Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange

Friday September 10th 2010

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Women

Respect [for women] must first and foremost be won through an effective and intelligent campaign for the promotion of women, concentrating on all areas of women’s life and beginning with a universal recognition of the dignity of women.

--Letter of Pope John Paul II to Women, 1995

Literacy is a fundamental skill to empower women to take control of their own lives, to engage directly with the world and give them access to the wider world of learning. Educating women and giving them equal rights is important for many reasons:

• It increases their productivity, raising output and reducing poverty.

• It promotes gender equality, within households and removes constraints on women’s decision making this reducing fertility rates and improving maternal health.

• Educated women do a better job caring for children, increasing children’s chances of surviving to become healthier and better educated.

--Millenium Development Goals, http://www.developmentgoals.org/Gender_Equality.htm

Ending world poverty begins with women. Research and experience have shown that women in poor countries are more likely to spend their income on food, education, and healthcare for their children - a long-term investment that lifts entire families and communities out of poverty. –Adapted from Women Thrive

Some of the many websites for additional information:

Care – Video gallery on women around the world making a difference http://www.care.org/features/videogallery.asp

Pulse Wire – A global network of women - http://www.worldpulse.com/

UNIFEM - The women's fund at the United Nations - http://www.unifem.org/

Women Thrive - Ending world poverty begins with women - http://www.womenthrive.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=440&Itemid=126

Women for Women – Empowering women survivors of war - http://www.womenforwomen.org/

Prayer

God who is both our Father and our Mother, we look towards a world in which the dignity of all women and girls can be seen in the elimination of gender-based violence and the promotion of equality of the genders ineducation and the workplace.

We pray for a world of respect and opportunity that is based in love and equality.

Help us, Lord, to work together as women and men to eliminate the disparities that still exist in the world.

Letus work to restore that dignity of woman which has been “gravely wounded.”

Help us to challenge all forms of discrimination and injustice.

Amen.

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