Woman – the pride of society. The word women bring about the figure of love and hope. A world without women is as bland as bread without salt. For decades women are dealing with the crisis of male dominating societies. Unfortunately, they are fighting for basic and legitimate rights. Having freedom and equality is the priority. International women’s day is celebrated on the 8th of March every year across the whole world. In my countries, it is considered as a holiday such as Ukraine, China, Russia, and Nepal. Twenty-seven countries across the whole world declared the official holiday. This day is all about appreciating the success of women in every sphere of life. Apart from success, it’s about showing respect and love to important women in our lives.
Evolution of women’s day over the time:
In 1908, almost 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding equality, reasonable working hours, and the right to vote. In 1909 the Social Democratic party proposed the idea of international women’s day. After two years first women’s day was held people from countries like Denmark, Germany and Austria took apart. In 1917, women in Russia did a strike which leads them to have a right to vote in the election. It was the 23rd of February, According to the Julian calendar used in Russia but in the Georgian calendar, it was the 8th of March. In 1975, the United nation celebrated the official Women’s day.
Symbolism for Women’s Day:
In 1996 they celebrated women’s day with a theme “Celebrating the Past, Planning for the future”. Every year there is an official theme for the day. In 2021 the theme was “choose to challenge”. This year 110th of International Women’s Day was celebrated. The symbol for this day is a looping circle in the shape of an arrow with a female gender sign in it. Three colors are associated which are purple, green, and white. Purple represents justice; green represents hope and white represents purity.
Progressive movement for women:
In many countries, men think women are just meant for house chores only and they are not given much authority and opportunities to move further. There was an era when women were hated to the extent that it was considered more prestigious to give birth to a boy rather than a daughter. Time progressed, things changed but what did not change was the perspective of people towards the standing of women. Women were not allowed to go out, their inventions were stolen by men, male artists were getting paid a lot than women for the same thing and they had no say in politics. However, at last, after many struggles, women won their right to vote and a beautiful era started. Women of today are struggling but there is hope that their struggles will be eliminated. Women can now do jobs, be independent and get an education along with enjoying their rights but that applies to a handful of women. The rest of them still struggle to fight free from the chains of patriarchy and cruelty. This all happened because of countless marches on international women’s day.
Concept of feminism related to women’s day:
The concept of feminism comes in handy when we talk about women’s day. In our society Evils like marital rapes, harassment forced marriages, honor killings and so many more were never considered offensive and somehow kept going for years without people acknowledging it as bad. It was important for women to come and not only fight for their rights but also can say “No” when they want to. In 2017, a hashtag called me too made a huge impact on social media where many women came forward and told their experience of sexual harassment.
Festivities of Women’s day:
In many countries, women’s day is celebrated ceremoniously. On this day a male must give small gifts or flowers to women in their life. In Italy and Ukraine, yellow mimosa is a sign of this day. In China, it is celebrated by giving a half-day off at their jobs. In Nepal, it is only women’s day off. In the USA many marches happen on that day for the rights of women. In Pakistan, many marches under the name of “Aurat March” happens every year.
These marches for the rights of women are a necessity in a society where men think they are better. These marches give us hope that one day there will exist a society where it would not be gender but simply about a better society. Women will get to have their rights. There will be equality for all and no one will be considered any less. Standing up against misogynists is not an option, it’s a priority.
By Zonish Masood, Layyah, Pakistan
