International Women's Day: equality,peace and justice
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VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. International Women's Day is March eighth. It is a day to observe women's struggle for equality, justice, peace and development. VOA reporters in several countries recently examined the situation of women. They found that for many, International Women's Day is a time to celebrate progress. For others, it is a reminder1 of how far they still must go to gain equality with men.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

VOA reporter Margaret Besheer examined the lives of women in Muslim countries. She reports that positive changes affecting women are coming slowly.

Mishkat al-Moumin works at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. Ms. al-Moumin says economic and social power are important to women's progress in the Islamic world. She says it is difficult for women to survive without men if there is no social or economic program to support them.

VOICE TWO:

Education is another area where Muslim women are behind women of other cultures. United Nations reports showed that in two thousand five, more than seventy-five million women in the Middle East and North Africa could not read or write. This is a large part of the Muslim world.

Mishkat al-Moumin says uneducated girls grow up to be unprepared mothers. They are unable to deal with modern problems affecting their children.

VOICE ONE:

Margaret Basheer reports that women are making progress at different speeds across the Muslim world. For example, in Saudi Arabia, modern change is coming more slowly. Women still are denied the right to vote or drive a car.

However, in other countries, women are beginning to gain a voice in politics. In Iraq, for example, women are playing an active role in government. In Kuwait, women voted and ran as candidates in parliamentary and local elections for the first time last June.

In Bahrain, the king appointed the first female judge last year. She joins other female judges in Jordan, Lebanon, Iran and several other Muslim nations. And a small number of Muslim women, including Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, have been leaders of their countries.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

VOA's Steve Herman reports that on average, there are only about nine hundred thirty girls for every one thousand boys in India. Many parents like boys better because they carry on the family name. Girls may cause financial problems when they marry. Their families must traditionally pay huge amounts of money to their daughter's future husband.

Modern medical technology makes it possible for parents to know the sex of their child before it is born. Doctors use the method of ultrasound to see moving pictures of the unborn baby to make sure it is healthy.

But Sabu George, an Indian activist2, says ultrasound is becoming "a weapon of mass destruction." Instead of using modern technology to save lives, millions of girls are being killed before birth.

VOICE ONE:

Using ultrasound tests to find out the sex of the fetus3 is illegal in India. But Corrine Woods of the United Nations Children's Fund says that has not stopped it from being done. Miz Woods says India's wealthier women have most of the abortions4 of baby girls. Researchers say one out of every twenty-five female fetuses5 in India is aborted6. This is about one-half million each year.

Parents who cannot pay for ultrasound tests sometimes kill girl babies right after they are born. Baby girls who are not killed often die young because they are given less food and medical care than their brothers. They also receive less education.

VOICE TWO:

Corrine Woods of UNICEF says her organization and others are trying to educate people to get them to change their beliefs about girls. India's government is proposing to set up homes called orphanages7 to raise unwanted girls.

But some experts express little hope. They say the idea has been tried before and the girls suffered in many of the orphanages. Sabu George predicts that even with political and legal measures, changes in beliefs will be slow.

Social scientists warn about the effects of the situation. They say it is not good for a society to have too many young men and not enough women for them to marry. This can result in more crime and violence.

VOICE ONE:

Similar warnings are being heard about the growing population imbalance in China. Male children have traditionally been expected to take care of their aged8 parents. Poor farmers, especially, want sons because of a limited social security system.

But the National Population and Family Planning Commission9 recently called the gender10 imbalance a "hidden threat" to social order. Still, its director said China needs to continue to limit family size to keep the world's largest population from growing out of control.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Seven years ago, the United Nations set its Millennium11 Development Goals. Education for all children by the year twenty fifteen was one of the goals. VOA's Rosanne Skirble reports that some gains have been made toward reaching that goal. However, much more needs to be done, especially in Africa.#p#分页标题#e#

Faty Seye is a twenty-four-year-old woman from Dakar, Senegal. She did not finish high school. But she learned car repair skills free of charge in a program run by a local organization, the Young Women's Shelter. The group works with homeless girls, girls who have dropped out of school and single mothers. It offers classroom studies and hands-on experience.

Faty Seye was trained to be an automobile12 mechanic. She was not concerned that women rarely do this kind of work. She says that as long as you love your job, you will do it well.

VOICE ONE:

In southern Africa, girls are more than half of the thirty-eight million children who are not in school. Girls are usually kept at home to work and to care for younger brothers and sisters or sick parents. Carolyn Bartholomew heads the Basic Education Coalition13, based in Washington, D.C.

It is a coalition of international development groups. She says keeping girls in school is good for a number of reasons. She says the results include healthier children and stronger families. In addition, educated mothers are more likely to educate their own children so the positive results extend into the future.

VOICE TWO:

In East Africa, girls growing up among the Maasai tribes14 of Kenya face cultural traditions that stand in the way of an education. Traditional values force many girls to accept arranged marriages when they are very young. Many girls are also forced to have their sex organs cut. Opponents of this tradition call it female genital mutilation.

However, some girls, such as fourteen-year-old Evelyne Meitiaki, are able to attend the AIC Primary School near a small town south of Nairobi. Her two older sisters brought her to this school when she was five years old. The school's rescue center has seventy-five girls. They live at the school and take classes through high school. A nongovernmental organization in Kenya supports the school.

VOICE ONE:

Evelyne says she wants to become a lawyer. She says she wants to fight against female genital mutilation and arranged marriages of young girls. However, the Maasai see these "rescued girls" as rebels and a threat to their traditional way of life. A teacher at the school, Catherine Korrompoi says Maasai culture must change in order to survive. She says these girls will change the whole community.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In Latin America, more women are taking important jobs in government. There are female defense15 ministers in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay. Chile also has a female president.

VOA reporter Mike Bowman talked to Lorena Escudero, the defense minister of Ecuador. President Rafael Correa appointed her in January, after the former defense minister was killed in a helicopter crash. Miz Escudero says her appointment is one sign of positive change for women in Latin America. She says all women should fight and not give up. There are unlimited16 chances for success in the world, she says, and women should be part of it.

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Shelley Gollust and produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. You can read and listen to this program at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 reminder WkzzTb     
n.提醒物,纪念品;暗示,提示
参考例句:
  • I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
  • It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知,她才付应该交的房租。
2 activist gyAzO     
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。
3 fetus ekHx3     
n.胎,胎儿
参考例句:
  • In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
  • No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。
4 abortions 4b6623953f87087bb025549b49471574     
n.小产( abortion的名词复数 );小产胎儿;(计划)等中止或夭折;败育
参考例句:
  • The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人:不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
  • Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论:染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网
5 fetuses eae25b106f4ed68558631a5bf44c9293     
n.胎,胎儿( fetus的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • DNA was extracted from fetuses at mid-gestation, about 10 days past conception. DNA从受孕大约10天后的中期妊娠胚胎中提取。 来自互联网
  • Brucellosis is a disease that causes fetuses to abort in cattle. 普鲁士菌病是一种可以导致牲畜胎儿夭折的疾病。 来自互联网
6 aborted dfb7069bfc6e0064a6c667626eca07b4     
adj.流产的,失败的v.(使)流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 );(使)(某事物)中止;(因故障等而)(使)(飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等)中断飞行;(使)(飞行任务等)中途失败
参考例句:
  • The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障,这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 orphanages f2e1fd75c22306f9e35d6060bfbc7862     
孤儿院( orphanage的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • It is Rotarians running orphanages for children who have no homes. 扶轮社员们为没有家的孩子办孤儿院。
  • Through the years, she built churches, hospitals and orphanages. 许多年来,她盖了一间间的教堂、医院、育幼院。
8 aged 6zWzdI     
adj.年老的,陈年的
参考例句:
  • He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了,也老点了。
  • He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老,然而记忆力还好。
9 commission 1bkyS     
n.委托,授权,委员会,拥金,回扣,委任状
参考例句:
  • The salesman can get commission on everything he sells.这个售货员能得到所售每件货物的佣金。
  • The commission is made up of five people,including two women.委员会由五人组成,其中包括两名妇女。
10 gender slSyD     
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。
11 millennium x7DzO     
n.一千年,千禧年;太平盛世
参考例句:
  • The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
  • We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。
12 automobile rP1yv     
n.汽车,机动车
参考例句:
  • He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
  • The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。
13 coalition pWlyi     
n.结合体,同盟,结合,联合
参考例句:
  • The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
  • Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。
14 tribes f3d6790faa976a2695d01a08f7b2ba64     
n.部落( tribe的名词复数 );(动、植物的)族;(一)帮;大群
参考例句:
  • tribes living in remote areas of the Amazonian rainforest 居住在亚马孙河雨林偏远地区的部落
  • In Africa the snake is still sacred with many tribes. 非洲许多部落仍认为蛇是不可冒犯的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 defense AxbxB     
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
参考例句:
  • The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
  • The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
16 unlimited MKbzB     
adj.无限的,不受控制的,无条件的
参考例句:
  • They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
  • There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。
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