If you are reading this blog, I am going to draw a couple of inferences. First, you are not living on a rock or deserted island (desirable as that may sound) in the middle of nowhere. Secondly, you know its International Women’s Day on the 8th March.
According to the UN,
“ The first National Woman’s Day was observed in the United States on 28 February. The Socialist Party of America designated this day in honour of the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions.”
The photos of women protesting in that decade bear an uncanny resemblance to the current protests by Burmese women. (If you’d like to read profiles on Burmese women participating in pro-democracy movement, please head over to OPEN DEMOCRACY).
My thoughts on International Women’s day…
Approximately 24 months ago, I started writing my blog on Women’s Day because I feel so strongly about my identity as a woman.
However, I really hate International Women’s day because it is a constant reminder (much like a thorn in my side, continuously wounding me), that the disparity between men and women is an affront to my existence as a human being.
Women form c50% of humanity. How is it even possible that such a massive group must “fight” for equality and equality is not a given?
This difference between genders is only compounded by factors such as race, age, wealth, social status (married or not), education and where you were born.
I can illustrate it like so…
I feel as if nothing has changed from my university days (two decades ago): there is no new information or reason for me to change the positioning of women in this graph above now or then.
Ok so life isn’t perfect…
I appreciate that within the social construct that we have all agreed in, human rights are in themselves aspirational. The events on Capital Hill on 6 January just serve to show how democracy is fragile even in the most affluent and stable countries in the world.
The rights of women are no different.
I might be overtly pessimistic because COVID-19, as much like life-changing events, the current pandemic appears to have multiplied and highlighted the effects of inequities.
And I will leave you with one last pessimistic thought: at the bottom of humanity’s rung, there is a fine line between exploitation by reason of being female and inequality. Increasing levels of poverty or income disparity make this problem worse.
In other words, we are simply not having the right conversations or acting in anything that remotely accelerates the progression of women to full gender equality (in any country) in your or my lifetime.
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