Message on the occasion of the International Women’s Day of the UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova
8 March 2011

2011年三八國際婦女節致辭
聯合國教科文組織總干事 伊琳娜·博科娃
2011年3月8日

International Women’s Day was first honoured one hundred years ago in a handful of European countries. Since then, the celebration has become global, and much has been achieved. The 2011 International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate achievements and mobilize against the challenges that remain.

一百年前在歐洲的一小部分國家首次慶祝了“國際婦女節”，此后，它便成為全球性的慶祝活動，而且取得了很大的成果。2011年的國際婦女節 使我們有機會頌揚成就并動員力量應對依然存在的挑戰。

There is no room for complacency. Less than 40 percent of countries provide girls and boys with equal access to education.
Had we reached gender parity in primary education in 2008, there would have been an additional 3.6 million girls in school.
Disparities have increased at the secondary level in Africa over the last decade. Only 29 percent of researchers in the world today are women. Two-thirds of the world’s 796 million illiterate adults are women.

我們并沒有什么可自滿的。只有不到百分之四十國家的女孩和男孩有著平等接受教育的權利。如果世界各國在 2008年能夠實現初等教育性別平衡的話，就能再有360萬女孩進入小學。在過去的十年里，非洲中等教育中的性別失衡問題變得更為嚴重。當今世界科研人員中婦女的比例僅為29%。全世界7.96億成人文盲中三分之二是婦女。

The impact is serious. Inequality costs lives in terms of child mortality. It blights lives in terms of poverty and marginalization. And it slights lives in terms of opportunities for growth and development.

這種影響的后果是嚴重的。性別不平等導致兒童死亡率的上升，意味著生命的喪失。從貧困和邊緣化的角度來看，它使生活變得更加惡劣。因為影響到成長和發展的機會，它也使生命變得更加脆弱。

Gender equality is a red thread weaving through all UNESCO activities to promote international cooperation in education, the sciences, culture, communication and information. We seek to promote basic human rights in order to transform our societies and lay the foundations for equitable and sustainable human development.

性別平等是貫穿教科文組織所有促進教育、科學、文化、傳播與信息領域國際合作活動的一條主線。我們努力促進基本人權和社會變革，為公平和可持續的人類發展奠定基礎。

This year’s International Women’s Day is inspired by the theme of ‘Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.’ This goes to the heart of UNESCO’s mission. We work to strengthen the bridges between education, training, science and technology and the labour market in order to promote equal opportunity to decent employment. This starts early, with quality education for all girls and young women from the primary to the tertiary level. It continues with vocational training and education for women who have not acquired basic skills. It proceeds with creating positive role models and career tracks – especially in such areas as science and technology.

今年國際婦女節弘揚的主題是“平等接受教育、培訓和利用科技的權利：婦女通往體面工作之路”。這正是教科文組織的核心使命。我們努力加強教育、培訓、科技與勞動市場之間的銜接，從而促進平等的體面就業機會。為此需要從更早期入手，為所有女孩和女青年提供從小學到大學階段有質量的教育。要繼續為沒有掌握基本技能的婦女提供職業培訓與教育，并進而樹立積極的表率模式和職業途徑--尤其是在科技等領域。

These goals guide UNESCO’s work in leading the Education for All initiative. They inspire our partnership with L’Oreal to promote women in scientific research. They explain our work in Pakistan to support income generation for women after the floods of 2010 and to increase literacy among women in Afghanistan.

這些目標引導著教科文組織牽頭開展全民教育活動，也激勵我們與歐萊雅開展合作，促進婦女開展科學研究。正是為了這些目標，我們在2010年洪災后與巴基斯坦一起支持為婦女開展創收活動，以及努力讓更多的阿富汗婦女掃盲。

UNESCO is geared up to do much more – to work with official and private sector partners to provide system-wide policy support for governments, to enhance nonformal education and to open learning opportunities for adult women. UNESCO has real leadership in these areas, and we will make the most of this.

教科文組織已經準備就緒，將為此做更多的工作--與官方和私營部門合作伙伴一起，向各國政府提供全系統的政策支持，進一步為成年婦女提供非正規教育和開放式學習的機會。教科文組織在這些領域可以發揮切實的領導作用，我們將充分利用這一機會。

Without basic skills, decent work has become a distant dream for too many women. The worlds of science and technology – so important for our lives today – remain beyond the reach of most. Human rights are being violated. Tremendous talents are being lost. This International Women’s’ Day is a chance for us all to address these challenges. In times of economic difficulty, there is no better investment.