Photo gallery >>

RSS

BLOG

Home > Mission and Ministry > Ministries

Mission & Ministry

Empowering Women

Website:

In September 2000 at the United Nations Millennium Summit, all 189 member states adopted the Millennium Development Declaration which outlines a series of eight specific goals, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by the year 2015. The MDGs address the issues of extreme poverty and hunger, gender equality, the health of mothers and children, education, the spread of HIV/AIDS, global partnerships and the environment. A midpoint assessment of the goals in 2008 showed mixed progress. What was clearly demonstrated, however, is the importance of progress toward achieving MDG#3, gender equality and the empowerment of women, in realizing the MDGs in general. All eight MDGs touch the lives of women directly, and unless women and girls are provided with the opportunities to reach their full potential, little will change for them in the years to come.
•    Of the 1.4 Billion people who live on less than just over a dollar a day, 70 % are women and girls.
•    Women do two-thirds of the world’s work! However, they receive only 10% of the income!
•    Women produce half of the world’s food while owning only 1% of the land.
•    Of the 900 million adults who can’t read or write, two-thirds are women.
•    Of children out of school, 57% are girls.
•    Only one in five members of parliament worldwide is a woman.

The U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph continually promotes the MDGs. Additionally, the U.S. and International SSJ Federation Justice Ministers commit to work on specific MDGs. In October at its annual meeting, the U.S. group agreed to focus on MDG #3. In response to this commitment, the Global Awareness group of our community was pleased and excited to publicize and encourage the viewing of the documentary, A Powerful Noise, featuring three empowered women, and directed by Sister Ann Marie Cappello’s (a member of our Congregation) nephew, Tom Cappello.

A Powerful Noise

Ann Marie Cappello, SSJ (center) with her nephew and director of the film, Tom Cappello, his wife, Allison and son, Dalton.

In honor of International Women’s Day, 2009, 450 movie theaters across the country presented the documentary film, A Powerful Noise, which was directed by S. Ann Marie Cappello’s nephew, Tom Cappello. CARE International was instrumental in organizing this event to bring attention to the plight of women and to the premise that, “equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty.”

The film interweaves the lives of three empowered women who are making a difference. Jacqueline Dembele, “Madame Urbain,” of Mali, where the illiteracy rate is 80%, has spent her life rescuing young girls and providing them with an education. She maintains, “If you educate a woman, you educate a village and a nation.” Nada Markovic, a survivor of the Bosnian War, has created a women’s association uniting Serbs and Bosniaks.

Against extreme odds, she has set up cooperatives creating job opportunities for women widowed by the war. Bui My Hanh of North Vietnam is HIV-positive. After losing her 5-year-old daughter and husband to AIDS, she has spent her life dispelling the notion of the disease as a “social evil” and providing services to those afflicted.

Director Tom Cappello says this was one of the most rewarding experiences of his life. In the discussion following the movie, the panelists agreed that educated, healthy, business-owning women are the greatest resource we have in fighting global poverty. Panelist Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist, recently stated that gender equality is “the dominant moral challenge we face in the 21st century.

Resources

Women Watch www.un.org/womenwatch

United Nations Development for Women www.unifem.org

A Powerful Noise www.apowerfulnoise.org

Contact

For more information, please contact us using the information below.