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Today, we as women should be proud to be, well, women. Why, you ask? Because today is International Women’s Day! March 8th in history has been celebrated as a day where women have been commended and revered for their achievements in social, economical and political venues and circumstances.
The holiday, which has remained a secret to many people in certain areas of the globe, has been celebrated since the early 1900’s and was initially implemented as a Socialist political movement to continue the fight for women’s equal rights in society.
In today’s society, however, International Women’s Day means a little bit more than celebrating women’s advancements in a public arena; the International Committee of the Red Cross is taking matters into their own hands and are using the day to spread awareness about the tragedies and hardships women endure who are “displaced” by wartime conflicts. It’s widely known that women who are displaced by conflicts and shifts in socio-economic trends are often more likely to be sexually assaulted and poverty.
However, Women’s Day is not yet celebrated worldwide. The only current countries that recognize International Women’s Day as an official holiday are Afghanistan, China, Laos, Madagascar, Russia, Ukraine and Vietnam, just to name a few. Currently, the United States does not recognize International Women’s Day because I guess they must consider it to be a replica Mother’s Day … hah and as if.
Regardless … Do your part to celebrate International Women’s Day, even if you didn’t really know too much about it to begin with!
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Awesome!
I hadn’t even heard of this day until now, which just goes to show how little-known it really is.
I’m glad this isn’t a recognised holiday. I don’t need a day to celebrate biology. I don’t celebrate whiteness day, or brunette day, or ‘I have two legs and two arms with skin on them!’ day either. I live in an equal society most days, and I deal with any issues I run into that threaten that when I run into them.
If meaning to focus on ‘international women’ ’s day, rather than international ‘women’s day’, then I can see a point in focusing on the plight of women in other places who really don’t have the advantages we have here, and for whom there is still a long way to go.
How about celebrating how far women have come?
There have been a lot of women who fought very hard to ensure that you live in an equal society, and I certainly think we owe them a holiday to recognize how far we have come, and where we will go.
I believe that the best way to move forward is to stop looking backward all the time. Take a glance int he rearview every so often for perspective, but you can’t face that way.
I ‘celebrate’ how far we’ve come by enjoying the society we live in, and the opportunities available. I think that the people who made it possible are definitely worth recognition, but I fear situations where people are so busy talking about how things were, that they fail to make use of how things are.
At some point you just need to declare it in the past, and go on.
I see where Kai is coming from–if the emphasis is solely on women and their “specialness” it strikes me as a tad self-serving. I can totally get behind the desire to raise awareness for the struggles women go through in other parts of the world, though.
I can totally see what you mean and I agree with you, but I think now this day shouldn’t focus as much in us lucky dwellers of Western countries, but in other women in countries where their rights or dignity are abused and attacked on a daily basis. Probably it shouldn’t be a day to celebrate us having hoohahs, but a reminder that having a hoohah, in certain parts of the world, fucking sucks. Raise awareness on problems in other countries.
‘hoohah’, honestly?
Yes, if this is promoted as a reminder that not everyone has it so good, and it’s a good time to do what you can about that, I can get behind it. Sadly, I don’t think that’s the way it’s usually approached.
Yes, hoohah, honestly. Vagine, minge, flange, gash, pussy. But I like hoohah.
I had an English girlfriend that called it her flower,I quite like that,will always be my favorite vag nickname!
I will never understand adults who continue to avoid anatomically correct terminology.
I use the correct terms but I’m also quite partial to pantie hamster. I don’t know why, it just makes me smile every time I hear it.
@ Kai:
Maybe because “penis” and “vagina” sound very clinical during sex? I know I personally would probably start laughing if me fiance and I were using the “proper” terms whilst getting busy.
I don’t care what people say in bed – it’s in common speech that avoiding clinical use seems foolish.
And seriously, would ‘hoohah’ not be more absurd??
FOR FUCK’S SAKE it’s the way I say it because I find it fucking hilarious, okay? Don’t fucking say it if you don’t want to, but I will keep on saying hoohah because it makes me laugh. I know loads of words for female genitalia, and believe me I use “vagina” when I’m visiting my doctor, but when I’m in a friendly environment and I want to have a laugh I fucking say hoohah, we all laugh at the stupidity of the word and move on. Jesus fucking Christ.
Wow. bad day?
I *was* laughing at the stupidity of the word. Dry humour just doesn’t read very well. I generally assume that people use words because they do like them, not because they don’t.
Quite certainly you may use whatever word you want. I have not actually yet attempted to enact a world-wide ban on such things. I merely pointed out the absurdity.
A current event to add to the list of things to celebrate today: An Oscar Win for International Women’s Day! Pretty nice timing, no?
Wow, that’s a horrible website. I know nothing about the oscars. I haven’t seen any of the movies up for awards, recognise only a couple names of actors, and have no idea who deserves what.
But your method of deciding is awful.
Summed up:
Sandra Bullock is an awful actress, in a mediocre movie, but she’s a woman, and she beat out the ‘dicks’ (who don’t even deserve to be called ‘men’), so YAAAY!
Mo’Nique played an awful role in an awful, overdramatized movie, but she’s a woman AND ‘african american’* so YAAAAAY!
Bigelow at least also seems to be a respected director, but even that is second to the fact that she’s a woman – so YAAAAY!
*she’s actually just american. the woman was born in Maryland.
This is the precise sort of woman-good, man-bad crap-feminism from which I constantly have to dissociate myself.
Oh, and it’s someone involved with the website promoting it, not just a link. so this is spam as well as irritating feminist spam. How nice.
There’s actually quite a lot of countries that do celebrate International Womens’ Day, without making it an official holiday…
Much luv to all my fellow Zelda Lily commenters – happy women’s day! If you’re in the US, wear some purple to celebrate it, that’s what we do in Spain. I wore my purple hoodie today :)
I think purple is the official colour of gay in north america, not women. Assuming that rainbows don’t count as a colour. But disliking purple, I’ll continue to leave it for anyone but me.
It’s purple in Denmark and Germany as well :).
Anyways, there’s been quite some interesting statistics coming out in Germany. It’s no big surprise that women earn less than men. In 2008 it was 23.3% less. The problem? In 2007 it was 23%. In 2006 it was 22.7%. The difference is growing. WTF?! And it’s quite high compared to other countries…the average in the EU is 18% (Italy has the lowest difference, only 4.9% – imagine that!).
So, yes, we’ve come a long way. A very long way. And that should be remembered and celebrated. But I think that it’s also ok to keep working on improvements.
Improvements like convincing women that they should value money over interest in job, flexible time, taking years off with children, and all the other things that lead to such a wage gap that doesn’t compare likes with likes?
I just think that men and women, who work under the same conditions and are equally qualified, should get a rather similar salary (also depending on their negotiation skills).
It’s obvious that different individuals value different things. Money isn’t everything. That’s fine. I don’t want to force anyone to life their lifes in a certain way. I just would like to see that men and women get the same salary, when they work under the same conditions – what ever these conditions might be.
And as Kai stated women do get the same pay as men when all other things are equal. You can’t just look at a 40 year old man and a 40 year old woman in the same field and conclude that there is a wage gap just because the woman is paid less. Chances are that woman has taken time off to have kids or possibly to care for elderly relatives.
Or that the woman asked for a flex day instead of a raise, or that the woman prefers to work for a non-profit she believes in than another option that would pay more.
There are many choices women make, and some lead to lower salaries. And that is right! It’s all *about* choice!
Women *tend*, on average, to make different value-choices than men do.
Women and men in the same position ARE paid about the same. There are some minor differences, and negotiating skills is thought to be one of the relevant factors there. But the difference if you compare actual similar people in similar jobs with similar experience, is extremely tiny.
The studies that get the press don’t compare likes, and perpetuate incorrect facts.
I only have numbers for Germany, but even if you account for experience, education, hours and tasks, the difference is still about 12% on average.
and I only see studies from North America. It is possible that the difference exists, but read the fine print on any numbers you get carefully.
oh, fuck off already.
kai, would you SHUT UP. i´ve read all the comments and all u do is pick fights, you dont even have an intelligent reponse, you just want to say the opposite because you´re probably venting about your shitty life.
thanks
Says the one trying to pick a fight by offering an unintelligent response. Kai is just trying to shoo the troll away. Personally I feel just ignoring them is a better strategy but I agree with the sentiment.
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