Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-03-08-Speech-1-024"
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"en.20100308.13.1-024"2
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"Mr President, as you have said, today is International Women’s Day. It is the hundredth anniversary of that occasion. Is this cause for celebration? We have achieved a great deal, but we still have a long way to go; and we can only do this if all of us – women and men – work together.
This year, one theme of International Women’s Day is women’s solidarity and assertiveness the world over: an important theme at a time of economic crisis. It provides guidance for men and women to work together towards a better future for ourselves and our children, as only together can we ensure that women and men are equal not only before the law but also in their day-to-day lives and in economic and social life. After all, women make up approximately 50% of the world’s population but their earnings account for only 10% of worldwide income. Only 5% of world leaders are women. Women account for 75% of the world’s poor. This can, and must, be greatly improved.
Yet this is not just about poverty. Looking at other parts of the world, in particular – large parts of Asia, for example – boys are more highly regarded than girls; they yield more for the family. This results in daughters being abandoned and even female foetuses being aborted. Sadly, trafficking in women is also a familiar and frequent phenomenon. In Africa, many young women and girls are victims of war and rape. There are many underlying cultural causes and these too must be accorded great importance if the position of women is to be improved. Women and girls suffer oppression, particularly in Muslim countries, where there are underlying religious causes.
That is why it is important that we, the European Union, also highlight equality between girls and boys and between men and women in our aid programmes and our international relations. Therefore, this is about not only poverty reduction but also the dismantling of cultural prejudices. Herein lies an important task for the High Representative, Commission Vice-President Ashton, and also for Commissioner Georgieva.
Yet there is also a great deal of work still to be done closer to home, and indeed even in our group, particularly with the support of our Chair, Mr Daul. I should like to devote my closing remark to ourselves here in the European Union. It all starts at a young age, during a child’s education, and access to education is still not guaranteed for girls in Europe. The access rate should be 100% in our civilisation. This should be an important objective of the new EU 2020 strategy."@en1
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