International Women's Day 2015. Empowering women and girls through education and mobilization.

by Sabrina Cocuzza 

Today, all the world celebrates the International Women’s Day, reminding the many achievements that women have sucessfully accomplished since 1995, when the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which represents the historic roadmap for women rights was signed by 189 governments.  Year by year, women's rights have been increasingly protected, but there is still much to do for accelerating this progress with a greater mobilization of the International Community. "When we unleash the power of women, we can secure the future for all," says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in his message for International Women’s Day 2015. Although this statement, we are still compelled to recognize the gap that hold back any pushes to gender-equality. I think of girls used as weapons by violent extremists, subject to female genital mutilation, child marriage, exploitation and discriminatory social norms. Some of this facts are no far from the EU and western countries where too many girls and women of every racial, ethnic, gender, age and socioeconomic group are still targets of domestic abuses, sexual assault, stalking, discrimination.  Furthermore, in times of recession and greater unemployment, the violence is known to increase, especially when community shelters and government assistance programs have fewer resources. 

Having a look to the labour market, in the EU, women graduate more often than men, however women still do not have the same opportunities as men. They are often underpaid and limited to part-time jobs, due to also some gender stereotypes which still limit women’s access to certain job sectors. 

Nevertheless, it is worth reminding the European Parliament efforts for the protection of women's right.

In 2014 The EP granted the Sakharov Prize to Denis Mukwege, who is helping victims of sexual violence, raising awareness among European citizens on gender equality issues and in 2013 to Malala Yousafzai, who is fighting for girls’ rights to education.

Recently, on 5 march 2015, the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) has organized an inter-parliamentary committee meeting on women and girls empowerment through education. The attendants have had the opportunity to discuss on the importance of eliminating gender disparity in education, which may contribute to economic growth and to a more stable and accountable society. 

We are fully aware of the issue, but It is true indeed that we need still more efforts: we need to change people's mind-sets and invest resources in gender equality and education and employment, since these are the requirements for a political and social inclusion, stability and human dignity.

Read more
http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/international-womens-day
http://bit.ly/1NyaTSr
Relevant Documents
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, signed in 1995 by 189 governments, click here.