Posted: 03/08/2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Giovanna Rossi 505.620.6030

WHAT: International Women's Day Luncheon
WHEN: TODAY, March 8th, 12-1:30
WHERE:UNM SUB Ballroom, University of NM, Albuquerque, NM
SPEAKERS: Professor Barbara Ransby, from the African American Program at University of Illinois, Chicago, will speak on "Feminist Therapy for Post-Election Depression: Reading Ella Baker's Legacy in Contemporary Politics".
TICKETS: Call 277-3716

“…women themselves have the right to live in dignity, in freedom from want and freedom from fear. On this International Women’s Day, let us rededicate ourselves to making that a reality.” Message from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for International Women’s Day, March 8 2005.

Albuquerque, NM – NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico activists will celebrate International Women’s Day today by co-sponsoring and attending a luncheon at the University of New Mexico.

“This is a special day for women in New Mexico and all over the world,” stated Giovanna Rossi, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico. “We must remember all the struggles of the women that came before us and the freedoms they have made possible for us. And ”

Barbara Ransby will speak at the luncheon and is associate professor of African American studies and history at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is author of Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision (2003), winner of the American Historical Association's Joan Kelly Memorial Prize and the Association of Black Women Historians' Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Prize. She serves on the editorial board of the London-based journal, Race and Class, and writes for the Progressive Media Project, which distributes weekly opinion editorials to Knight-Ridder newspapers across the country. Her articles address a range of subjects including African American politics and history, women's issues, popular culture, concepts of family and education, black feminism and sexuality, radical political movements, multiculturalism, and strategies for social change.

NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico will be Co-Sponsoring this event with UNM Women’s Resource Center.

IN MESSAGE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY,
SECRETARY-GENERAL CITES NEED FOR TARGETED ACTION TO CHANGE
HISTORICAL LEGACY PUTTING WOMEN AT DISADVANTAGE
Following is the message by Secretary-General Kofi Annan for International Women’s Day, observed on 8 March:
This year marks a milestone in the movement for gender equality and the advancement of women -- the 10-year review of the Beijing Conference and Platform for Action. In 1995, women gathered in Beijing and took a giant step forward on behalf of humankind. As a result, the world recognized explicitly, as never before, that gender equality is critical to the development and peace of every nation. Ten years on, women are not only more aware of their rights; they are more able to exercise them.
Over this decade, we have seen tangible progress on many fronts. Life expectancy and fertility rates have improved. More girls are enrolled in primary education. More women are earning an income than ever before. At the same time, new challenges have emerged. Consider the trafficking of women and children -- an odious but increasingly common practice. Or the increasing targeting of women in armed conflict. Or the terrifying growth of HIV/AIDS among women -- especially young women.
Yet as we look back on the past decade, one thing stands out above all else: we have learnt that the challenges facing women are not problems without solutions. We have learnt what works and what doesn’t. If we are to change the historical legacy that puts women at a disadvantage in most societies, we must implement what we have learnt on a larger scale. We must take specific, targeted action in a number of areas.
This year offers a precious opportunity for doing that, as the world’s leaders prepare to gather for a summit at the United Nations in September to review progress in implementing the Millennium Declaration, agreed in 2000 by all the world’s governments as a blueprint for building a better world in the twenty-first century. As part of that process, I would urge the international community to remember that promoting gender equality is not only women’s responsibility -- it is the responsibility of all of us.
Sixty years have passed since the founders of the United Nations inscribed, on the first page of our Charter, the equal rights of women and men. Since then, study after study has taught us that there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women. No other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity, or to reduce infant and maternal mortality. No other policy is as sure to improve nutrition and promote health -- including the prevention of HIV/AIDS. No other policy is as powerful in increasing the chances of education for the next generation. And I would venture that no policy is more important in preventing conflict, or in achieving reconciliation after a conflict has ended.
Whatever the very real benefits of investing in women, the most important fact remains: women themselves have the right to live in dignity, in freedom from want and freedom from fear. On this International Women’s Day, let us rededicate ourselves to making that a reality.
Source: http://www.un.org/events/women/iwd/2005/message.html