IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 149 
Supporting the goals of International Women’s Day. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 8, 2007 
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mrs. CAPPS, Mrs. MCMORRIS 
RODGERS, Ms. FALLIN, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. BERMAN, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. 
BOSWELL, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mrs. 
CHRISTENSEN, Mr. COHEN, Mr. COSTA, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. CUMMINGS, 
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. 
ETHERIDGE, Mr. FARR, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FILNER, Mr. FRANK of Mas-
sachusetts, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. 
HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. HINOJOSA, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. 
NORTON, Mr. HONDA, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE 
JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. 
KIRK, Mr. LAHOOD, Ms. LEE, Mr. LEVIN, Mrs. LOWEY, Mrs. MALONEY 
of New York, Mr. MANZULLO, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mrs. 
MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 
MCNULTY, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. 
GEORGE MILLER of California, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mrs. CAPITO, 
Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. PALLONE, 
Mr. PAYNE, Mr. REYES, Mr. RUSH, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of Cali-
fornia, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. 
SIRES, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. SOLIS, Mrs. JONES
of Ohio, Ms. 
VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WATSON, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. WHITFIELD, Ms. WOOL-
SEY, Mr. WU, and Mr. WYNN) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently 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. 
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•HRES 149 IH 
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 2007 election of Congresswoman 
Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the 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 first female President in 
Africa’s history, and the 2005 election of Angela Merkel 
as the first female Chancellor of Germany, who will also 
serve as the second woman to chair a G8 summit begin-
ning 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 businesses in Afghanistan 
are made to women, and 11 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 bachelors 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-
elors degree or higher; 
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•HRES 149 IH 
Whereas despite tremendous gains, 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 in no developing region do women hold more 
than 8 percent of the ministerial positions; 
Whereas women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours 
and produce half of the world’s food, yet earn only 1 per-
cent of the world’s income and own less than 1 percent 
of the world’s property; 
Whereas in the United States between 1995 and 2000, fe-
male managers earned less than their male counterparts 
in the 10 industries that employ the vast majority of all 
female employees; 
Whereas of the 1,300,000,000 people living in poverty around 
the world, 70 percent are women and children; 
Whereas according to the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development, two-thirds of the 876,000,000 illit-
erate individuals worldwide are women, two-thirds of the 
125,000,000 school-aged children who are not attending 
school worldwide are girls, and girls are less likely to 
complete school than boys; 
Whereas worldwide women account for half of all cases of 
HIV/AIDS, approximately 42,000,000 cases, and in 
countries with high HIV prevalence, young women are at 
a higher risk than young men of contracting HIV; 
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•HRES 149 IH 
Whereas globally, each year over 500,000 women die during 
childbirth and pregnancy; 
Whereas domestic violence causes more deaths and disability 
among women between ages 15 and 44 than cancer, ma-
laria, traffic accidents, and war; 
Whereas worldwide, at least 1 out of every 3 women and girls 
has been beaten in her lifetime; 
Whereas according to the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, at least 1 out of every 6 women and girls in 
the United States has been sexually abused in her life-
time; 
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 according to the Congressional Research Service and 
the Department of State, 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; 
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-
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•HRES 149 IH 
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— 
(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 equality in the 
face of adversity; 
(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 
human 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 fundamental human rights 
and civil liberties, particularly those of women 
and girls; and 
(B) issue a proclamation calling upon the 
people of the United States to observe Inter-
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•HRES 149 IH 
national Women’s Day with appropriate pro-
grams and activities. 
Æ 
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