Celebrate Women – today and everyday! (Right girlfriends?!)

Today, March 8th, marks ‘International Women’s Day.’ Actually it was first officially recognized around 1911 so it’s the 100 year anniversary of this day designated to recognize the economic, political and social achievements of women.

Per International Women’s Day (IWD) is now an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia. The tradition sees men honoring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother’s Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.

The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that ‘all the battles have been won for women’ while many feminists from the 1970’s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women’s visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.

But here’s what struck me about International Women’s Day … it’s awesome, right? Recognizing and celebrating the achievements of women – internationally. Per the official IWD website, there are 463 events celebrating IWD in the U.K. – from races to art exhibits, workshops to plays. Next in line for number of IWD events, at a distant second place is Canada with 260 events – including plays, conferences and  “conversations to engage women in dynamic seminars to ignite and spread actions of peace, possibility and prosperity.”

Third place, which seems disappointing for me, are events celebrating IWD in the U.S. – only 244 (and barely ahead of 4th place Australia with 233 events celebrating IWD). American’s are celebrating with similar events – from webinars to brunches, TV shows to field trips.

If not for International Women’s Day, how and when do we celebrate the women who have, do and will make the planet better for everyone – male and female?

How International Women’s Day is celebrated in Russia:

Tags: celebrate women, International Womens Day, women's history month, womens day

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 8th, 2011 at 11:27 am and is filed under Be a Better FRIEND. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.