International Women’s Day Virtual Breakfast
On March 8, 2021, we will celebrate International Women’s Day with our annual breakfast (this year virtually!). Join us to start your day with other fantastic women! Our speaker will focus on how to maintain mental health during this pandemic.
Tickets are only $12 at https://www.paypal.me/ZontaOakBrook
16 Days of Activism: 25 November – 10 December: DAY 16

16 Days of Activism: 25 November – 10 December: DAY 15

16 Days of Activism: 25 November – 10 December: DAY 14

16 Days of Activism: 25 November – 10 December: DAY 13
Adolescent Girls’ Health and Protection Project
Adolescents, especially girls, must have opportunities to empower themselves so they can speak up for their rights and develop the self-confidence and autonomy needed to take control of their lives and bodies. Significant inequities based on gender, age, geographic location, ethnicity and income persist for many Peruvian adolescents.
Defined by the Peruvian government as the ages of 12 to 17, adolescents constitute 11.2% of the population, or 3.5 million people. However, adolescents are often considered neither children nor adults and find themselves in between.
The Adolescent Girls’ Health and Protection project will contribute to guaranteeing the rights of indigenous and rural adolescents, especially girls, and respond to their needs by preventing pregnancy, addressing mental health concerns and providing a protective environment from violence by providing quality, gender-sensitive, and culturally adapted health, education and protection services.
HOW ZONTA HELPS
Zonta International has committed US$1,000,000 to UNICEF USA to improve the capacity of services to respond to the health needs of adolescents—especially girls—in a timely manner and prevent violence in schools in the regions of Huancavelica and Ucayali. Specific objectives include:
• Improving the response of the health sector in the provision of quality, comprehensive and differentiated adolescent care, with an emphasis on mental health care and violence prevention for girls.
• Improving the capacity of the protection and education sectors to promote health and prevent and address all types of violence in schools, especially gender-based violence, in a timely manner.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
• 10% increase in number of adolescents screened for mental health problems in project health facilities.
• 5% increase in number of adolescents with comprehensive health care in project health facilities.
• 100 health care professionals receive training on adolescent-friendly health care and how to provide adequate response to cases of sexual violence.
• 10 health facilities are trained to respond to cases of physical, psychological or sexual violence in coordination with other services.
• Eight project schools provide students with health promotion activities related to mental or sexual health and nutrition.
• 24 schools provide health promotion activities that promote healthy lifestyles and environments and implement validated physical, sexual and gender-based violence prevention and school-based response strategies.
• 72 principals and teachers are trained to recognize violence and implement violence response protocols using reporting mechanisms.
#16DaysOfActivism #ZontaSaysNO
16 Days of Activism: 25 November – 10 December: DAY 12
Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972:
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
Essentially, Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funding (the vast majority of schools). While Title IX is a very short statute, Supreme Court decisions and guidance from the U.S. Department of Education have given it a broad scope covering sexual harassment and sexual violence. Under Title IX, schools are legally required to respond and remedy hostile educational environments and failure to do so is a violation that means a school could risk losing its federal funding.
While Title IX was previously a powerful tool to stop sexual violence and harassment in schools, on August 14th, 2020, the Department’s new Title IX rule went into effect. The Rule drastically rolls back protections for student survivors and makes it easier for schools to sweep sexual harassment under the rug. Visit Hands off IX resources and toolkit to learn more about personal rights in light of the rule and holding school administrations accountable.
Data Source: KNOWYOURIX
16 Days of Activism: 25 November – 10 December: DAY 11

16 Days of Activism: 25 November – 10 December: DAY 10
In collaboration with partners such as Zonta International, UN Women is currently supporting implementation of women, peace and security commitments in more than 35 countries. This includes: support for strengthening women’s peace coalitions and help to prepare them for engagement in peace processes; work with peacekeepers to help detect and prevent conflict-related sexual violence; support to build justice and security institutions that protect women and girls from violence and discrimination; and initiatives to promote gender equality in humanitarian responses and public services that respond to women’s needs, ensure women’s access to economic opportunities, and build women’s engagement in public decision-making at national and local levels.
16 Days of Activism: 25 November – 10 December: DAY 9
Every Zonta member around the world says “NO” to
Cyber Violence Against Women and Girls

16 Days of Activism: 25 November – 10 December: DAY 8
Zonta International partners with several world global organizations that advocate for human rights. One very important partnership is with UN CSW (United Nations Commission on the Status of Women). For more than 70 years, the Commission has:
- led discussions on inequalities and discrimination women and girls face
- generated public attention on social taboos and broken stereotypes
- driven action to advance the rights of women and girls everywhere
Women and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Gender equality is a right. Fulfilling this right is the best chance we have in meeting some of the most pressing challenges of our time—from economic crisis and lack of health care, to climate change, violence against women and escalating conflicts.
Women are not only more affected by these problems, but also possess ideas and leadership to solve them. The gender discrimination still holding too many women back, holds our world back too.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in 2015, embody a roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind.
Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is integral to each of the 17 goals. Only by ensuring the rights of women and girls across all the goals will we get to justice and inclusion, economies that work for all, and sustaining our shared environment now and for future generations.
This editorial package showcases UN Women’s 2018 flagship report, “Turning promises into action: Gender equality in the 2030 Agenda.” It features data, stories, videos and publications that illustrate how and why gender equality matters across all the Sustainable Development Goals, and how the goals affect the real lives of women and girls everywhere.
Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot
The new edition of this publication brings together the latest available evidence on gender equality across all 17 Goals, underscoring the progress made, but also the progress interrupted, as a result of COVID-19. View/download “The gender snapshot 2020” and “The gender snapshot 2019”.
Turning promises into action: Gender equality in the 2030 Agenda, UN Women’s flagship report, demonstrates through evidence, new data and analysis how women and girls are faring across the world, and what it will take to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Zonta International advocates promoting the human rights of women at international, national and local levels.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by world leaders in September 2015, provides the platform for action (chart shown below). Although many targets of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will improve women’s lives, the main focus for Zonta International advocacy is Goal No. 5: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” #OrangeTheWorld #ZontaSaysNO