International Women's Day

Happy International Women’s Day!

Are you celebrating the women in your life today? Are you thinking of the women who have inspired you, nurtured you, challenged you? Are you aware of the women who have fought to make this world a better place, who are still fighting today?

This is the centennial anniversary of International Women’s Day (IWD), an internationally recognized celebration rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. Originally focused on universal suffrage, IWD has become a day to call for change and to celebrate women who have played a part in the history of women’s rights.

IWD is even an official holiday in many countries including Afghanistan, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Ukraine, Vietnam and Zambia. A friend in Burkina Faso, where it also a national holiday, reports that on this day husbands dress up in the wives clothes and go out to do the shopping while the women hang out and drink beer. Now that’s a holiday!

IWD is sadly not a national holiday here in Canada – although, as I write, my husband is out getting groceries and dinner (wearing his own clothes I will add). There is still plenty to celebrate. For all my cynicism and ranting, I know that I have so many advantages that women a generation ago did not have – and certainly advantages still unavailable to millions of women around the world.

I also can think of several women who have inspired me: writers Margaret Laurence, Jane Jacobs, Doris Lessing and Iris Murdoch, artist Frida Kahlo, Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, women and children’s advocate Graca Machel (actually when I start thinking about women writers and thinkers who have inspired me I realize I could go on for a very long time). There are also many women who are breaking ground politically – Julia Gillard, Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel – while I may not agree with all their positions or views, I cheer them on for the advances they are making for women and the paths they are breaking for others to follow.

(Next up, my husband wants me to write about “masculism”. He says it’s a very serious topic.)