International Women's Day 2017

"It's International Women's Day 2017 and yet, we're at a time in the modern era when the 'Leader of the Free World', plus his overall administration and his party, are enacting policies that are harming women and restricting their freedoms. And this mess comes after perhaps the most qualified person to ever run to for US president - a woman - was defeated in favor of someone who continues to prove that he is grossly unsuitable for the role.

I'd hoped by now that women would have made further advancements in equality, not being forced to defend the progress that they have already achieved."

International Women's Day 2016

For International Women's Day 2016, I'd like to share this interesting piece from The Huffington Post:
 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/03/08/questions-men-women-get-asked-jameela-jamil-paloma-faith_n_9398644.html

In a nutshell, the women interviewed in the article are asked questions that men often received in interviews. Many women despair at being asked about their clothes or looks whereas men are often asked about their interests and/or background. I think it's a worthwhile read.

International Women's Day 2015

These are my thoughts for my 2015 post on International Women's Day:

"At first, I was concerned when I started seeing International Women's Day being used as a greeting (i.e. introducing it with the word "happy", like when people say "Happy International Talk like a Pirate Day"). I thought this type of recognition was trivialising this day and its significance.

I thought about it some more and while I still hold those concerns to a degree, at the same time, spreading knowledge about the day is a positive action, provided that the meaning and message behind it is not lost. Plus, increasing equality is something to be happy about."

I don't want International Women's Day to become reduced to a mere greeting unless, of course, that only happens when women are truly equal and there's zero danger of society backsliding into past treatments of women. Sadly, that day is still a long way off.

International Women's Day 2014

Today is International Women's Day. On most normal days, I usually come across or notice multiple articles about women's issues but surprisingly, I've seen very few of them today. I have, however, seen several people wish "Happy International Women's Day" to others.

This is all very well, but International Women's Day exists to recognise the progress of women's rights and women's achievements, and to raise awareness about women's issues and how we can solve them. While I am glad to see people mention the day and cause others to notice it, I'm not overly keen on randomly greeting people with it, as I feel it trivialises its importance and reduces it to the level of people wishing one another a Happy Halloween.

International Women's Day is also meant to be a celebration of women, but it's not meant to be a day when we say "Yay, women!" and then go back to sleep. There are 364 (sometimes 365) other days of the year in which we have to continue to advance women's rights and stop certain people and groups from reversing all the gains women have made in the past century. Again, I'm glad to see people mention the day and help raise its awareness, but don't leave it at that.

As for me, my family and I had a discussion about International Women's Day at the dinner table this evening. This is significant because it's the first time I can recall us ever talking about it; unfortunately, on past 8ths of March (and other days, sadly) the subject did not come up in conversation, although to be fair, we weren't even aware it existed until about the past three years, so yes, the awareness efforts do need to continue. I'm glad that we talked about it this year.

Regardless, I hope that you have had a Happy International Women's Day and have contributed somehow - even in a tiny manner - to improving women's lives.