Women Up

Happy International Women's Day

Today a delightful gathering of women and the men who love them lunched in style at the Mayflower Hotel in downtown Washington, DC treated to a talk and a slide video-show by Hilda Solis, US Secretary for Labor on conditions of forced child labor.

The gathering was sponsored by the gracious hosts: Women's Foreign Policy Group (http://www.wfpg.org/) , the UN Information Center (http://www.unicwash.org/) and the UN Foundation (http://www.unfoundation.org/).

Hilda Solis has a remarkable story, a Latina from East LA, who was told by one high school counselor that she would make a decent secretary. She was happy to report that now she is- the US SECRETARY OF LABOR.

Don't you just love being underestimated.

The day marks the efforts being made to eradicate violence against women, equity in all aspects of work and life, elimination of sex trafficking of women and children and elevation of the dignity and status of women in a variety of geographic areas.

The brochure to the program reads in part "International Women's Day spells out our responsibility to work for enduring change in values and attitudes. It calls on us to work in partnership with governments, international organizations, civil society and the private sector. It urges us to work for a transformation in relations between women and men, at all levels of society. It compels us to strengthen every means of empowering women and girls. "

Here is what my Italian friends report about the day in Italy:

La Giornata Internazionale della Donna", comunemente definita "Festa della Donna", è una giornata commemorativa celebrata l'8 marzo di ogni anno, che intende ricordare sia le conquiste sociali, politiche ed economiche delle donne, sia le discriminazioni e le violenze cui esse sono ancora fatte oggetto in molte parti del mondo.La mimosa, simbolo italiano della Festa della donna.

International Women's Day (IWD), commonly called "Festa della Donna" in Italy, is marked on the 8th of March every year. It's a day to remember the social, political and economic victories of women in addition to the discriminatory and violent conditions in which women still find themselves in many parts of the world.

Auguri alle donne e buona settimana a tutti!

Link for full Text of Labor Secretary Solis address below:

http://www.dol.gov/_sec/media/speeches/20100308_IWD.htm