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March 8th
International Women's Day
The Hebron Academy community recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of women in our country and throughout the world. For decades, women have struggled and have sacrificed to earn the right to vote, to own property, to join professional associations, and to participate politically at the highest levels of government. These accomplishments were achieved at great personal expense. Today, women participate at the highest level of government, business, medicine, athletics, and the arts. And yet, they continue to fall far short, in comparison to men, in terms of economic parity and overall prosperity. In general, leadership and employment opportunities continue to elude women. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
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In 2020, only 47% of women of working age participated in the labor market, compared to 74% of men.
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In Southern Asia, Northern Africa, and Western Asia, the number is even lower, with less than 30% of women participating in the labor market.
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Women held only 28% of managerial positions globally in 2019 – almost the same proportion as in 1995.
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Only 18% of enterprises surveyed had a female Chief Executive Officer in 2020. Among Fortune 500 corporations only 7.4%, or 37 Chief Executive Officers, were women.
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In political life, while women’s representation in legislative bodies has more than doubled globally, it has still not crossed the barrier of 25% of parliamentary seats in 2020.
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Women’s representation among cabinet ministers has quadrupled over the last 25 years, yet remains well below parity at 22%.
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Women continue to be underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, representing only slightly more than 35% of the world’s STEM graduates.
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One-third of women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner.
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An estimated 137 women are killed by their intimate partner (or a family member) every day.
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While female genital mutilation is becoming less common in some countries, at least 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to this specific form of violence across Africa and the Middle East where the practice is most prevalent.
As we can see, there is still much more that can and should be done. Women deserve a seat at the table, and more importantly, when they so desire, deserve to have their own table, and the ability to flourish and financially prosper independent of men or other societal and legal constraints. We salute the women of the world.
* https://www.un.org/en/desa/