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Each year on March 8th, people around the
world celebrate International Women’s Day as part of
National Women’s History Month. It is a day for
marking the economic, social, cultural, and
political achievements that women have made and
continue to make. As a U.S. Senator and as a woman,
I consider it my duty and my privilege to stand up
for women’s rights and encourage the full
participation of women in our society. Using the
legislative process, I work to encourage and
facilitate greater opportunities and equality for
all women.
The idea
of having an international women’s day was first put
forward at the turn of the 20th century
amid rapid world industrialization and economic
expansion that led to protests over working
conditions. In 1910, the first international women’s
conference was held and an ‘International Women’s
Day’ was established, and in 1977, the 8th
of March was officially recognized by the United
Nations as International Women’s Day.
Ensuring
women’s rights and advancing their interests must be
an ongoing and collaborative process. Recently, I
urged my Senate colleagues to support $2 million of
funding in fiscal year 2006 for the Department of
Defense’s (DOD) Pregnancy Recovery Education Program
for Women in the Military. This proposed program
would develop a pregnancy recovery education program
for military women designed to address their
physical recovery and potential serious illnesses
they may encounter in the first year after giving
birth. This program would also develop educational
materials to assist new mothers focusing on caring
for a new child, while also managing their own
health and physical recovery and continuing their
military careers and/or living apart from a spouse
who is deployed.
I also
strongly believe in providing economic opportunities
for women because of the pivotal role they can and
do play in our nation’s economy. One of the best
ways to encourage their participation is by
promoting women-owned small businesses. As Chair of
the Small Business Committee, I am committed to a
wide range of efforts designed to assist women
business owners so that they can continue to make a
significant contribution to our economy.
Last
April, a bill I introduced entitled the “Women’s
Business Centers Sustainability Recovery Act of
2004” (S. 2267), was unanimously approved by the
Senate. This bill was designed to establish a
temporary source of funding for 53 Women’s Business
Centers which could have been harmed due to
insufficient funding.
This
International Women’s Day, it is my hope to
celebrate and affirm the value of women to our
society by introducing legislation that will have a
real impact on their lives. The first piece of
legislation is entitled the “Women’s Health Office
Act” (S. 1304).
For too
many years, women’s health care needs were ignored
or poorly understood, and women were systematically
excluded from important health research. One famous
medical study examined the ability of aspirin to
prevent heart attacks in 20,000 medical doctors, all
of whom were men, despite the fact that heart
disease is the leading cause of death among women.
This legislation will counter the traditional lack
of research into many women’s health issues by
providing permanent authorization for offices of
women’s health in five federal agencies.
Improving
the health of American women requires a far greater
understanding of women’s health needs and
conditions, and ongoing evaluation in the areas of
research, education, prevention, treatment and the
delivery of services. It is my hope that this
legislation will pass and set us on the track toward
accomplishing these goals.
The second
bill I will introduce on International Women’s Day
is the “Microbicide Development Act,” which is a
bill to help focus, streamline, and speed efforts to
get urgently needed HIV prevention products
developed.
Women are
the new face of HIV/AIDS and are increasingly
affected by the disease here in the U.S. and in each
region of the world. Approximately 7,000 women are
infected with HIV every day. Clearly, current
prevention options are not enough.
Microbicides are a class of products currently under
development that women could apply topically to
prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.
Their widespread global availability could stem the
rate of infections for women. Mathematical models
predict that even a partially-effective microbicide
could prevent millions of
infections.
Unfortunately, millions of women are still battling
against poverty, discrimination and unequal access
to education, training, credit, and technical
assistance. It is because of hardships such as these
that we celebrate the many achievements of women on
March 8th while at the same time
encouraging their full equality and participation in
society. The important roles that women play in all
facets of our culture and their valuable
contributions to the world deserve to be recognized
and reaffirmed. |
