I wish I could say that March the 8th is a useless recurrence. I wish I could say that women don’t need to be ”celebrated” once a year. I’d like to say that mimosas stink and that they’re also ugly; but for this 2015, the only thing I can say is that equality remains a utopia.
WHAT’S THE 8th OF MARCH?
The International Women’s Day occurs around the world every year and celebrates the social, political and economic achievements regarding women’s conditions.
Historically, the first years of the ‘900 are remembered for the industrialization, for the workers’ riots and for the right to vote; that’s also when feminist movements around the world proposed their requests for equal rights.
For the first time there was the need/urge to discuss the discrimination of a/based on a sexual nature: why doesn’t a woman have the right to express her views? why doesn’t a woman have the right to work for the same number of hours as a man? why doesn’t a woman have the right to be paid in proportion to her work? why doesn’t a woman have rights?
March 8th; WHY?
The date corresponds to the beginning of the Russian Revolution in February 1917. Among the various events that led to the collapse of tsarism, there was a march in St. Petersburg: Mothers, sisters, wives and daughters of men at the frontline claimed the end of the war.
The formalization of the celebration and of its date dates back to 1977, when the UN requested to celebrate, one day a year, the so called “United Nations Day for Women’s rights and international peace”.
March 8 TODAY?
The new millennium has witnessed significant changes in regard to equal rights and empowerment of women; women in all countries of the world have distinguished themselves in all those environments that for centuries had been considered male prerogatives (such as politics and science); but this is not enough!
For many of us all the battles have been won, for many of us patriarchy no longer exists, for many of us machism is taking the traits of nebulous memory because we finally are EQUAL. I’d like to say that’s true, but the truth is that we do need this date. Not to feel special, not to make us treated for 24 hours with the respect that we deserve every day, not to receive gifts, to be treated with respect or to spend an evening out with friends. We need to remind ourselves that years of violence and abuse must not happen again, we need to put an exclamation point in front of each achievement we have accomplished, we need it because we are not inferior to anyone and no one can make us feel as such.
In this age of technology, I invite you to tag @bossyitaly on social media using the hashtag #womensday and #makeithappen to tell us the results you have achieved and that make you proud of yourself.
Sources:
|UN|
|InternationalWomensDay|
