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International Women's Day
Jeanwah
Posts: 6,363
is Today, March 8th! I'm taking this from The Porch, so everyone here can see it too.
Happy Int'l Women's Day to all the glorious women here!
You are each such a treasure. The Mother Lode of our planet.
We are many. You will be chasing after your toddler at the very same moment a woman in Africa is doing the same. While you walk to the grocery store, there is someone else whose footsteps are in tandem with yours walking to her local market in South America. There is a teenaged girl pissed off at her Mum in Hungary, moping on her bed at the same time as a girl in Arkansas. As you work on your second draft of your novel, there is another woman doing the same in Oslo. We are all linked. When we remember this, we are made strong on our hearts and our convictions.
Happy Int'l Women's Day to all the glorious women here!
You are each such a treasure. The Mother Lode of our planet.
We are many. You will be chasing after your toddler at the very same moment a woman in Africa is doing the same. While you walk to the grocery store, there is someone else whose footsteps are in tandem with yours walking to her local market in South America. There is a teenaged girl pissed off at her Mum in Hungary, moping on her bed at the same time as a girl in Arkansas. As you work on your second draft of your novel, there is another woman doing the same in Oslo. We are all linked. When we remember this, we are made strong on our hearts and our convictions.
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Yes, of course everyday is our day...but International Women's Day conmemorates the following. I'm going to be lazy and instead of explaining it myself, I'll just post the UNIFEM statement we received this morning at the office:)
"International Women's Day is the story of women’s organizing for equality, justice and peace. Marked by women’s groups around the world, it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to bring about a better world. Its commemoration began in 1911 in Europe with a March 19 rally for women’s right to vote and took on new momentum after more than 140 working women lost their lives in a fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City a week later. It grew in following years as women held rallies each year to protest the devastation of World War I.
This year as always the day is an opportunity for reflection and renewal. In the 12 years since the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing, the signs of progress are many. There is global recognition that gender equality is central to human development and human security, as stated in the Millennium Declaration. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is now seen as a gender issue as well as a health issue; rape has been recognized as a weapon of war and a crime against humanity. Women’s human rights — monitored and upheld by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), now ratified by 185 countries — are now on every major agenda, national, regional and international.
At the country level too, there is much to celebrate. Laws and policies are being adopted to strengthen women’s economic security in such vital areas as land, property and inheritance rights, decent employment, and access to credit and markets. Quotas or other affirmative measures have been adopted to increase women’s representation in political decision-making in at least 95 countries, including many countries emerging from conflict.
But all of this progress can be destroyed through continuing violence against women. Violence against women is deeply rooted in structures of gender inequality. It fuels the spread of HIV/AIDS and destroys women’s ability to break through inter-generational cycles of poverty. Such violence, already horrific in times of peace, intensifies during armed conflict as legal and justice systems break down along with systems of social and community support. Whether in peace or in war, violence against women takes a huge toll — from individuals and societies both.
Fortunately, more and more countries are recognizing these links, acknowledging that until they eliminate persistent gender inequalities and discrimination, both human security and human development will remain a distant dream — along with all of the Millennium Development Goals. Governments are beginning to act: according to the Secretary-General’s recent report, 89 states have legislative provisions on domestic violence, 104 countries have made marital rape a crime and 93 states prohibit trafficking in human beings. What is urgently needed is implementation.
UNIFEM has worked with women’s groups and governments for over two decades to end the multiple forms of violence in women’s lives. What we have learned is that ending violence against women requires multiple strategies working across sectors and at different levels. Laws must be accompanied by resource allocations, institutional regulations and guidelines and systematic training for officials who will monitor and enforce them — including police and judiciary, health and social service providers. Ending violence against women also requires changing public perceptions and breaking through barriers of culture and tradition to find non-violent ways to resolve conflicts in personal and public life.
In the last decade, UNIFEM has spearheaded a set of regional and global advocacy campaigns, working with governments, women’s groups and the media to change laws, develop national action plans and scale up community-based interventions to end violence against women and girls. Since 2005, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, which UNIFEM manages, has supported Governments and NGOs to implement these laws, policies and action plans. Now we are taking this struggle to the next stage — to institutionalize the strategic, practical actions that can bring about change, and incorporate them into national development planning, and state accountability mechanisms.
This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the UN Trust Fund. Ten years of innovation, experience and activism have shown that ending violence against women is possible. What is needed now is a serious strategy and resources to upscale the work through a strong gender entity within the UN system, bringing the system together to promote the strategies and practices that have worked. Only then can the UN, in partnership with Member States and the women’s movement, be at the forefront of efforts to end this scourge. Only then will violence against women become a rare occurrence rather than a global pandemic.
On this International Women’s Day we owe it to women around the world to take this challenge seriously — to end violence against women, and strike a blow for equality, development and peace."
Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director, UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women)
http://www.unifem.org/
Sweet.
You crazy chicks are always up to something.
hahaha... nothing about the potential to be a great businesswoman or anything though eh? of course... women can't really accomplish anything outside the house.
you'd think international women's day wouldn't be so... constricted.
how do we get an international men's day?
Have we tried violent oppression and the imposition of misogynistic mores yet?
yeah, but apparently it isnt working. look at this nonsense they're talking about these days... equality? why dont they call it by its real name: i hate families and children and will do what i want cos im a woman... uh... day.
that's a good way to get cheated on... put her in her place and she will spend her life desperately trying to please you
Hehe...harsh.
HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY TO ALL THE FEMALES OUT THERE!!!
Now go get a fucking job.....
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
Just don't tell them that the world is 51% male. Or 2% of us are going to get a really harsh taste of that "equality".
yet, roughly 95% of the replies on this thread thus far have been from men.
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Yeah, the girls are too busy "spearheading a set of regional and global advocacy campaigns". They're always up to something.
Hehe...that would come far too close to subtly sanctioning a meritocracy. And while I know tons of girls who dig meritocracy, I don't think it's really the bag of groups like UNIFEM.
...and we're fallin' for the ruse.
Must...
get...
away...
from...
computer...
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Mexico City - July 18th 2003
Mexico City - July 19th 2003
Monterrey - December 7th 2005
Mexico City - December 9th 2005
Mexico City - December 10th 2005
Mexico City - November 24th 2011
what are you doing here? dont you have a toddler to be chasing or a hysterical daughter to console becos she cant find the right man?
ill be happy to come over and help, but i have 6000 pullups and pushups to do first. need to make sure my gf doesn't get back up to talk back next time... and make sure i look huge when im lifting my briefcase.
are you talking about the original post? did it say somewhere it was from a women's group (if so, i'd love to know which one!)? that looked like something from a chain email thing. after reading it i thought the last part was left out, "and please wire 10 million dollars to my bank account in Nigeria."
cross the river to the eastside
I don't actually work for UNIFEM, but I work in another organization of the system and we very much believe in merytocracy, inside the organization and as a policy worth of encouragement, as well. Although it is true that UNIFEM works in depth with violence and discrimination related issues, they do promote meritocracy. You have to consider that UNIFEM is mainly stationed in third world countries. In several women are still being castrated or beaten to death, so that's why the focus of the statement was violence.
I believe the negative comments were referred to the original poster, which contains many of women's tradicional stereotypes. With my post I intended to claficy the origin of today's celebration.
Peace
Caterina
Caterina,
I'm just being ridiculous. It's my way.
I don't really know a damn thing about UNIFEM. From the sound of it, they're doing some good work.
-Jeff
I did not get mad at all Jeff, it's all good
Caterina
thanks for posting that by the way. it was a good read.
cross the river to the eastside
And thank you, Cat, for posting the origin. I merely copy and pasted what someone else posted in the the Porch for the original post. While I knew it would and probably should be ripped apart for its sexist stereotypes, I was merely trying to get the bottom line across...that we should honor All women Internationally today.
You're welcome Jean. And thank you too 'cause I wanted to post the UNIFEM statement as soon as I received it but, well, my boss abducted me hehe
Okay...I will honor them today. But tomorrow it's back to the damn kitchen for them all.