Description: This is
a VOA Special English Technology Report.
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Text:
International Women's Day is celebrated every year
on March eighth. Groups around the world use the day
to honor the achievements
of women. They also use the day to call attention to
some of the major social, political and economic
crises affecting women and girls. Forced marriage,
sexual abuse, poverty and lack of education
are among the leading issues.
The United Nations says one in
five women worldwide will be the victim of a sexual
assault in their lifetime. The agency says rape
and domestic violence are a major cause of death and
disability among women ages fifteen to forty-four.
And, it says more than one hundred and thirty
million women around
the world have had their external sexual organs
damaged or disfigured. This practice is known as
female genital mutilation.
Poverty, food insecurity and access to education are
also major issues affecting women. The United
Nations says the majority of the world's one point
three billion poor are women. And that women and
girls in many countries lack access to education.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says until women
and girls are
freed from poverty and injustice, the world's goals
for peace, security, and sustainable development are
at risk.
National Woman's Day was first celebrated in the
United States
on February twenty-eighth,
nineteen-oh-nine. It became
an international celebration
in nineteen eleven.
A year earlier, a women's rights leader suggested
the idea at
an International Conference of Working Women in
Copenhagen.
Clara Zetkin said women around
the world should set aside one
day every year to protest oppression and inequality
for women.
More than one million women and
men attended events in Austria, Denmark, Germany and
Switzerland during the first International Women's
Day in nineteen eleven.
The date for the observation
was changed to March eighth in nineteen fourteen in
honor of
the first organized protest for women's rights. It
was on this
date in nineteen-oh-eight that fifteen thousand
women marched in New York City to demand better pay,
shorter hours and voting rights.
Several countries now celebrate International
Women's Day as a public holiday. They include
China, Russia, Bulgaria and Vietnam.
And that's the VOA Special
English Development Report. Transcripts, MP3s and
podcasts
of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com.
And you can find us on
Twitter and YouTube at
VOA Learning English.
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