International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day, the 8th of March is a day celebrated worldwide to recognize the achievements and accomplishments of the fairer gender.

Was there really a necessity for such a day? Well, I wasn’t born during the humble makings of history but am sure anything historical is always chronicled.

History had witnessed the woes of women: women who fought for their rights; women who fought the unwarranted discrimination of gender; women who asked for a berth and esteem of their own and women who wanted to be economically independent.

What made the woman step out of the threshold of her home? She might have evolved to take the share of responsibilities of a home and that’s how she ventured out. It could have been out of dire necessity or a deep desire to prove her mettle.

A woman symbolizes Prakriti (nature) and nature cannot be suppressed; it only can be tamed, but, how long? Decades of tolerance and getting tamed seemingly bore heavy on the woman and she decided to call it a day.

But who helped her? Obviously without a second thought, “a man” .Yes, it was men who oppressed the woman and it was men who helped her step out , see the world, know herself, her strengths ,take a breath of fresh air and carve a new life. In fact, this day is an ode to all the men who supported the fairer gender, loved her, understood her, allowed her to dream and respected her existence. And so the spirit of the woman soared high and said, ‘I exist, therefore I am..’ .

The Genesis of International Women’s Day (IWD)

Year 1908 saw the ’Bread and Roses‘ rally by thousands of women garment workers in NYC protesting against inhumane working conditions and low wages. They demanded shorter working hours, better wages and voting rights. It was on the 28th of Feb(last Sunday of the month),1909 that the first National Women’s’ day was granted to be celebrated in honour of the women workers who protested in 1908 by the Socialist Party of America.

At a meeting held at Copenhagen in 1910, attended by representatives of 17 countries, a lady German Official named Clara Zetkin came out with the proposal of a day in the calendar which every country would celebrate as Women’s’ Day . In 1911, Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland honored IWD on 19th March. More than five lacs of men and women attended IWD rallies and campaigned for women’s’ rights to vote and hold public office. But a tragic fire event which claimed the lives of 140 women garment workers in NYC because of lack of safety measures shifted the focus back to working conditions of women at later IWD events.

Years 1913-1914 saw peaceful protests against World War-I by Russian women, as part of their first IWD celebration on the last Sunday of February. In 1917, Russian women began a strike ‘Bread and Peace’ in light of the death of thousands of Russian soldiers in World War-I. The women remained unfazed in spite of opposition from political leaders and all attempts to disburse the women went in vain. Finally after four days of relentless strike, the Czar was forced to give up and women were granted promise of a better economic condition and the right to vote. This was a historical achievement. The day the strike commenced was Sunday, the 23rd of February as per Julian Calendar but this day elsewhere as per Gregorian Calendar was the 8th of March and thus 8th of March became the day of women.

The United Nations officially declared 8th of March as International Women’s Day in 1975. Interestingly, 2011 marks the centenaryof IWD celebrations since 1911.The UN theme for this year is “Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women”.

Hope the small good that comes out of such celebrations will make great changes in the future where a girl can feel secured about her future and a woman will feel empowered and emancipated to take her life in control and say, ’I exist , therefore , I am..’. And so the world and mankind will enjoy the fruits of an educated - mother, sister, friend, girlfriend and wife…

Happy Women’s Day !!