Celebrating Womanhood: Honoring Women's Day with Empowerment and Equality
Every year on March 8th is the date of International Women’s Day. It is a day where a woman remembers the work, achievement and contributions of women around the world. It is a time to honour, celebrate, demonstrate and strive for gender equality, empowering females and creating a balanced world for all. This is the real meaning of Woman’s Day. It is not a time traditionally to wave a pink handkerchief or pretty scarf. Here is an appreciation of Woman’s Day, a brief history and the work of women that needs to be done.
Understanding the Significance of International Women's Day:
International Women’s Day has reached this milestone after a history of political struggle, survival and progress on a variety of fronts from equal representation to equal pay for equal work. It aims to raise awareness against bias, to celebrate the achievements of women, and to inspire those who plan to pursue their career goals with passion. The day is a tribute to women who strive for promotion, pay parity, gender parity, and an end to discrimination, violence and bias.
The History Behind Woman's Day:
The seeds of the holiday were planted in the early 20th century, during movements for women’s suffrage and labour solidarity. The first National Woman’s Day was celebrated in the US on 28 February 1909; a year earlier, thousands of women garment workers had struck against poor working conditions in New York. In 1910, attendees at the International Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen proposed an international women’s day annually.
International Women’s Day was formally established in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Over the years, the day grew in prominence until it became a tool for campaigns for women’s suffrage, equal pay, equal rights, reproductive rights and an end to violence against women.
Empowerment through Education and Economic Opportunities:
Education is important for women as it empowers them and gives them the power to get rid of the social and economic boundaries of a society. If women have access to good quality education means, they excel and acquire skills and knowledge which will ultimately give them the confidence to achieve their aims and objectives. It even allows women to come out of the intercultural norms and taboos and break these barriers, to fight against these norms.
Moreover, economic empowerment is vital for female autonomy and agency. If women have access to employment, economic opportunities and financial resources, they will be able to take better control of their lives to maintain themselves and their families independently. Reducing the gender gap in the job market has a two-fold effect: an economic one, by increasing economic growth, and a social one, as it reduces poverty and promotes social equity.
Challenges and Struggles:
With all that history, it’s not surprising that, even in the face of remarkable progress, women around the world still experience multiple injustices. They continue to be the victims of grotesque levels of gender-based violence; face blatant, often hidden, discrimination in the workplace; suffer from a lack of access to health services; are poorly represented in leadership positions. In fact, many of these brutal, entrenched patterns are exacerbated by intersectional factors of race, ethnicity, class, sexuality and so on. In other words, the most marginalized women can literally suffer twice.
Achieving Gender Equality: A Collective Endeavor:
Achieving gender parity will demand political will and collective action at the level of governments, people and institutions, corporations and civil society. Legislative reforms and policy preferences, both public and private, and institutional structures that can tackle sex and gender inequalities are essential. But so is a shift in our culture, where valuing people, their contribution, and ways of being is always tied to an indifference to sex and gender. It is our ability to be respectful, inclusive, allyship and alliance that bests the patriarchy and forms a new pathway toward gender equity.
Role of Media and Advocacy:
The media profiles gender issues, highlights women’s advances, amplifies women’s voices, spotlights stereotypes, makes us more aware, and makes it more difficult to be blasé. Activism – protesters, awareness campaigns, grassroots movements, hashtags – can play a role in pushing women’s rights into the collective conscience and effecting change along the way.
Conclusion:
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we call upon everyone to take a step forward in achieving gender equality, empowerment and gender justice. We honour the achievements of women and celebrate their invaluable contributions to society and humanity through generations. We remember the struggles and rights of women, and vow to advance towards a future marked by freedom from all forms of discrimination and full realization of the potential of each and every woman and girl. Forever We Rise! On this International Women’s Day, let us stand united in a transformative movement towards a future of full gender equality. Issued on the Occasion of International Women’s Day, 8 March 2021, by the International Gender Champions Global Forum.
