On Women's Day

Random facts about women in the CNMI:

• According to the 2000 Census, the CNMI population is made up of 54 percent women and 46 percent men.
• Each house of the 15th Legislature has one woman member: Maria Frica T. Pangelinan in the Senate and Jacinta Kaipat in the House of Representatives.
• Not one of the CNMI's Covenant negotiators was a woman.
• Agnes McPhetres founded the Northern Marianas College in 1981.
• Virginia Sablan Onerheim was the first indigenous woman judge to have served in the Superior Court.
• Ramona Manglona is currently the only woman judge in the CNMI.
  
• Rebecca Warfield is the first woman to become commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.
• The Domestic Violence Intervention Center, only one of the agencies offering help to family abuse victims, handles an average of 125 domestic violence cases a year -- or 10 a month. Almost all of the victims are women.
  
• Guma Esperansa served 30 victims of human trafficking in the Commonwealth in 2006 (according to social worker Lauri Ogumoro's testimony before a U.S. Senate committee on Feb. 8, 2007).
  
• If things were left to the government, the 2007 International Women's Day might well pass unobserved. The Women's Affairs Office says fiscal austerity measures prevented any official activity marking this day.
• Thanks to the volunteer group Off The Beaten Path, local audiences will have another chance to see The Vagina Monologues on stage. Eve Ensler's acclaimed play returns on March 24 at the American Memorial Park's Visitor Center.