This month will see people all over the world coming together to celebrate International Women’s Day. But why is it so important that we celebrate women? “Why not have an ‘International Men’s Day’ as well?” Some might ask. The reason it’s so critical that we celebrate International Women’s Day is because we’ve come incredibly far when it comes to securing women’s rights around the world and this level of achievement deserves to be recognised.
This is a day to pause and remember how far we have come since the first International Women’s Day over 100 years ago, when women had the right to vote in only two countries and women were all too often denied the right to an education and a career. The day also acts as a very important reminder that we still have a long way to go when it comes to expanding women’s rights across the world. It’s important that we use this day to remember the many women whose voices continue to go unheard.
Right here in the UK, there are still a great deal of barriers and injustices which women face. Women are still being underpaid in comparison to their male counterparts and when it comes to career progression, women face a lot more barrier than men. From the boardroom to the House of Commons, female faces are few and far between. Even in developed countries like the UK, women still hold vastly less power and influence than men in our society. On top of this, women have to contend with a much higher risk of sexual harassment and assault and are continual subjected to sexual objectification. Yet in comparison to some areas of the world, the situation for women in the UK is one that women can only dream of.
Many of the rights that we in the UK take for granted, women in other countries only dream about having. One of the cruellest injustices that women face happens in India and China. Before many young girls even have the chance to see the world around them, they are killed simply for being a girl. In India, most parents want to have a son so that they can avoid paying that expensive dowry when their daughter gets married. While in China, an over populated country led to the enactment of the one-child policy and when families have to decide which one gender they want, they usually opt for a boy.
For some women around the world, they are still being denied an education. In Afghanistan, many young girls aren’t even allowed the right to go to school. In the 1990s, the Taliban banned girls from getting any form of education and now less than 5%of girls are even enrolled in school. Of that small percentage, many of them are pulled out of school early and are never allowed to pursue basic education. A divorce can also be extremely hard to come by in some parts of the world.
In Egypt, women were only recently granted the right to initiate a divorce, and politicians are already fighting to overturn that decision. Even now, a woman’s right to divorce doesn’t really give her much of an option to leave her husband because she is required to pay back that expensive dowry. It is literally a case of not being able to afford to get a divorce for most women.
Another fact which is particularly alarming is that there are some countries around the world which, to this very day, still deny women the right to vote.
International Women’s day is so important because all across the world women are being treated as if they are less than men, when in reality we need to be treated as equals. The fight has to be ongoing. Only then will we see a world where women have the right to divorce, drive, education, equal pay, and to even be born in every country across the globe. We must continue to support any and all initiatives which expand the rights and opportunities for women around the globe. In many areas of the world, women around the world are still struggling to be treated fairly and humanely.
Whilst celebrating International Women’s Day is by no means a fix-all solution to the deeply rooted problems around gender inequality, by giving women’s rights international recognised, it sends a signal that as a global community we acknowledge the struggle for gender equality and if nothing else, start the conversation about the struggles of women around the world.
By Alice Smart