I’m ashamed to say that I completely forgot that today is International Women’s Day. There was a time when I was on top of these important days/events. I’m grateful to my son for reminding me this morning. He came into the kitchen and wished me a “Happy International Women’s Day”. I was surprised that he knew about it and asked him if his teacher had mentioned it. He told me that he saw it on the computer.
This year’s theme is BalanceforBetter which is a call to action for driving gender balance across the world. Women have come a long way but we still have some distance to go. The best way to achieve greater gender equality is through challenging bias and celebrating women’s achievements. According to International Women’s Day website, “the race is on for the gender-balanced boardroom, a gender-balanced government, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance of employees, more gender-balance in wealth, gender-balanced sports coverage.”
International Women’s Day isn’t just a day for celebration but a call to action for women and men to push for complete gender equality because “gender balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive”. Gender equality benefits everyone.
A balanced world is a better world. How can you help forge a more gender-balanced world? Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality – International Women’s Day
I learned today that March is Women’s History Month and it is a celebration of women’s contributions to society. Before Women’s History Month, there was Women’s History Week, the birth child of the school district of Sonoma, California which participated in Women’s History Week, an event designed around the week of March 8 (International Women’s Day). From 1978 to 1979, the idea to secure a National Women’s History Week lay incubated until February 1980 when it was born, thanks to President Jimmy Carter who issued a presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8, 1980, as National Women’s History Week.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the law which was passed making March Women’s History Month in the United States. This year’s theme is “Nevertheless, She Persisted: Honoring Women Who Fight All Forms of Discrimination against Women.” What a great theme. Like warriors facing bitter battles with ferocious armies, women face societies, communities, institutions and governments that would deny them their rights. Nevertheless, like phoenix rising from the ashes, women all around world are rising up, joining together and fighting for what they believe in. Their voices are raised in unison, refusing to be silenced, in spite of the draw backs they face. Silence is not golden. Using one’s voice to be heard is golden.
Throughout history, women have had dreams, hopes, plans and visions which they had to fight hard to realize. No amount of discouragement, obstacles, nay-saying, discrimination or opposition could quell those dreams, hopes, plans, visions which had taken shape. Women clung to their faith that one day they would be able to vote, own businesses, own homes, land, get an education, work in jobs and play in sports that were predominantly male oriented. They had to have the courage and the faith to step out, speak up and conquer a world that had long denied them and still does in some cultures, equality, recognition for their accomplishments and basic human rights.
However, despite the strides women have made in their fight for human rights, they still face mountains like human trafficking, modern slavery which target young girls, child marriage, FGM, access to safe water, realizing their self worth and potential in societies which favor boys over girls, pay equity, access to safe water and quality education. Just this month, the organization, Freedom United is calling for action for the following campaigns:
The fight to end modern slavery today in order to help girls like Phoebe, forced into the commercial sex trade at just 15 years old. Women and girls make up 71% of all modern slavery victims.
These girls should be in school getting quality education so that they would have a bright future. Sex should not something that they engage in until they are adults and married. Sex came from God was never meant to be exploited or forced on anyone. It was meant to be a physical and emotional expression of a husband’s and wife’s love for each other.
Momentum is growing to repeal laws that enable convicted rapists to marry their victims to avoid punishment. As well as the horrors endured by victims, this law means many women and girls where these laws exist are then forced into marriage against their will.
Marriage was meant to be between a man and a woman not a man and a child. And any law which allows a rapist to marry his victim to escape justice, should be done away with. It is a disgrace to human decency and dignity and it violates the victim’s rights. Marriage is a holy institution and is meant to be entered into with the consent of both the man and the woman.
Three-quarters of girls in Niger are married before they are adults. Child marriage often amounts to slavery, for example, when girls have not given their free and full consent, are subjected to control, exploited and unable to leave, so outlawing it is an important step towards protecting Niger children.
Imagine you have a young daughter and that a Nigerian girl her age is being married off to an older man. At the age of twenty, Fati Yahaya has been married twice, divorced once, suffered a postpartum hemorrhage after giving birth to her first child. I didn’t have a child until I was 41 years old! It’s so hard to fathom a young girl going through two marriages, one divorce and suffering excessive blessing following the birth of her first child. I don’t know how many children she had afterwards or if she suffered any more hemorrhages. And I can’t imagine giving my consent to have my daughter marry at the age of consent which is 15 or even younger when she should be in school. I can’t imagine subjecting her to a life of “abuse and unrealized potential”.
The last place you should expect to find a child is in a brothel; yet for 17-year-old Phoebe from Kenya, this is her life.
Phoebe comes from a poor family. When she dropped out of school, she went in search of a better life – instead she has been forced to have group sex with tourists for no money.
Reports indicate that more than 50,000 children are involved in different forms of commercial sexual exploitation. It is most common along the Kenyan Coast where the majority of tourism activities take place – in fact sex offenders travel to Kenya for this very reason: to prey on these vulnerable victims.
It’s sad that Phoebe had to dropped out of school and instead of finding a better life, she found herself plunged into a world of sexual exploitation. A brothel is no place for anyone, especially children. Sex offenders who travel to prey on young girls should be prosecuted and the brothels should be put out of business. Basically, the Kenyan government needs to do something. They need to protect the vulnerable.
Women and girls leave their homes every day to find jobs as domestic workers in the cities of your country.
But when they show up for their first day of work, some find out they’ve been deceived. Locked inside the homes of strangers — no contact with their families, and often beaten and sexually abused — they are caught in the nightmare of modern slavery.
What a nightmare it must be for women and children to go to what they believe is a job which will help their families only to be faced with brutality and sexual abuse. They are cut off from their families and forced into a modern slavery. People are not property and slavery should not have any place in our society. There need to be tougher rules for domestic workers and anyone caught exploiting their rights should be imprisoned. It’s time to get tough on those who exploit others.
Women’s History month is not only a celebration of the difference women have made in their communities but it is also a reminder that we still have a long way to go and that raising awareness is key. When I shared these stories with my husband, he commented that there is a whole different world out there that we are not aware of. And he’s right. If it weren’t for organizations like Freedom United, Equality Now and many others we would have no idea of the realities that many women and girls are facing.
Today is International Women’s Day and this year’s theme is Press for Progress. The event is celebrated every year on March 8 to commemorates the movement for women’s rights.
This morning I learned a very interesting fact which was that the earliest Women’s Day observance, called “National Woman’s Day,” was held on February 28, 1909 in New York. It was organized by the Socialist Party of America at the suggestion of Theresa Malkiel. An American labor activist, suffragist, and educator, Theresa was a woman of progress, as she made history as the first woman to rise from factory work to leadership in the Socialist party. She was a Jewish woman and refugee who fled anti-Semitic violence in Russia. Eighteen years later, she founded Women’s Day, the forerunner of International Women’s Day. Read more about her story here.
The woman behind International Women’s Day
Why is International Women’s Day celebrated on March 8? After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8 became a national holiday there. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949 the State Council proclaimed on December 23 that March 8 would be made an official holiday with women in China given a half-day off. The United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day in the International Women’s Year, 1975. Two years later, in 1977, the United Nations General Assembly invited member states to proclaim March 8 as the UN Day for women’s rights and world peace.
What is the purpose for IWD? According to an article in the Mirror, the aim was for women to have equal pay. It’s still an issue so the day is still being held every year.
Women earn 14% less than men in the UK. Last year the #MeToo campaign also grew in momentum, after women started to speak out about sexual harassment.
The women who spoke out are known as The Silence Breakers and they were named Time’s Person of the Year.
International Women’s Day is an official holiday in many countries including 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.
Originally the colors used for International Women’s Day were purple for symbolizing women, green for hope and white for purity. White is no longer used because of purity being a controversial concept. Yellow was introduced symbolizing a “new dawn”. So, now green is for traditional feminism and purple with yellow represent contemporary feminism.
Today, women were on center stage and the world watched as they protested and celebrated. And in Canada, a family, Canadians and people of color celebrated as the ten dollar bill featuring Viola Desmond, the first black woman was unveiled today.
Viola Desmond was a Canadian black woman from the province of Nova Scotia who challenged racial segregation at a movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia in 1946 when she refused to leave a whites only area and was convicted of a minor tax violation for the one cent tax difference between the seat she paid for and the seat she used. Her case is one of the most publicized incidents of racial discrimination in Canadian history and helped start the modern civil rights movement in Canada. She has been compared to Rosa Parks as both women, uncompromising in their stance against racism gave rise to the Civil Rights Movement.
Progress has been made in the fight for women’s rights but we still have a long way to go. In the mean time, let’s women around the world continue to raise their voices in order to be heard and to “bring attention to the most critical issues facing our communities, and our world at large” (Rep. Jeannie McDaniel).
Imagine hearing the words, “You should have been a boy”! Imagine being shunned your entire life because you were born a girl. Well, this is what happened to Ruth. Watch her incredible story.
Visit Veil of Tears website to find out how you can get involved in International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8. Encourage your friends to check out the Veil of Tears movie at www.veiloftearsmovie.com
Read A Baby Girl is Nothing to Celebrate the incredible and heart-breaking story of a woman who couldn’t celebrate the birth of her child after years of infertility because the child turned out to be a girl instead of a boy…
Check out Gospel for Asia and see what you can do to make a difference in the lives of girls like Ruth who are made to feel like they are nothing or worthless or shunned simply because they are girls. You can help Gospel For Asia in their ongoing mission to bring hope and the news of Jesus’ love each day through their work and ministry to the countless millions of women in Asia.
This International Women’s Day, celebrate girls. Celebrate the birth of your daughter. Give God thanks for blessing you with her. Celebrate her life. A baby girl is everything to celebrate.
Sunday, March 8, 2015 is International Women’s Day. Gospel of Asia Canada is celebrating this day in South Asia by:
Giving new saris to widows
Encouraging women by sharing stories of women found in the Bible
Distributing food and blankets to poor children and families in the slums
Visiting women in prison and encouraging prostitutes with Christ’s love
Meeting the basic needs of some of the poorest women in society
I encourage you to watch a clip of the movie, “Veil of Tears” about a woman named Suhkwinder who almost committed suicide because her children were born girls. As you watch the clip and celebrate International Women’s Day, find out how you can help to change the life of a woman just like Suhkwinder’s.
In a society where boy babies are preferred, the worst words a parent could hear are, “It’s a girl”.
In India girls are unwanted. I read in an article that came out a couple of years ago that a three month old girl died from cardiac arrest at a state-run hospital in Bangalore after battling for life for three days. Her father had battered her because he wanted a son. Little Neha Afreen sustained head injuries, abrasions and bite marks all over her body. This caused public outrage which led to her father’s arrest. Her mother said, “My husband was enraged with me for delivering a girl, He hated her. He wanted me to get rid of the child or abandon her as he wanted a son.”
Sadly, there are several horror stories of baby girls who have been abandoned, tortured or killed because they were unwanted. We live in a world where there is gender bias. As a Christian this is very hard for me to accept. God created both man and woman in His image. Little girls are as precious in His sight as little boys. And if society keeps killing the baby girls, how will they have the boys they want so much? And what about the boys when they grow up and want to get married and there is a shortage of women? Many of them will have to go elsewhere to find wives. In Asia, baby girls are tossed aside as if they are garbage and women are raped.
There is the documentary, India’s Daughter, the story of the gang rape and murder of a young woman which shocked the world and sparked riots and protests all over India. Grieving parents and one of the rapists tell the story of the night six men brutally assaulted 23 year old medical student, Jyoti Singh while driving around Delhi, India’s Capital, in a bus. Women should have the right to feel safe in their own communities. In Canada, you can watch India’s Daughter on March 8 on CBC or online for 30 days after broadcast.
I know of some fathers who have daughters and adore them. In fact, they want daughters. God bless these men. Jyoti’s parents were happy to have her. She had dreams like everyone else. One night, her dreams and life were brutally taken away from her.
On March 8, let us celebrate our mothers, grandmothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces, friends, teachers, etc. Let us celebrate women and reflect on the marvelous contributions they have made and will make to our society. Each life matters. Girls matter. I pray that one day, the words, “It’s a girl” will be met with joy and acceptance. Until then, let each of us who has a little girl of our own, encourage her to stand up and say, “I am a girl and I matter.”
