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Dignitaries from around the world gathered in Washington Sunday to launch an ambitious project aimed at ending global poverty among women.

来自世界各地的各界知名人士星期天聚集在美国首都华盛顿，共同启动一项雄心勃勃的计划，这项计划的目的在于结束世界范围内的妇女贫穷现象。

United Nations statistics show that women account for 70 percent of the world's poor; that women are owners of just one percent of the world's titled land; and that two-thirds of the world's illiterate¹ people are women.

联合国的数据显示，妇女占世界贫穷人的70%，女性土地所有者仅拥有世界有登记土地的1%，而三分之二的文盲皆为女性。

Women's rights organizations exist in many countries, but now a new group, the Women, Faith, and Development Alliance, has emerged with a global outlook and more than $1 billion in financial commitments. The alliance aims to boost the economic status of women and fight for the changes that will make such improvements possible. Among those taking part in the initiative are Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Queen Noor of Jordan, former Irish President Mary Robinson, and former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell.

许多国家都有女权组织， 但是现在出现了一个新的组织， 叫做“妇女、信仰与发展联盟”。这个拥有十亿美元以上的资金的组织面向全球，目的是要提升妇女的经济地位， 并为实现这一目的而努力。该联盟包括利比里亚总统艾伦.约翰逊舍里夫、美国前总统克林顿、约旦王后诺尔、前爱尔兰总统玛莉.鲁宾逊， 及前加拿大总理坎贝尔。

The chairperson of the alliance, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, says women in many countries have made strides towards legal recognition of basic rights, but that progress is not enough.

该组织主席、前美国国务卿奥尔布赖特说，在许多国家里，从法律上承认妇女的基本权利方面，已经取得了长足的进步，但仍然不够。

"Often, even if the laws on the books are changed, the reality in villages and cities has not," said Madeleine Albright. "So appalling² abuses are still being committed against women. And these include domestic violence and rape³ and coerced⁴ abortions⁵, ritual mutilations, dowry murders, honor crimes, and even the killing⁶ of infants simply because they are female. Some say [that] all this is cultural and there is nothing anybody can do about it. I say it is criminal, and we each have an obligation to stop it."

她说：“通常的情况是，尽管法律修改了，但是乡村和城市的现实生活却没有改变。所以妇女仍然受到令人发指的虐待，包括家庭暴力、强暴以及强制堕胎、割礼、新娘因嫁妆不足而被杀、为了维护家庭名誉而犯罪、甚至扼杀女婴。有人说这些是文化传统，是无法改变的。 但是我认为这是犯罪行为，我们每一个人都有义务制止它。”

Albright added that poverty is not a natural condition for humanity, but rather the result of choices that nations and societies make. She said different choices can and must be made so that poverty among women is eradicated⁷.

奥尔布赖特表示，贫穷并非人类的自然现象，而是国家与社会的选择结果。她说，我们可以，也必须做出不同的选择，藉此来消灭妇女贫穷现象。

The Women, Faith and Development Alliance will combine the efforts of dozens of international organizations to combat gender⁸ violence, boost educational and entrepreneurial opportunities for women, promote women's health, and improve women's access to justice, among many other goals.

妇女，信仰与发展联盟将和几十个国际组织一起，共同对抗性别暴力、促进女性教育与创业机会、增进妇女健康、加强维护妇女司法权益，等等。