IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 194 
Supporting the goals of International Women’s Day. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 26, 2009 
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Ms. FALLIN, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. CORRINE 
BROWN of Florida, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. FATTAH, Ms. 
GRANGER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HINCHEY, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. NOR-
TON, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. LEE 
of California, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. MORAN of 
Virginia, Mr. REYES, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. SUTTON, 
Mr. WU, Mr. FARR, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. 
NADLER of New York, and Mrs. TAUSCHER) submitted the following res-
olution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in 
addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Supporting the goals of International Women’s Day. 
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 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
01:29 Feb 27, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR194.IH
HR194
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
•HRES 194 IH 
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; 
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 business 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 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; 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
01:29 Feb 27, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR194.IH
HR194
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
•HRES 194 IH 
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 2⁄3 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 percent 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; 
Whereas 70 percent of the 1,300,000,000 people living in 
poverty around the world are women and children; 
Whereas 2⁄3 of the 876,000,000 illiterate individuals world-
wide are women, 2⁄3 of the 125,000,000 school-aged chil-
dren who are not attending school worldwide are girls, 
and girls are less likely to complete school than boys, ac-
cording 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; 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
01:29 Feb 27, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR194.IH
HR194
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
•HRES 194 IH 
Whereas worldwide, at least 1 out of every 3 women and girls 
have 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 esti-
mated that 10,000 girls are at risk of being subjected 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 
United States, according to the Congressional Research 
Service and the Department of State; 
Whereas between 75 and 80 percent of the world’s 
27,000,000 refugees are women and children; 
Whereas in times and places of conflict and war, women and 
girls continue to be the focus of extreme violence and in-
timidation and face tremendous obstacles to legal re-
course and justice; 
Whereas March 8 has become known as International Wom-
en’s Day for the last century, and is a day on which peo-
ple, often divided by ethnicity, language, culture, and in-
come, come together to celebrate a common struggle for 
women’s equality, justice, and peace; and 
Whereas the people of the United States should be encour-
aged to participate in International Women’s Day: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
01:29 Feb 27, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR194.IH
HR194
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
•HRES 194 IH 
(1) supports the goals of International Women’s 
Day; 
(2) recognizes and honors the women in the 
United States and in other countries who have 
fought and continue to struggle for gender equality 
and women’s rights; 
(3) reaffirms its commitment to ending dis-
crimination and violence against women and girls, to 
ensuring the safety and welfare of women and girls, 
and to pursuing policies that guarantee the basic 
rights of women and girls both in the United States 
and in other countries; and 
(4) encourages the President to— 
(A) reaffirm his commitment to pursue 
policies to protect the health and rights of 
women and girls; and 
(B) issue a proclamation calling upon the 
people of the United States to observe Inter-
national Women’s Day with appropriate pro-
grams and activities. 
Æ 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
01:29 Feb 27, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR194.IH
HR194
rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS