Soroptimist International – A Global Voice for Women

Soroptimist International – A Global Voice for Women: Lifting Women from Poverty Through Lifelong Learning.

Presenters: 

Mariet Verhoef-Cohen, President.

Elizabeth Nyadwe, Vice President Advocacy. 

Hafdis Karlsdóttir, President’s Appeal Chair.

Soroptimist International’s aim is to educate, empower and enable women all over the world and ensure that their voices are being heard. SI have a network of clubs in 122 countries, with each club administering their own projects. Projects that were highlighted were educational programs in Nepal with focus on female leadership, women’s groups, gender equality training, menstruation hygiene, emotional healing, and more. The STEM field in the UK is another project where Soroptimist International encourages girls to pursue a career within engineering, math and technology. 

Long Life Learning for Women is an important project led by Soroptimist International Europe (SIE). Three projects were highlighted involving young women who were empowered in the work field in Italy and Turkey. Female prisoners got work training while in prison, while another project provided job placements for women who had never worked before.

Two other projects that have an ongoing education component is the SPOT project in Malaysia and the Ger project in Mongolia. The SPOT project seeks to fill gaps in Malaysia’s sexual health and education of young people, especially young girls. Despite over 18,600 cases of underage pregnancies per year there is no formal sexual health and education program in Malaysia. The Ger project enables women to grow their own fruit and vegetables and be self-sustainable.

Women, Water and Leadership is a program where women learn how to store, obtain, irrigate, plant, sell their products and manage their business. By managing water resources, and learning water leadership, women gain social and political power.

For more information about SI's work, please visit their website:  https://www.soroptimist.org/

Prevention of Child, Early and Forced Marriage 停止童婚，早婚和强迫婚姻

By  赵霞 (Xia Zhao)， 美国里海大学(Lehigh University)

美国东部时间2015年3月13日下午2点30分，来自土耳其，尼日尼亚和肯尼亚的非政府组织代表于纽约亚美尼亚会展中心就童婚，早婚和强迫婚姻问题做了精彩的报告。各国代表分别阐述了本国法律对童婚，早婚和强迫婚姻的定义。

土耳其代表表示，现今，每四位土耳其女性中就有一位是童婚。其原因主要在于经济条件的限制。 作为一个童婚的幸存者，尼日尼亚代表讲道，童婚摧毁了女性的生活。遗憾的是，尼日尼亚童婚很严重，但目前尚无关于早婚的有效数据调查。

最有意义的是，年轻的肯尼亚代表讲述了自己9岁时反抗父亲早婚安排的故事。父亲以两头牛的价格强迫她嫁给他的老朋友。她逃离父亲的安排，跑到十公里以外的学校向老师寻求帮助。后来她努力学习，成为班上最优秀的学生，最后进入大学学习国际政治。此次报告是她在联合国做的第五次演讲，她成为全村人民的骄傲。如今，她回到自己的村庄，讲述教育带给自己和家人的改变。村庄人民以她为典范，改变了将女孩儿贩卖给他人做童养媳的传统，促进了肯尼亚女童教育的发展和女性地位的提升。