INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
evawhite on March 7th, 2008
With Hilary Clinton’s recent advances reigniting the hope of a first woman president for the USA, and ahead of 8 March, which is celebrated as Women’s Day all over the world, I got to thinking, ‘is this day even relevant anymore’? Do we women need the patronizing attitude from the world that presumes to ‘help’ or ‘uplift’ women, or ‘better their lot’? My first reaction was indignation, because I consider myself a liberated and modern woman who does not need external crutches to get on with my life and do what it is that I want to with it. I think I have empowered myself and do not need someone else to do that for me!
I was amazed to discover that Women’s day came into being a hundred years ago when when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.
So this day dates back to the pre-women’s-liberation era! So they needed it then, but why do we need this relic from the past today?!! But when I introspected a bit, I realized that I am one of the fortunate few, and a majority of women in the world are not empowered, either socially or economically, or educationally.
In the less developed countries, there is still the practice of paying dowry to get your daughter married off. Female feticide (aborting a pregnancy when the fetus is discovered to be female) and even infanticide (killing girl children after they are born) are still shocking realities of the world. Women still suffer domestic abuse and violence, and this is no less true for the developed countries. These and many others reasons therefore, make Women’s Day relevant even today.
The international women’s day is an occasion for governments to take stock of the economic, political, educational and health situations that their female citizens are in and formulate policies and programs for bettering their positions. Women’s groups also take this opportunity to organize group discussions, distress camps, open sessions etc to give aid to women in need of succor. New initiatives for education both for the girl child as well as adult literacy gain new momentum at this time.
Here are some Women’s Day images from round the world that I found interesting and thought I could share with you. Women in Pakistan protesting for equal rights, sex workers in India demonstrating for their rights and women in Brazil demanding pension for housewives.
