* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Holton
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
Title
"Sharing the Caring for the Future" - A Baltimore City Celebration of International Women's Day 2009
FOR the purpose of dedicating the day of March 8, 2009 in Baltimore City in honor of the world's women and joining the United Nations General Assembly and its Member States in celebration of International Women's Day to recognize that peace and social progress require the active participation and equality of women and to acknowledge the contribution of women to international peace and security.
Body
Recitals
The Charter of the United Nations, signed in 1945, was the first international agreement to affirm the principle of equality between women and men. Since then the UN has helped create a historic legacy of internationally-agreed strategies, standards, programs and goals to advance the status of women world wide. Over the years, the UN and its technical agencies have promoted the participation of women as equal partners with men in achieving sustainable development, peace, security, and full respect for human rights, and the empowerment of women continues to be a central feature of the UN's efforts to address social, economic, and political challenges across the globe.
From the days of suffragettes to the modern Y generation of young women, the world has changed greatly for women. The treatment for women, however, varies from country to country. Everywhere women continue to be victims of violence, with rape and domestic violence listed as significant causes of disability and death among women of reproductive age worldwide. The majority of the world's 1.3 billion absolute poor are women; women do two-thirds of the world's work but receive only 10% of the world's income and own less than 1% of the land. Globally there is still a gender pay gap, a lack of women law-makers, and women's health overall around the world is worse than that of men.
Reaching out to the most receptive members of society, the United Nations Cyberschool Bus lesson teaches: "You might think that women's equality benefits mostly women, but every one-percentile growth in female secondary schooling results in a 0.3% growth in the economy. Yet girls are kept from receiving education in the poorest countries that would best benefit from the economic growth. Until the men and women work together to secure the rights and full potential of women, lasting solutions to the world's most serious social, economic and political problems are unlikely to be found."
The 2009 theme of "Sharing the Caring for the Future" encourages a focus on the contribution of women in their caring roles, in both the paid and unpaid workforce, and explores the strategies needed to share the responsibility for caring across the community. In Baltimore, we have long recognized the contribution of our mothers, grandmothers, and sisters; however, it is left to us to "share the caring" across our entire communities.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That this Body dedicates the day of March 8, 2009 in Baltimore City in honor of the world's women and joins the United Nations General Assembly and its Member States in celebration of International Women's Day to recognize that peace and social progress require the active participation and equality of women and to acknowledge the contribution of women to international peace and security.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the Baltimore City Commission for Women, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
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