International Women’s Day
Posted by Terra on 3.8.07 at 3:53 pm
It’s International Women’s Day…
What does this mean to you? Is today just another day…?
“International Women’s Day (March 8th) is an occasion marked by women’s groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development…”
What are your thoughts on this?
*Terramia*? ?
Tags: Blogs
3.8.07 at 8:55 pm
B comments:
Umm, I respect that in other places in the world still face a big inequality, and in some aspects i suppose we here in Canada have a few glitches still, but should not every be Women’s day… or Man’s day or, Love day, or Peace day or whatever cause one gives a day to.
i know we all lead busy lives and often over look the things we so easily take for granted, but shouldn’t we always be our best and promote our best, and even if we fail sometimes, at least stand up and recognize that in ourselves and promise to do better next time?
i’m sorry but i am sorta anti-”holiday” stuff. like next week is wear your green, gheesh, it never ends. i feel like Elaine on Seinfeld where she decides she no longer wants to do the “cake” thing at work. we over celebrate so much.
3.9.07 at 6:57 am
crunchy comments:
B….I sorta agree with you..I think sometimes that the special days can actually help create MORE of separation and segregation instead of bringing people together.
I also don’t know how you help Everyone……
3.9.07 at 9:14 am
Claudia comments:
I didn’t even know about it…so I guess that tellsyou what I think lol. Actually the sentiment is nice, but I have other things to think about too.
3.10.07 at 8:18 pm
Heather comments:
I heard it mentioned a few times, but really it meant very little to me.
Life is so busy, I tend to forget others may not be, or have not been, as fortunate as we are here, today, in the lower mainland … thanks for the reminder
3.12.07 at 12:33 am
Terra comments:
The reason I brought this up is that this day always turns out to be a big hoopla here in Vic town… mostly at UVic, my alma mater. It reminds me of how much Victoria really is a uni town!
Now, shouldn’t woman be spelled with a ‘y’ as in womyn?
Just kiddin’! (;
3.13.07 at 11:50 pm
Irene comments:
International Women’s Day has its roots in a garment workers’ strike in New York in 1857, where women demanded improved working conditions, a ten hour day, and equal rights. Later strikes demanded the vote and an end to sweatshops and child labor. The strikes were brutally repressed.
Here’s the sad truth. While we may think things have come a long way, Canadian citizens are involved in the trafficking of foreign women and children for sexual abuse. Then there’s the situation of Aboriginal women in this country, which the UN has condemned as deplorable. The reality of this is one of the reasons that so many women in the Downtown Eastside were murdered while the police department and the entire city of Vancouver closed its eyes.
Nope - we have a long way still to do.
Through-out the world, women continue to be:
POOR: the majority of the world’s 1.3 billion absolute poor are women.
ILLITERATE: three-quarters of the worlds 960 million illiterates are women
EARN LESS: on average, women receive between 30 and 40 per cent less pay than men earn for the same work.
SUFFER VIOLENCE: rape and domestic violence are listed as significant causes of disability and death among women of reproductive age world-wide.
At the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, representatives of 189 countries unanimously agreed that inequalities between women and men persist and major obstacles remain, with serious consequences for the well-being of all people.
We have a long way still to go - but everyone, men, women, and children, we will all benefit by making that journey. International Women’s Day is a reminder that we desperately need to make the effort.