Marking International Women’s Day

As the month of March is marked as Women’s History Month here in the United States, the Federal Bar Association joins the rest of the world in marking today, March 8, as International Women’s Day.

The women–and men–of the FBA have much to celebrate. A new federal law guarantees federal employees 12 weeks of paid parental leave. August 18 will commemorate the Centennial of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote; and there is now new life behind the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as well. In addition, around the globe, this year marks “Beijing + 25” – the 25th anniversary of the United Nations’ landmark Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in September 1995. The #MeToo movement continues in force, making the workplace safer and more welcoming for women, including women lawyers. Yet, there is still so much to accomplish to make gender equality a reality in the United States and elsewhere around the world.

Perhaps the single most important action that communities can take is to invest in the education of girls everywhere. Research demonstrates conclusively that the dividends of educating girls are overwhelming – with payoffs not only for women and girls, but also for men and boys, and for communities, economies, nations, and the world at large. Moreover, while higher learning at the high school and university levels is clearly optimal, there are massive gains to be had merely by giving women and girls a sixth-grade education.

The benefits are particularly striking in the developing world. For example, education leads to better jobs and higher wages for women and girls and helps ensure that women have the option of working outside the home, or in the home, or both. With the benefit of even just a sixth-grade education, women and girls in the developing world have the capacity to earn a meaningful income, and thus have a measure of economic independence and the ability to contribute to the financial stability of their families, if they choose to do so. Education means that women are more likely to have a voice in decisions about household resources.

Similarly, education reduces violence against women, since educated women are more psychologically empowered and are less economically dependent on male partners or relatives who may be abusive. Educated women and their children are therefore less likely to remain in homes where they are not safe.

Girls who are educated also are both less likely to be subjected to forced marriage and less likely to end up in an “arranged marriage” (where they may have little or no say in the choice of a spouse). In addition, girls who are educated tend to be older if/when they do marry.Educating girls also produces women who are better able to seek and negotiate life-saving health care for their children and for themselves.

And girls who are able to attend school – and to develop skills such as literacy and numeracy, and greater analytical skills – grow up to be women who are much more likely to be civically engaged, to participate in community affairs, to contribute to public discourse, to vote, and even to campaign for and hold public office.

The World Economic Forum’s newly released Global Gender Gap Report for 2020 projects that, at the current rate, gender parity will not be achieved for another 100 years. The challenges that the world faces today are simply too great to wait that long to fully avail ourselves of 50% of the world’s human capital.

In less than two weeks, FBA members will gather in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the FBA’s Centennial. As federal lawyers, we are among the most well-educated and the most articulate people in society. In the year of the FBA’s Centennial, on International Women’s Day, and every day, we must stand with the women and girls of the world. Educating the girls of the world is not only the right thing to do, it is the smartthing to do for a more prosperous, more peaceful, and more just tomorrow.

About the FBA
Founded in 1920, the Federal Bar Association is dedicated to the advancement of the science of jurisprudence and to promoting the welfare, interests, education, and professional development of all attorneys involved in federal law. Our more than 16,000 members run the gamut of federal practice: attorneys practicing in small to large legal firms, attorneys in corporations and federal agencies, and members of the judiciary. The FBA is the catalyst for communication between the bar and the bench, as well as the private and public sectors. Visit us at fedbar.org to learn more.