International Women ’s Day, 2021International Women’s Day: To Change the World, Women Must Choose to Challenge

By Patricia ScotlandLONDON, Mar 5 2021 (IPS) Among the greatest gifts with which I have been blessed were parents who instilled in me a deep-rooted sense of identity, and the unequivocal belief that there was no difference between what a boy and a girl could achieve. This assurance sustained me while growing up, as the tenth child out of twelve wonderful siblings, and through the numerous times when it was suggested by others that I would never succeed, simply because I was black, poor and female. Patricia ScotlandWhen I set out on my career in law, a mere 3% of the profession were women, and less than 0.01% were black women. Given my background, few expected that I would one day become the first woman in 700 years to serve as Her Majesty’s Attorney-General for England and Wales. We have come a long way since then, and today – thanks in a large part to sustained advocacy efforts over the years – there is encouraging progress in terms of gender equality in the Commonwealth. Almost half the lawyers in the UK are women now. In the Commonwealth, a girl is just as likely to attend primary school as a boy, while on average, 56% of women participate in the labour force, and they make up the larger part of the informal sector. To date, 13 member countries have achieved 30% or more female members of parliament, while ten have 30% or more ministers who are women. The Commonwealth Secretariat continues to work diligently alongside member countries through programmes that ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Education Featured Gender Gender Violence Global Headlines Health Humanitarian Emergencies Inequity Labour Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Women & Economy Women in Politics International Women's Day 2021 Source Type: news