and children.

Political Participation

  • The first country to grant women the right to vote was New Zealand in 1893.
  • Only 28 women have been elected heads of state or government in this century.
  • Women hold 11.7 per cent of the seats in the world's parliaments.
  • In early 1995, Sweden formed the world's first cabinet to have equal numbers of men and women.
  • Of the 185 highest-ranking diplomats to the United Nations, seven are women.
  • The percentage of female cabinet ministers worldwide has risen from 3.4 in 1987 to 6.8 per cent in 1996.

Women and Education

  • Of the world's nearly one billion illiterate adults, two-thirds are women.
  • Two-thirds of the 130 million children worldwide who are not in school are girls.
  • During the past two decades the combined primary and secondary enrollment ratio for girls in developing countries increased from 38 per cent to 78 per cent.

Women and Labour

  • The majority of women earn on average about three-fourths of the pay of males for the same work, outside of the agricultural sector, in both developed and developing countries.

Women and Population

  • Women outlive men in almost every country.
  • There are slightly fewer women than men in the world -- 98.6 women for every 100 men.
  • One in every four households in the world is now headed by a woman.

Women and Health

  • Women are becoming increasingly affected by HIV. Today about 42 per cent of estimated cases are women, and the number of infected women is expected to reach 15 million by the year 2000.
  • Approximately 585,000 women die every year, over 1,600 every day, from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. In sub-Saharan Africa, 1 in 13 women will die from pregnancy or childbirth related causes, compared to 1 in 3,300 women in the United States.
  • Globally, 43 per cent of all women and 51 per cent of pregnant women suffer from iron-deficiency anemia.

Women and Violence

  • Each year an estimated two million girls suffer the practice of female genital mutilation.
  • Worldwide, 20 to 50 per cent of women experience some degree of domestic violence during marriage.
  • The primary victims of today's wars are civilian women and their children, not soldiers.
  • The use of rape as a weapon of war has become more evident. In Rwanda from April 1994 to April 1995, estimates of the number of women and girls raped range from 15,700 to over 250,000.

These statistics serve as a reminder that we Americans--particularly women--cannot afford to ignore what is happening to billions of men, women and children around the globe. With the events of September 11th still fresh in our national memory, we must also remember that our fate is tied to the fate of our fellow human beings everywhere.

Teresa
tcallies@hotmail.com

Resources, news and tidbits for Women’s History Month
We’ve listed a few of these in the past, and they deserve additional mention.

MSN’s Encarta offers a rich guide in "celebrating the lives and achievements of women from a variety of fields."

The United Nations Statistics Division has a wealth of information on the status of women.

The National Women’s Hall of Fame is located in Seneca Falls, New York, the site of the first American Women’s Conference in 1848.

The Encyclopedia Britannica offers information on women in American history. It has an excellent biography section.

The National Women’s History Project is a "non–profit organization dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the diverse and historic accomplishments of women by providing information and educational material and programs." They offer program ideas for celebrating women’s history throughout the year. Their fantastic Learning Place page offers links to a wealth of other resources dealing with women’s history.

Middle Tennessee State University librarian and scholar Ken Middleton offers a wonderful reference source with his American Women’s History: A Research Guide.

Danuta Bois offers her Distinguished Women of Past and Present site. She created her inspirational site when she learned about Hildegard von Bingen and wondered how many other distinguished women were left out of our history books.

Duke University offers a special section on African-American women’s history.

Other editions of WITNE

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