WHY MAKING A CONFUSETION OVER INTERNATIONAL WOMEN DAYS?

WHY MAKING A CONFUSETION OVER INTERNATIONAL WOMEN DAYS?


The eight day of March every year is celebrated as International Women's Day all over the world; the day is celebrated in order to pay tribute to the indomitable spirit of each and every woman across the globe that has and is contributing to make this world a better place to live in. And with women continuously struggling to win battles of balancing and maintaining their professional and personal responsibilities in their daily lives, how can a mere day's celebration justify the true spirit of womanhood?


At a time when cases of rape, dowry deaths, female foeticide and women illiteracy are burgeoning, what do women need - a glorified Women’s Day or something that can better their overall position in the society? Today celebrating International Women’s Day has become more of a commercial event where so-called women activists and feminists organize seminars and deliver long speeches that do no good to the society in general and fairer sex in particular.

Candidly, I do not think there should be a particular day for women to celebrate their womanhood and Indians still have not realized the importance of the day. I believe every day should be a women’s day. The day might bring our focus on the issues women faced but men hardly appreciate the significance of women. If we look at the entire Indian society, majority of women are still living in darkness or humiliation in almost all areas. For some, the International Women’s Day events are a necessity; for others it is a survival.

Few steps can make the difference; men must learn to respect women. They need to respect them, trust them, be compassionate and understanding, never take them for-granted, consider their advice, never break communication for an unreasonable length of time and last but not the least the society must prevent societal preference towards males’

Women’s Day is to celebrate the freedom and respect that women deserve in the society but in the current scenario women are highly unsafe and bonded by restrictions so there is no point celebrating the day. Every day would be women’s day if all the issues regarding their safety and security are resolved and they are allowed to live life on their own terms and conditions.


Despite progressing and marching ahead professionally, women most of the time have to suffer burns in their personal lives, the reason being that we still live in a society where male counterpart is yet to accept that women are equal to them in every way, be it social or economical. Why can’t men just keep their ego aside and consider women as a helping hand in shaping up a better tomorrow.


Why can’t the society think big and progressive? Even today after much of “so called” advancement people have the same set of thoughts, till date people believe in taking and giving dowry. Every year we get to know about the divorce, harassment and dowry deaths.
Are we women such an inferior class that our parents need to pay a price in order to get us married? As long as such norms of the society exist, celebrating International Women's Day makes no sense.



A lot of talk gets made about so-called “mean girls” in the workplace – women who disparage other women, women who gossip, women who hold one another back. Workplace bullying is a problem, but the “mean girl” stereotype just doesn’t hold true for the majority of women. Based on a number of study in 2009, only 30% of women in the US have been bullied by other women at work.


The “mean girl” stereotype is unfairly giving women a bad reputation, and it’s drawing away our power to advance.
In the same vein, we don’t hear enough about the women who have helped us every day throughout our careers, women who have taken a chance on us, and women who have given us a hand up the ladder.


Empowering women means supporting one another on an individual level and on the large scale. And we do – we just don’t talk about it enough. Let’s advocate loudly for how women are working together to get to the next level and create a new model for women helping women.


Part of my hesitation could be boiled down into a little package of “Every day should be International Women’s Day!”.I write thousands of words every week about women, and so do plenty of other people, not to mention the activists, politicians, caregivers, social workers, creative workers, health-care providers, lobbyists, engineers, educators, parents, and laborers of all stripes who devote their work partially or wholly to the needs of women. Is our work supposed to matter more today than it did yesterday? Are more people going to be paying attention because—hey, didn’t you know, today is women’s day!


Of course, that’s also a limited mind-set. Today isn’t Women’s Day; it’s International Women’s Day. And while I pay attention to international women’s issues, the fact is I’m a product of an arrogant, powerful country that thinks it matters more than other nations. I try not to fall into that mind-set but I admit I have a hard time conceptualizing how international movements and events like this play out in other countries. The United States doesn’t seem to do much for International Women’s Day, and I don’t know how it really plays out elsewhere. I have no idea if it’s treated like Mother’s Day is here in ways that go beyond the bouquets, with that underlying sentiment of “Thanks for doing the majority of household work for the other 364 days of the year, Ma,” or if it’s something that actually helps increase women’s visibility and educates the public about women’s issues.


I suppose I find International Women’s Day simply confusing. I don’t want to sit in my western world ivory tower and proclaim the entire affair a pony show, and I also recognize that most people don’t operate in the feminine sphere as heavily as I do and could use a prompt to get them to think about women’s issues.


I want to like International Women’s Day, I really do. So…convince me. I don’t want to be a curmudgeon, I’m not as knowledgeable about international women’s issues as I should be, and I certainly don’t want to pull some Independent Women’s Forum shit and say that women have made enough gains that we don’t need events like this any longer. Do you celebrate or otherwise mark International Women’s Day? If so, why, and how?

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
PROFESSORS’S COLONY,
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