On March 8th, we celebrate International Women’s Day. It’s a very important date, because, as women, we receive much more attention to our cause. And yes, being a woman is fighting for a cause. For years, we have been suffering oppression, abuse and muting by patriarchy. It took a very long way for us to reach some basic rights, like political participation, but even so, we keep fighting.
Here in Brazil, we have some things related to this celebration. First, it can be seen as a marketing scheme, because many stores promote discounts on presents for women. As if gaining a gift would solve all of our gender problems. Of course, we would like to receive flowers and chocolate, but it’s not enough and that’s the point of the date. This is also a way of patriarchy to maintain the system, making us believe that we deserve only material gifts for all our participation in society. No, we want more.
Some feminist groups calls March 8th as “International Women’s Fight Day”. This has a lot of significance. The date was created because of a manifestation in a cloth factory, which took place in New York, in 1857. Women who worked there got together to ask for better work conditions, same salary as men and a worthy treatment inside job market. As a response, they were brutally reproved, locked inside the factory and burned to death. In 1975, the United Nations officiated the date, in honor of what happened back in 1857.
Let’s think about those women in the factory. Would they want to receive flowers? Or would they be happy with our recognition in society nowadays? I don’t think so. We have to admit that were many advances, but women are still behind men in terms of importance, voice and relevance. We love to be women. All the feelings and exclusive experiences we can have through life are amazing and unique. However, we don’t have a simple thing: choice. We are expected to have children, take care of the family and always be there for our partner, but that’s not how it goes. Not anymore.
We have to keep fighting to make sure our rights will be assured. We Brazilians are familiar with the small abuses of daily life, as compliments on the street of complete strangers, a constant fear of walking around alone at night and being forced to do things we don’t want to, or being judged as losing our ‘values’ for nothing.
To question all these stuff and help each other, Cásper Líbero has Frente Feminista Casperiana Lisandra, an amazing group that reunites every week to debate some important topic about feminism and empowerment. Every year, they organize a poster workshop and then go together to the protests of March 8th, that happens at Paulista Avenue, near college.
They also organize the Women and Media Week, an event to reflect our representation, space and voice as communicators, what we are studying to become. This year, it will happen from March 15 to March 17, with great invitations to amazing debates. Talking to Amanda Cavalcanti, action member of Lisandra, she explained how the date was appropriated in Brazil. There are feminist groups from political parties, and even though they have different ideologies, women get together on the same fight.
The date is crucial to reflect about our space in society. Lisandra is also making a project called “Know this communicator”. There are some posters around Casper with pictures and a short text about women that work in media. Although most journalists are women, in the end people remember what a man did, or said. So March 8th can be about flowers and congratulations, but it has to be more than this. It has to be about empowerment.