没有女人的社会将会分崩离析

Let us not forget the true significance of August 9.

请不要忘记8月9日的真正意义。

Inaugurated in 1994, when South Africa attained democracy, Women's Day celebrates the political strength, female solidarity and inner fortitude of women who took part in the 1956 march led by Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Albertina Sisulu and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn to protest against the racist law that required blacks to carry a "pass", which restricted their freedom of movement.

1994年，那时南非实现了民主主义，妇女节庆祝了女性的政治实力、女性的团结精神和内心的坚强，这些女性参加了1956年由莉莲·恩戈伊、海伦·约瑟夫、艾伯蒂纳·西苏鲁和索菲亚·威廉姆斯-德·布鲁因引领的游行，抗议要求黑人带"通行证"的种族主义法律，这一法律限制了黑人的行动自由。

More than 20 000 women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria where they delivered a petition containing more than 100 000 signatures at prime minister JG Strijdom's offices. The month of August is annually dedicated to the celebration of the achievements of women and to promote their freedom and social and economic equality.

两万多名女性参与游行，来到比勒陀利亚的联盟大厦，他们在此向总理斯特里基多姆的办公室递交了一份10万多人签名的请愿书。每年的八月都被用来庆祝女性获得的成就，促进女性的自由和社会经济平等。

Each day, more than 2 billion women awaken with the daunting task of engaging, surviving, growing, thriving, collaborating, competing and getting the job done in a male-dominated world. This patriarchal system has prevailed for over 6 000 years.

在男性主导的世界中，20多亿女性每天醒来都面临着很多艰苦的任务：参与、生存、成长、繁荣、合作、竞争、完成工作。这一父权制度已流行了6000多年。

In almost every corner of importance to mankind, whether it be religion, government, business or politics, men have dominated and excluded women from playing a meaningful and valuable role. Although the balance is slowly shifting, it's still a big mountain to climb before women have a level and equal playing field. Gender inequality still prevails.

在人类的每个重要角落，不论是宗教、政府、商业还是政治，男性都占据了主导地位，并排除女性发挥有意义、有价值的作用。尽管这一平衡正在缓慢转移，但在女性获得平等地位前，前方仍旧困难重重。性别不平等仍然存在。

Women work two-thirds of the world's working hours and produce half of the world's food, yet earn only 10% of the world's income. Two-thirds of children denied primary education are girls and 75%of the world's 876 million illiterate adults are women.

女性的工作时间占世界总工作时间的三分之二，生产了世界上一半的食物，但收入却只有世界总收入的十分之一。三分之二的女生被剥夺了小学教育，世界上8.67亿成人文盲中，75%都是女性。

More than half a million women die in pregnancy and childbirth every year: of these deaths, 99% are in developing countries. Domestic violence is the biggest cause of injury and death to women worldwide. Violence against women takes many forms - physical, sexual, economic and psychological - but all of these represent a violation of human dignity and human rights.

每年死于妊娠和分娩的女性超过50万人，在这些死亡人数中，99%的女性来自于发展中国家。全世界范围内，家庭暴力是女性受伤和死亡的最主要原因。对女性施暴的形式多样--身体上、性关系上、经济和心理上--但所有这些都是对人类尊严和人权的侵犯。

Such abuse has lasting consequences both for women themselves and for their communities. Every day, women are murdered, physically and sexually assaulted, threatened and humiliated by their partners, within their own homes. It is estimated that in South Africa, about 150 women are raped every day and one out of every four women experiences domestic violence.

这类施虐对女性自己、对她们所在的社区都会产生持久的影响。每天都有女性被她们的另一半谋杀、威胁或侮辱，遭受身体或性侵犯，这些都发生在她们自己的家中。据估计，在南非，每天大概有150位女性被强奸，四分之一的女性遭受家庭暴力。