Today, when I logged on to Facebook a lot of my girlfriends had posted testimonials regarding the International Woman’s Day. It’s a reminder to respect and appreciate woman and to ensure their equal rights. Statements like: Equal rights to all women and: We can do it! influenced the picture on Facebook.
Today, many people are celebrating the International Women’s Day – especially women all over the world. It started out as a demonstration in 1910 for women’s rights and it has changed the view on women in general in a lot of countries. But is it really necessary to celebrate this day, when women in the western world celebrate women’s rights in the year of 2013?
But I can’t help to wonder whether it’s still necessary to celebrate women’s rights today – at least in the western world. We already have equal rights, and you do not see many housewives taking care of husband and children while taking care of the home. In fact, many women today enter the labour marked, working their way into the executive suites. And young women, taking their first steps in their career, dominate the higher educations – at large, the young men are left behind.
So why even celebrate this day at all? Well, not all women have achieved the same results yet. And keep in mind that women in Denmark haven’t even been able to vote for a 100 years yet. There’re still a lot of things to fight for. Maybe not as much in the western countries as in other places, but the fundamental importance of the International Women’s Day is simply solidarity between women. That is what we celebrate and fight on for.
In my perspective, it’s therefore still important to mark the day, showing that not all women have obtained the same kind of rights as we have in the western world. But what do you think? Have the day lost it’s political flavor and simply become a mixture of Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, or is it still a fight worth fighting?
As a public information of interest, I can inform you, that the idea of an International Women’s Day was stated by Clara Zetkin at a congress held at ‘Jagtvej 69’ – yes, the well known place for many inhabitants of Copenhagen also known as ‘Ungdomshuset’