Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, released a number of gender statistics in the eurozone – ranging from gender ratios to shopping trends – in honor of IWD. For example: In every member state, the proportion of women at risk of poverty or social exclusion, which includes limited access to housing, health care or employment, is higher than men.
Specific events in Europe include a brunch for survivors of domestic abuse and violence held in Tullamore, Ireland, and a UNWomen-Ireland-sponsored literary event, with a public reading of short stories featuring women from James Joyce’s book Dubliners.
In Spain, a multimedia project has been organized, where women across the country can send in photos, texts, or videos with examples of women who have inspired them. A performance of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues is taking place in Brno, Czech Republic, while a “women’s empowerment workshop” has been organized in Norway, encouraging self-awareness and empowerment for participants through dance, music, and meditation.
Progress Watch
+ Laws prohibiting domestic violence are on the books in all but four European countries, according to UN Women.
– Between 8 and 35 percent of women in 20 European countries have been physically abused, according to UN Women.
Mark Sappenfield
Dear Reader,
About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:
“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”
If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.
But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.
The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.
We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”
If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.
