WOMEN'S DAY 2009

MARCH 8TH is a day attributed to the INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY. For some reason, the U.S. has stopped partipating in observing Women's Day with a long list of other countires far and wide. Each participating nation takes this day to acknowledge equal rights for women in their own ways. Above is a photo of Nepalise women dressed in their traditional garb to honor International Women's Day. Nepal's theme this year is "Voice of Nepalis: Drafting Women-friendly Constitution." (Xinhua Photo) from China View.

Below are the highlights from France in today's Le Monde:

• 40 billion hours is the time spent in a year by women in sub-Saharan Africa in search of water: the equivalent of one full year of work of the French labor force.(Fund for United Nations Development for Women, UNIFEM)
• Women are the 2 / 3 hours of work in the world and do a tenth of income. (UN)
• 70% of the 130 million children not in school are girls. It is therefore hardly surprising that 64% of 867 million adults who can not read today are women. (World Bank, United Nations Development)
• 58.5% of French graduates were female in 2007. They represent more than 42% of students in classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles, in all disciplines. (Education)
• 26% of students in engineering schools in France are girls. Their starting wage, out of school, is 7.5% lower than men's. (INSEE, CNISF)
• 15% of research directors in the European Union, in all disciplines, are women. This rate is more than 9% in science and technology. (European Commission)
• 21%: This is the average wage gap between men and women in the world. This gap is 17.4% in the EU, 27% in France. It is 15% for U.S. CEOs in the sector and size of comparable firms in 2008. (European Commission, Observatory of Equity, Corporate Library)
• Women represent 8.8% of board members in companies in the CAC 40.(Capitalcom)
• 60% of women in the Finnish Government. Finland is the only EU countries with more women than men in government. The European country has the lowest women ministers is Hungary (6.25%). France is in fifth place (41.18%). The average rate for the 27 EU countries amounted to 25.5%. (Fondation Robert Schuman)
• 18.4% of women parliamentarians in the world. In European Union, the average rate was 24% in the 27 national parliaments. Sweden is at the top (46.70%), Malta's last (8.7%).France ranks 24th (18.54%). (Unifem, Robert Schuman Foundation)