WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2024 - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY -PART II

 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2024 - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY - II

SOME STATEMENTS FROM THE UNITED NATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL WOMAN’S DAY:

“If current trends continue, more than 342 million women and girls could be living in extreme poverty by 2030. To ensure women’s needs and priorities are considered, governments must prioritize gender-responsive financing and increase public spending on essential services and social protection.

International Women’s Day | UN Women – Headquarters

“Investing in women is both an economic imperative and a human rights issue. It is a human rights issue because the global economic and financial systems are complicit in perpetuating gender inequality.  At the same time, financial resources are required to overcome these challenges and build a world that enables all women to realize their rights.  Investing in women enables women to thrive, which contributes to prosperity that can be measured in financial terms.

“The world is pursuing growth at the expense of the health and wellbeing of people and the planet. The current financial system is driven by profit, which can be at women’s expense when the interests of investors don’t align with the needs and priorities of women. Climate change is a consequence of the unbounded consumption of fossil fuels without regard for its social and environmental costs. And at the heart of the climate crisis are the disproportionate impacts on women and girls who are more prone to the negative consequences of climate change.

“Globally interconnected markets and institutions shape women’s experiences and opportunities in ways that are not always equitable.  For example, because of patriarchal norms and attitudes about women in the world of work, women end up doing more unpaid care and domestic work, constraining their economic agency, autonomy, and well-being.  Women do three times more unpaid care work than men, but the economic value goes uncounted because it is invisible in measures such as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  A disproportionate share of this work comes from women in low-income, migrant, and racialized groups, highlighting that women face discrimination due to factors like gender, race, disability, nationality, and sexuality.

“Women have only 64 per cent of the legal rights of men, and deep-rooted inequality dampens women’s economic opportunities. Women continue to be overrepresented in lower-paid jobs and sectors, and underrepresented where earning potential is greater. This is just one factor driving pay disparities between men and women. More than half of all women who work are in the informal economy, which is often precarious and vulnerable, with an even greater share—around 90 per cent—in developing countries. Globally, women in the paid workforce earn 20 per cent less than men on average, a gap that jumps to 35 percent in some countries. The inequalities are also startling in the world of business. For example, the gender gap persists in the number of established businesses (32 per cent) and those trying to get started (20 per cent). Inequality of opportunity in the economy compounds across generations, locking women into poverty and preventing them from benefiting equally from economic growth.

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Yes, women have only 64% of the legal rights of men.  Yes, deep-rooted inequality stops the economic opportunities of women.

I write in the “Judeo-Christian” framework.  In that historical viewpoint, men made all the decisions.  Men abused women in terms of financial and social issues.  I was reading about King Solomon - who reportedly had 700 wives!!  C’mon on - 700 wives?  

The New Testament is sometimes fairer in its treatment of women - but still in the historical context.  The woman caught in adultery is one where Jesus shows compassion - but where is the man - who didn’t seem to be caught in the same activity?  

The Apostle Paul writes; “ Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.  If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church (1 Corinthians 14:34-35)

And again, 1 Timothy 2:11-15

“ A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.  For Adam was formed first, then Eve.  And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.”

(Gee - I’m sorry for all those religious sisters (nuns) who are “brides of Christ” - because they can’t be “saved through childbearing”)

But, I can agree with Paul in Galatians 3:28, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus". 

In German, Kinder, Küche, Kirche  is a slogan translated as "children, kitchen, church" used under the German Empire to describe a woman's role in society.  (I’ll remind Angela Merkel, long time chancellor of Germany when I see her next!!) 

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Where is the fairness, the equality, the social justice in male-dominated societies that restrict women to primarily “child bearing”? 

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Yes, we’ve “come a long ways, Baby” (Virginia Slims cigarette slogan) - but there is still a long ways to go!!!

LOVE DOES WIN

LOVE ALL PEOPLE DOES WIN

LOVE ALL PEOPLE EQUALLY WINS

AND LOVE TRANSFORMS US

Karen Anne White, ©, March 6, 2024