International Women's Day

I'm belatedly marking International Women's Day (IWD). Work has just been way too busy in the past few weeks, and I've been negligent with the blog. I did make a post internally at work, and marked the day with my team, but I'm only now getting around to posting something here.

Women and men united to end violence against women and girls.



In commenting to peers about IWD, I was surprise how many knew of the day -- and what the recognition of the day meant. Folks from some cultures recognized the day as something that was celebrated back in the old country like Mother's Day is celebrated in Canada. Those unfortunate to be enlightened carried the burdensome knowledge of how much further we need to go to bring equality and freedom to half of our species. They recognized the day and as a whole, were not in a celebratory mood.

This post by no means intends to do justice to the insurmountable task before us. It's not intended for the converted. You, the converted, already know. This post is for those who don't know and don't want to know. I want to pry your senses open so you too become aware, so you too will be enraged.

In conflict zones around the world -- from Sierra Leone, Congo, the Central African Republic, Darfur [PDF] (Sudan) -- women and girls (children) suffer the most. They are raped at gun or knife point, and then the weapons are used to inflict mutilation on their bodies. Young girls are serially raped and taken as wives by commanders. In conflicts, rape is a weapon that is used with increasing regularity.

In the Middle East, and increasingly in South-East Asian countries, where increasingly fundamentalist Islam is practiced, girls and women lose what little rights and freedoms they previously held. Not only is it becoming dangerous for females to seek an education, but their very sex is mutilated so they become nothing more than cattle to be bred. Elsewhere in the world, fundamentalism is on the rise in Christianity, Hinduism and Judaism. Wherever religion raises its ugly head, women and girls are the first to feel the whip.

Even in the developed nations, we're not immune. Women continue to earn less than men for equal work. Women continue to contend with domestic violence. Women continue to have legal challenges brought against their right to make decisions governing their own bodies. Women continue to fight for equality -- not just with men, but disturbingly, with other women, who do not see inequality as a problem.



We shouldn't forget, that not too long ago, women had no rights. They were the property of men. And not too far away from where we are, that is very much a fact. We should all be enraged at this injustice.

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