As the framers of the Universal Declaration knew, the time had come for the rights of man to give way to the rights of man and woman. Words hold great value in the world of human rights, for they have the power to promote human freedom or to prevent it. And so the language in the Universal Declaration marked an important milestone for women's rights. Women have traveled a great distance in the 53 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration. It has been a long and difficult journey, one that is far from finished.
Few issues strike such deep and emotional strains in any society as a woman's place within it.
Against this complicated backdrop, the progress that women have made is both remarkable and remarkably insufficient. If there is a single key to women's progress, it is education, for education is the key to individual empowerment, and individual empowerment the key to a nation's growth and development. The benefits that accrue to states where women are encouraged to attend school and compete on an equal footing with men in every field cannot be stressed enough. The proof is everywhere around us. Where women have had the opportunity, they have proven themselves, improving their families, their communities and their countries in the process.