Tag Archives: International Women’s Day

Australian PM in the U.S. / Progress in Afghanistan / A Report on Hunger

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While in the U.S., Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard met with President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and will address a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Defense Secretary Robert Gates sees progress in Afghanistan, but challenges remain.  Leaen how female farmers in the developing world could help feed up to 150 million more hungry people.  Clinton discusses International Women’s Day in an op-ed.

Australia’s Prime Minister Visits the U.S.
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Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s meetings with President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton focus upon shared efforts to transition the security control of Afghanistan to Afghan forces as well as expanding trade in the Pacific region. Gillard will also be addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress March 9, which Obama says is “a high honor that is reserved for only our closest friends.”

Gates Sees Progress in Afghanistan
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that security gains achieved by Afghan and coalition forces across Afghanistan are significant, but the momentum must be maintained to begin a formal security transition later this year. “The gains we are seeing across the country are significant,” he says at a joint press conference in Kabul with President Hamid Karzai.

Secretary Clinton’s Op-Ed on International Women’s Day
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You’ve heard about the opportunities opening up in countries like China, regions like Asia and industries like green technology. But one major emerging market hasn’t received the attention it deserves: women. Today, there are more than 200 million women entrepreneurs worldwide. Women earn more than $10 trillion every year, which is expected to grow by $5 trillion over the next several years. In many developing countries, women’s incomes are growing faster than men’s.

A Report on Feeding the Hungry
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 With a little bit of help, female farmers in the developing world could help feed up to 150 million more hungry people in the world, according to a report issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Farming women in the rural areas of the world have lesser productivity than men currently, the report finds, but if they were given improved access to land, fuel, fertilizer, and seeds, they would have greater yields.

A Libyan Refugee Crisis / Libya Ousted From Human Rights Council / Green Dentists

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A refugee crisis is boiling over at Libya’s border. The United Nations votes Libya out of the the U.N. Human Rights Council. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urges Congress to approve the administration’s budget for the State Department. The U.S. and China must cooperate on a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Some U.S. dentists are going green. And, finally, International Women’s Day is March 8.

Refugee Crisis at Libya Borders
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The situation in Libya has become not just a political crisis, but a potential humanitarian crisis as well, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says. Foreign workers and frightened Libyans are pouring to the borders to escape the turmoil, and international aid agencies are gearing up resources to cope with needs for food, shelter and clothing.

UNGA Suspends Libya
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All 192 member nations of the United Nations General Assembly have voted to suspend Libya from the U.N. Human Rights Council due to its government’s violent attacks on protesters opposed to Muammar Qadhafi’s rule. U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice describes the vote as “unprecedented” and “a harsh rebuke – but one that Libya’s leaders have brought down upon themselves.”

Pass Obama Budget, Clinton Says
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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urges Congress to approve President Obama’s budget request for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, and warned that cutting funding could harm key investments in countries across the Middle East. “The entire region is changing, and a strong and strategic American response is essential,” Clinton says in testimony to the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

North Korea’s Nuclear Activities
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Senior State Department officials say China and the United States share the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons programs from the Korean Peninsula and that both countries will need to work together to resolve North Korea’s status as a nuclear weapons state. North Korean nuclear activity “is an issue which is at the very center of the U.S.-China relationship,” says Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth.

When Your Dentist Turns Green
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A movement is building to “green” America’s 125,000-plus dental offices. Since Ina and Fred Pockrass founded the Eco-Dentistry Association in 2008, dental offices in 45 states and 13 other countries have pledged to reduce their impact on the environment.

Shirley Chisolm “Broad Shouldered” Women
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This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first , which recognizes women’s past struggles and accomplishments and focuses on what needs to be done to provide greater opportunities for women today. At right, Shirley Chisholm, who in 1968 became the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress.

White House Celebrates International Women's Day

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The United States joined dozens of countries in celebrating International Women’s Day March 8.

The White House held a celebration in the East Wing with international women singers, including Afghan singer Mozdah Jamalzadah. U.S. cabinet secretaries, congresswomen, women Nobel Prize winners and the Girl Scouts also attended.

President Barack Obama gave first lady Michelle Obama the podium at the celebration.

“I get to speak first while he stands and watches. I love this,” Michelle Obama said. “We’re here today not just to pay tribute to leaders and icons and household names…the women who traveled those lonely roads to be the first ones in those courtrooms, to be the first ones in those boardrooms, to be the first ones on those playing fields, and to be the first ones on those battlefields.”

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Afghan singer Mozdah Jamalzadah performs at the White House for President Obama and the first lady in celebrating International Women’s Day March 8. (AP Images)

The first International Women’s Day was held in 1911. Clara Zetkin, a German women’s rights leader in the early 1900s, proposed that a day be held for women in every country on the same day worldwide. The conference of 100 women leaders from 17 countries decided it would be a day to work, vote, hold office and end discrimination.

The decision was approved in Copenhagen and implemented in Austria, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland. It is now an official holiday in China, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

In the United States, the whole month of March is Women’s History Month.

“Investing in the potential of the world’s women and girls is one of the surest ways to achieve global economic progress, political stability, and greater prosperity for women — and men — the world over,” Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton said.