The important role that U.S. women can have improving the lives of women around the world was the focus of a symposium discussing the global impact of systemic oppression on the lives of women and children at Mount St. Mary's College Feb. 9.

The keynote address was given by Holy Name of Jesus and Mary Sister Catherine Ferguson, the founder and coalition coordinator for UNANIMA, a coalition of 16 congregations of women religious with special consultative status at the Economic and Social Commission of the United Nations.

Sister Ferguson outlined eight U.N. Millennium Development Goals. By 2015 proponents hope to accomplish the following: 1) eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (defined as living on less than $1 a day; 2) achieve universal primary education; 3) promote gender equality and empower women; 4) reduce child mortality; 5) improve maternal health; 6) combat HIV/AIDS malaria and other diseases; 7) ensure environmental sustainability; and 8) develop a global partnership for development.

The millennium goals are significant, said Sister Ferguson, because some 1.5 billion of the world's people live in extreme poverty. Women and children are disproportionately affected and about 30,000 children die daily of hunger.

"We need to really suffer the injustices," said Sister Ferguson, challenging the some 175 people attending the symposium to feel with the poor and to build a solidarity community.

Specific targets for each of the goals can be seen at www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ ; the site includes a goals monitor which tracks progress in each area.

For example, one specific target in the area of improving maternal health is to reduce by three-quarters the global maternal mortality ratio between 1990 and 2015.

According to the millennium goals web site, in rural India, one woman dies every five minutes giving birth. The causes are generally poor health, unsafe home births and inadequate access to quality healthcare. More than 100,000 women in India die every year due to childbirth-related causes.

UNICEF has been working with the Indian government, health partners and donors to improve women's health. The Women's Right for Life and Health project aims to provide adequate health care to women and children in the poorest communities.

Over the last four years in the Indian state of Rajasthan, the percentage of deliveries assisted by skilled birth attendants increased by more than 30 percent. Maternal mortality reduction has now become both a state and a national priority.

The eradication of poverty, added Sister Ferguson, requires a spirituality "for the long haul." She encouraged U.S. women to learn more about the conditions of women globally and to "commit to what you can do --- one step at a time."

During the day-long symposium sessions were held on how women around the world currently are being impacted by poverty, education, immigration, gender equality measures, economic development, environmental sustainability, human trafficking and health care.

St. Joseph of Carondelet Sister Kathleen Kelly facilitated a session on poverty and encouraged women "to be politically active and take steps with our Congress people" to make them aware of the millennium development goals. The U.S. has not completed its commitment to providing essential financing to developing countries striving to achieve the goals, she said.

Holy Names Sister Susan Maloney led a session on gender equality and observed that during this dynamic presidential campaign season, women have a unique opportunity to be heard. She encouraged women to contact their legislators and let them know "you want the poverty of women and children on the agenda." The presidential candidates "are looking every single hour to see where people's interests are," said Sister Maloney. "This is the time they are going to listen to you."

The symposium also highlighted the issue of world migration. The changing global economy as well as war, political turmoil and environmental crisis have increased migration. Currently 200 million people worldwide are living outside their country of origin, said Sara Sadhwani, director of the Immigrant Rights project of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles.

While immigrants to the U.S. serve in critical agricultural and service industries, many discover that they are not fully accepted, she said.

"The migrant's paradox is that your presence is not wanted, but your labor is," observed Sadhwani, who facilitated a session on immigration.

Currently immigrant women to the U.S. only receive 28 percent of employment-based visas, and 69 percent rely on the family-reunification system. Immigration reform proposals which would limit family immigration even further, would disproportionately affect women, said Sadhwani.

"Political will is meant to be a reflection of the will of the people," she added. For comprehensive immigration policy reform to be realized, she said, more people will need to care about the intersection of poverty, migration and human rights. Sadhwani encouraged participants to initiate difficult conversations with neighbors and friends.

"Try to understand their perspective and what it is they care about and try to have a conversation about it," she said. "At least try to have those conversations and open up the lines of dialogue, because I think that's the only way we're going to actually progress."