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.
一百年前在欧洲的一小部分国家首次庆祝了“国际妇女节”，此后，它便成为全球性的庆祝活动，而且取得了很大的成果。2011年的国际妇女节 使我们有机会颂扬成就并动员力量应对依然存在的挑战。
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.
我们并没有什么可自满的。只有不到百分之四十国家的女孩和男孩有着平等接受教育的权利。如果世界各国在 2008年能够实现初等教育性别平衡的话，就能再有360万女孩进入小学。在过去的十年里，非洲中等教育中的性别失衡问题变得更为严重。当今世界科研人员中妇女的比例仅为29%。全世界7.96亿成人文盲中三分之二是妇女。
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.
这种影响的后果是严重的。性别不平等导致儿童死亡率的上升，意味着生命的丧失。从贫困和边缘化的角度来看，它使生活变得更加恶劣。因为影响到成长和发展的机会，它也使生命变得更加脆弱。
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.
性别平等是贯穿教科文组织所有促进教育、科学、文化、传播与信息领域国际合作活动的一条主线。我们努力促进基本人权和社会变革，为公平和可持续的人类发展奠定基础。
（责任编辑:allen）
