E-Kantipur

While celebrating International Women’s Day, New Zealand should always be remembered as it was the first country to give voting rights to women on Sept. 19, 1893. The right to vote gives you the power to decide any issue that affects your life. It could be the right to vote for your leaders, what goes into your constitution, how much is to be spent on daily household activities and what you want to do with the future, among others.

Women’s Day 2010 has as its theme “Equal Rights Equal Opportunities — Progress for All”. This points to the fact that millions of women all over the world still do not enjoy equal rights leading to equal opportunities. Therefore, although the women’s movement has undertaken a long journey, a lot more still needs to be done. The patriarchal system in most countries still hovers over women’s liberation and the possibility of every citizen in the world to have equal rights and equal opportunities.

Looking back at history, we can see that International Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900s when the industrial revolution was in full swing in the industrialised countries. People were raising their voices and radical ideologies raged around the world. In 1908, critical unrest was stirring up among women and issues of injustice were being raised. On March 8, 1908, about 15,000 women came out on the streets of New York to protest against inequality and injustice. They demanded shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. Women in the needle and thread trade rallied to demand their rights to form a trade union — the first of its kind. It became a success, and it also kindled a fire in the hearts of women all over the US and in other countries all over the world.

In 1909, the Socialist Party of America declared Feb. 28 as the first National Women’s Day. It was celebrated on that date until 1913. In 1910, the second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women’s Office of the Socialist Democratic Party of Germany, tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She proposed that every year there needed to be one day to be celebrated all over the world simultaneously to raise issues related to injustice towards women. At that conference, the first three women to be elected to the Finnish parliament were also participating. Together with them, 100 women from 17 countries representing trade unions, socialist parties and working women’s clubs supported Clara’s proposition. The result was the beginning of the celebration of International Women’s Day.

Following this decision on March 19, 1911, the first International Women’s Day was celebrated in Denmark, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. More than one million women and men joined rallies to demand the right for women to vote, work, be trained, hold office and an end to all forms of discrimination against them. Unfortunately, immediately after this on March 25, the infamous incident termed the “triangle fire” took the lives of more than 140 women workers, mainly Italian and Jewish migrants in New York. This incident raised issues related to labour laws and working conditions in the US which were also taken up during subsequent International Women’s Day movements.

In 1913, on the eve of the First World War, Russian women celebrated their first International Women’s Day on the last Sunday of February campaigning for peace. That very year, after several deliberations, International Women’s Day celebration was fixed on March 8. This practice continues till today. On March 8, 1914, women all over the world, mainly in Europe, brought out demonstrations and rallies campaigning for an end to war and creation of women’s solidarity all over the world.

On March 23, 1917, the last Sunday of the year according to the Julian calendar, Russian women waged the famous strike called “Bread and Peace” opposing the death of over two million Russian soldiers in the war. Even though the women were opposed by the then political leaders, they continued their strike. Four days later, the Russian tsar was forced to abdicate his throne and the provincial government formed subsequently gave Russian women the right to vote for the first time. This day, according to the Gregorian calendar used elsewhere, was March 8.

During the period 1918-99, the socialist movement has been celebrating International Women’s Day in both the developed and developing countries as a global day of recognition and importance. Thus the women’s rights movement was waged all over the world, and March 8 became the day to bring unity and commitment from activists and policy makers. The UN designated 1975 as International Year for Women.

Now March 8 has become a marked day on the global calendar, and many countries like Russia and the newly emerged countries in Eastern Europe, among others, have declared March 8 as a national holiday. In Nepal too, the government has declared a half holiday for women. It is important here to recognize the significance of all the leaders who have raised issues of injustice towards women from the last century and before that. Women, who form half the population everywhere, deserve their rights; and only that will ensure the holistic development of human kind. It is a sad reality that more than 200 million women in the world still lack the basic rights to a dignified living. Women still lack reproductive health services, contraception and the right to make decisions both in their individual life and at the national and international levels. Underage girls are still being married off. Heinous crimes like the flesh trade and women trafficking are still being committed all over the world.

A lot has been achieved… but a lot more needs to be done. However, hail to the prevalence of equal rights to each and every individual of the world on the occasion of this year’s International Women’s Day celebration.

Namrata Sharma

namrata1964@yahoo.com

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