Every day SHOULD be Women’s day, but the sad truth is that it isn’t, and what’s even sadder is that the one day given to us by the world kind of passes away like any other day. It shouldn’t be this way. Celebrate who you are and what you mean to this world! Women are beautiful, intelligent, strong, compassionate, passionate, nurturing, incredible organisms, and we forget about everything we do and everything we are all too quickly!
http://www.internationalwomensday.com/global/
At the same time, it is all too clear to each one of the women who can afford to celebrate this one day, that we are in the minority. Around the world, women are being abused, assaulted, raped, subjugated, oppressed, tortured, tossed aside, ignored, made invisible. Young girls in Afghanistan are slowly returning to their blue ghostly shrouds. Women in Venezuala are screaming for help against domestic violence and receiving nothing in return. A nine year old rape victim and her mother in Brazil have been excommunicated from the church for abortion, while the perpetrator received no such retribution. Inequal pay and benefits continue to be a reality in North America. For young women in India, a drink in a public place can become a courageous act of rebellion, after the public abuse of conservative groups last month. In Darfur and Congo, women are being raped multiple times and left to die, the prime victim of the genocide. The cases go on and on, splashing our newspapers and televisions each day for only a brief moment after which these women…their names, their faces and their stories will disappear. Their stories, just like the small stories each of us have from our daily lives, become insignificant after a day, a week, maybe a month.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/violence-against-women/stop-violence-against-women-svaw/page.do?id=1108417
And so, it becomes even more important for us to celebrate this day. To shout it out from the rooftops, to make a fuss, to make our claim on this day. Because, after all, we are blessed: we can. And we must celebrate for all of those women who cannot, whose beauty, strength, intelligence are being taken away in a brutal, violent, unfair manner, who are never allowed to explore their potential, and for whom their identity as a woman is a terrible, painful, dirty burden rather than something to be cherished. And, we must celebrate for the women who paved the way, who had the courage and the audacity to lead the way and allow for us to stand where we stand today.
As we continue with our busy lives today and tomorrow and the day after…maybe we can take a moment to admire ourselves and our accomplishments. And maybe the next time we face discrimination, unfair practices, and inappropriate behavior because of our gender, we’ll fight a little bit harder, take it a little bit farther, do a little bit more, stand a little bit taller. Because while we can do little for all those women whose human rights have been denied across the world, we can continue to fight with courage and tenacity for what we know is our right. And with those small struggles and battles, we will have created change.
I wish you with a quote…
The history of all times, and of today especially, teaches that…women will be forgotten if they forget to think about themselves. (Louise Otto)
…and a satirical video that is both hilarious and frightening to me. Hilarious because it parodies harshly a world where women must ‘know their limits.’ Frightening, because I know that this world still exists, and this kind of thinking still predominates our society.
