International Women's Day

 

Welcome to AS IT IS! … your daily magazine show from VOA Learning English.

I’m June Simms.

Today, we continue our observance of International Women’s Day with a look at one of the most important issues facing women worldwide, gender¹ based violence.

And we talk about gender based violence with the director of the Global Gender Program at George Washington University in Washington DC.

International Women's Day is celebrated² each year on March eighth. People around the world use the day to recognize the progress of women. They also use it to call attention to the social, political and economic issues facing women and girls. The United Nations marked the event this year by calling attention to the problem of gender based violence. Steve Ember reports.

The UN says gender based violence is one of the most common forms of abuse. More than 600 million women live in countries where domestic or family violence is not considered a crime. Seven in ten women report having experienced physical or sexual violence. And the United Nations says that 50 percent of all sexual attacks are against girls under the age of 16.

Penny Williams is Australia’s Global Ambassador for Women and Girls. She says gender based violence is a worldwide problem.

“Global news in the past year has been rife³ with shocking stories of gang rapes⁵, the failing of female students and campaigners for women’s rights and the terrible vulnerability of women and girls in situations of conflict around the world. Violence against women and girls in its various guises⁶ remains⁷ an appalling⁸ unabated blight⁹ on all our nations, including Australia.”

In his Women’s Day message, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called attention to two recent attacks in India. A group of men raped¹⁰ one young woman, who later died of her injuries. Another took her own life after reportedly being pressured to drop rape⁴ charges.

The U.N. Secretary General called on the international community to turn its anger about such incidents into action.

Thousands of people are meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York for the yearly Commission on the Status of Women. Ending violence against women is at the center of their discussions. I’m Steve Ember.

And I’m June Simms. This is As It Is on the Voice of America.

Ending violence against women was also at the center of another recent Women’s Day event. Barbara Miller¹¹ is the director of the Global Gender Program at George Washington University. Her group held a discussion on the issue. Nobel Peace Prize winner and activist¹² Jody Williams led the discussion. Now, Barbara one of the questions your group tried to answer was whether indeed ending violence against women is a problem that can be solved.

“I guess realistically we know that ending it all is maybe a dream. But we have to keep dreaming it because it is so pervasive¹³. Every country, rich people, poor people, people in developed countries, people in remote areas suffer from gender based violence. We are making progress and the more activists¹⁴ and community organizations, women’s organizations work

together with governments, the U.N., with private sector¹⁵ organizations and businesses the more impact we will have. So it takes communication, connections and courage all together.

Now you mentioned that violence against women is such a pervasive problem. Are there areas of the world where the problem is more pervasive than others, and if so why do you think that is?

There are societies that I call extremely patriarchal, which means that male dominance is so. Places like Afghanistan, the dangers there for girls even to go to school, and then to make a choice about marriage, or not even wanting to have girl children, like in much of north India. That is what I call extreme patriarchy.

And are you guys hopeful about progress towards ending violence against women? I have to be hopeful. That event was just full of hope and 20 years ago we would not have had those speakers with those stories telling us about progress they have made working with men. I’ve seen so much progress in academia, in the NGO world and in government and people with so much awareness¹⁶ now that gender inequality is not good for men or women.

I thank you so much for your time. I always like to ask as a final question, what is the one take away that you want people to get from this discussion? Well I guess it would be echoing Jody Williams message and her big message is you don’t have to be a saint. You don’t have to be Mahatma Gandhi or the Dalia Lama to make change in this world. Just do something and make change. Whatever you do, if you’re good at writing poetry, write poems about gender equality. If you can write plays, do that. Street plays can help. Of if you can collect data, or write books or be a professor. This is a good thing to work so work on it.

Professor Miller. Thank you so much for taking time to speak with us today.

Thank you. It was really great talking to you. Happy International Women’s Day.

And a Happy International Women’s Day to the members of our listening audience.

Barbara Miller talked about using your skills and talents to help in the fight to end violence against women. That is exactly what our next group has done. These singers and musicians from around the world have recorded a special song in honor women. The performers include Angelique Kidjo of Benin, India’s Anoushka Shankar and Yuna of Malaysia. We leave you with the song, “One Woman,” released for International Women’s Day.

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 rife   

adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的

参考例句：

• Disease is rife in the area.疾病在这一区很流行。
• Corruption was rife before the election.选举之前腐败盛行。

4 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

5 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

6 guises   

n.外观，伪装( guise的名词复数 )v.外观，伪装( guise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She took pleasure in the various guises she could see. 她穿各种衣服都显得活泼可爱。 来自辞典例句
• Traditional form or structure allows us to recognize corresponding bits of folklore in different guises. 了解民俗的传统形式或结构，可以使我门抛开事物的不同外表，从中去辨认出有关民俗的点点滴滴。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

9 blight   

n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残

参考例句：

• The apple crop was wiped out by blight.枯萎病使苹果全无收成。
• There is a blight on all his efforts.他的一切努力都遭到挫折。

10 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

11 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

12 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

13 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

14 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

16 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。