H. Res. 194 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
March 11, 2009. 
Whereas there are over 3,000,000,000 women in the world, 
representing 51 percent of the world’s population; 
Whereas women continue to play the prominent role in caring 
for families within the home as well as serving as eco-
nomic earners; 
Whereas women worldwide are participating in the world of 
diplomacy and politics, contributing to the growth of 
economies, and improving the quality of the lives of their 
families, communities, and nations; 
Whereas women leaders have recently made significant 
strides, including the 2009 appointment of Johanna 
Sigurdardottir as the first female Prime Minister of Ice-
land, the 2007 election of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi 
as the first female Speaker of the United States House 
of Representatives, the 2006 election of Michelle Bachelet 
as the first female President of Chile, the 2006 election 
of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as the President of Liberia, the 
first female President in Africa’s history, and the 2005 
election of Angela Merkel as the first female Chancellor 
of Germany, who also served as the second woman to 
chair a G8 summit in 2007;
•HRES 194 EH 
Whereas women account for 80 percent of the world’s 70 mil-
lion micro-borrowers, 75 percent of the 28,000 United 
States loans supporting small businesses in Afghanistan 
are given to women, and 12 women are chief executive 
officers of Fortune 500 companies; 
Whereas in the United States women are graduating from 
high school at higher rates and are earning bachelor’s de-
grees or higher degrees at greater rates than men with 
88 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 29 hav-
ing obtained a high school diploma and 31 percent of 
women between the ages of 25 and 29 earning a bach-
elor’s degree or higher degree; 
Whereas despite tremendous gains over the past 20 years, 
women still face political and economic obstacles, struggle 
for basic rights, face the threat of discrimination, and are 
targets of violence all over the world; 
Whereas worldwide women remain vastly underrepresented in 
national and local assemblies, accounting on average for 
less than 10 percent of the seats in parliament, except for 
in East Asia where the figure is approximately 18 to 19 
percent, and women do not hold more than 8 percent of 
the ministerial positions in developing regions; 
Whereas women work two-thirds of the world’s working 
hours, produce half of the world’s food, yet earn only 1 
percent of the world’s income and own less than 1 per-
cent of the world’s property; 
Whereas female managers earned less than their male coun-
terparts in the 10 industries that employed the vast ma-
jority of all female employees in the United States be-
tween 1995 and 2000;
•HRES 194 EH 
Whereas 70 percent of the 1,300,000,000 people living in 
poverty around the world are women and children; 
Whereas two-thirds of the 876,000,000 illiterate individuals 
worldwide are women, two-thirds of the 125,000,000 
school-aged children who are not attending school world-
wide are girls, and girls are less likely to complete school 
than boys according to the United States Agency for 
International Development; 
Whereas worldwide women account for half of all cases of 
HIV/AIDS, (approximately 42,000,000), and in countries 
with high HIV prevalence, young women are at a higher 
risk than young men of contracting HIV; 
Whereas globally, each year over 500,000 women die during 
childbirth and pregnancy; 
Whereas domestic violence causes more deaths and disability 
among women between the ages of 15 and 44 than can-
cer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war; 
Whereas worldwide, at least 1 out of every 3 women and girls 
has been beaten in her lifetime; 
Whereas at least 1 out of every 6 women and girls in the 
United States has been sexually abused in her lifetime, 
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion; 
Whereas worldwide, 130,000,000 girls and young women 
have been subjected to female genital mutilation, and it 
is estimated that 10,000 girls are at risk of being sub-
jected to this practice in the United States; 
Whereas illegal trafficking in women and children for forced 
labor, domestic servitude, or sexual exploitation involves 
between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 women and children 
each year, of whom 50,000 are transported into the