"We are challenged to stand together with and for women and children and will take concrete actions, personally and communally, to break the cycles of poverty and violence which disenfranchise women and foster systemic oppression in church and society." - Sister of Charity Chapter (1995)
"The first world is going to have to account for this sort of horrible poverty in our midst. We have to , first of all, become aware of it. We have to take responsibility for it. And then we have to do something about it for our own freedome, for our own salvation, for our own humanity." -Martin Sheen
"The painstaking collection and classification of statistics documenting women's inequality in health, education, the workplace... irrefutably support my own, often painful, observations and experience... they bring to life the comment of an English physician who said of the science of statistics that, after all, it only represented people with the tears wiped off."
- Former UNICEF Ambassador of Good Will, Liv UllmannThe following video includes the following: Joan Chittister, Isabel Allende, Jane Fonda, Rigoberta Menchu and Gloria Steinem.
2010 Women and Power "Our time to Lead" (7:00)The Wealth/Gender Gap Continues...Poverty is Violence
Statistics from the 2010 Census in the United States
According to the 2010 Census, women are hit hardest in every category. Statistics reveal more than 17 million women were living in poverty last year, compared with 12.6 million men. Twice as many women older than 65 were living in poverty, even faster and rose higher - to 25 percent for Hispanic women and to 25.6 percent for black women. To learn more...
To view a video titled "Faces of Poverty Changing" (3:25)...Statistics on Women from the United Nations
- Women constitute nearly 70% of the world's 1.3 billion poor.
- One-fourth of families worldwide are headed by women.
- Women perform an estimated 60% of the world's work but own only 1% of the world's land and earn just 10% of the world's income.
- Women represent 2/3 of more than one billion adult illiterates who have no access to education.
World of Women
http://www.pbs.org/now/society/women.htmlA strong indicator of the health of a country is the status of its women — and that's according not just to philosophers but the United Nations and the World Bank. In fact, the status of women on many levels are key elements of the United Nation's Millennium Goals. In March 2005 the United Nations studied what progress had been made on the Millennium Goals, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the recommendations of the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference of Women. Explore NOW's coverage of women in America and worldwide to see where women stand today.
Topics include Women in America, Women in the Middle East, Women, Work & Poverty, Women & Education, Women & Health, Women in the Arts, Women & Faith
CEDAW –(Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) The United States is the only industrialized country that has not ratified this treaty. Other countries not ratifying include Iran, Somalia, Sudan, North Korea. To learn about UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, click here.
International Violence vs. Women Act
Women for Women - www.womenforwomen.org
Don’t miss Nicholas Kristof’s column! www.womenthrive.orgMillennium Goals
The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000 commits world leaders to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women. The goals ( 8 in number) all have specific targets. The third goal is to promote gender equality & empower women. To learn more...Take Action Now
To learn and respond to women-related issues visit:
Platform for Action from the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform
