This document highlights the oppression faced by women worldwide and argues for empowering women. It notes that while oppression of men is seen as tragic, oppression of women is often considered tradition. It provides statistics showing high rates of issues like female genital mutilation, sexual assault, intimate partner violence and forced early marriage faced by women and girls globally. The document argues that empowering women through education and economic opportunities would benefit not only women but also children and society.

2. TURNING
OPPRESSION INTO
OPPORTUNITY FOR
WOMEN WORLDWIDE

3. When men are oppressed,
it’s a tragedy. When
women are oppressed, its
tradition.

4. “What would men be without
women? Scarce, sir, mighty
scarce.”
-Mark Twain

5. “The question is not whether
countries can afford not to educate
girls, but whether countries can
afford not to educate more girls.”
-Lawrence Summers, Chief Economist of the
World Bank

6. “Progress is achieved through
women.”
-Bernard Kouchner, founder of Doctors Without
Borders

7. “Of all the evils for which man has
made himself responsible, none is
so degrading, so shocking, or so
brutal as his abuse of the better half
of humanity; the female sex.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

8. “Human rights are women’s rights,
and women’s rights are human
rights.”
-Hillary Clinton

9. 89

10. The estimated percent of women in
Sudan who have gone through some
form of Female Genital Mutilation.

11. 10

12. The average age of a girl at
the time of her circumcision.

13. More than one in five daughters have undergone
the most invasive form of FGM/C (involving the
sewing of genitalia) in Somalia, Eritrea, Niger,
Djibouti and Senegal.
Most cases of FGM/C are performed at home
using a blade or razor.
http://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGCM_Brochure_Lo_res.pdf

14. 16

15. Worldwide, up to 50 percent of
sexual assaults are committed
against girls under 16.

16. 1 in 3 women worldwide will
experience physical and/or
sexual violence by a partner.

17. In Australia, Canada, Israel, South
Africa and the United States, between
40 and 70 percent of female murder
victims were killed by their intimate
partners.

18. 1 in 5 women are sexually
assaulted while in college in the
United States.

19. 27

20. The number of girls forced
into early marriage.
Per minute.

21. “The abuse of women and girls is
the most pervasive and unaddressed
human rights violation on earth.”
-Jimmy Carter

22. When women earn the money of the
household, it is mostly spent on their
children meaning…
More likely to survive infancy
Have better health
Go to school longer
Have better employment opportunities.

23. 30% of businesses in the U.S.
are owned by women.

24. “If you want something talked
about, ask a man. If you want
something done, ask a women.”
-Carly Fiorina

25. “We are human beings, we make
the traditions so we should have the
right to change those traditions.”
-Malala Yousafzai

26. Women hold up
Half the Sky