On this International Women’s Day, Wilton state Senator Toni Boucher called for reflection on accomplishments, while acknowledging that progress still needs to be made.  She notes that women in 2014 earned 79 percent as much as men. Only one in three chief executives and one in six software developers are women.

In 2013, UNICEF estimated that as many as 63 million young girls worldwide did not attend school. Boucher says some of those girls are probably among the 39,000 who become child brides every day and face a higher risk of death from childhood pregnancies. 

Boucher says the United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the developed world. The World Health Organization reports that one in three women experience physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence over their lifetime. 

She notes that the U.S. Department of Labor says women make up 47 percent of the workforce and that women’s unemployment is presently 4.8 percent, down from a high of 9 percent in 2010. Women also own 10 million businesses that account for $1.4 trillion in receipts.