International Women's Day, March 8th

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37571314.post-15902203459231518152008-03-08T08:28:00.000-08:002008-03-08T08:35:11.904-08:00International Women's Day, March 8thInternational Women’s Day “It is not so much a woman’s duty to bring children into the world, as to see what sort of world she is bringing them into and what their contribution will be to it”. (Nellie McClung, 1915) The United Nations, in 1977 proclaimed March 8 as the International Women’s Day and it is an occasion marked by women’s groups around the world. Women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural economic and political differences come together to celebrate their day. They can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice peace and development. International Women’s Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history. It is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war, during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for “liberty, equality, fraternity” marched on Versailles to demand women’s rights to vote. The idea of an International Women’s Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in an industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies. The first National Women’s day was established by a group of socialist women in the United States in 1908. This act inspired an international event. In Canada the women did not have a right to vote till 1929 as women were “not considered persons” . They were considered to be persons only “in matters of pain and penalties but were not considered persons in matter of rights and privileges” The British Privy Council on October 18, 1929 recognized women as “persons” further stating “ The exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more barbarous than ours”. This ruling gave women the right to be persons. Today for most of us reading this we cannot even imagine those times. But for many many women and girls across the world violence is a fact of life, violence only because of their gender. Rape and sexual assault has become a weapon of war, there has been no other time in history when there have been more widows as a result of armed conflict. HIV/AIDS now has a woman’s face. At the opening of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations on February 25th, 2008, Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General, launched a global campaign to end violence against women and said “I am counting on you -- advocates from Government, civil society and the UN -- to carry our message around the world. In this campaign, I will personally approach world leaders to spur action through national campaigns. I will urge all States to review applicable laws, and to revise them or enact new ones to ensure that violence against women is always criminalized. And I will call on all States to enforce their laws to end impunity. I will form a global network of male leaders to assist me in mobilizing men and boys – men in Government, men in the arts and sports, men in business, men in the religious sphere, men in every walk of life, who know what leadership truly means. There is no blanket approach to fighting violence against women. What works in one country may not lead to desired results in another. Each nation must devise its own strategy. But there is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and communities: violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable, never tolerable. Today’s weapons of armed conflict include rape, sexual violence, and the abduction of children conscripted as soldiers or forced into sexual slavery. On my visits to conflict-torn areas around the world, I have spoken with women who have endured horrific forms of violence. I will forever be haunted by their suffering -- but equally, I will always be inspired by their courage. These mothers, sisters, daughters and friends are determined to reclaim their lives. This is a campaign for them. It is a campaign for the women and girls who have the right to live free of violence, today and in the future. It is a campaign to stop the untold cost that violence against women inflicts on all humankind.” He called on the Security Council to establish a mechanism dedicated to monitoring violence against women and girls, under the framework of resolution 1325, the landmark resolution on women, peace and security adopted by the Security Council seven years ago. He ended by asking all in the Assembly to pledge with him: United We Shall Succeed. The International Women’s day 2008 is dedicated to Investing in Women and Girls. “Achieving gender equality and empowering women is a goal in itself. When women are fully empowered and engaged all of society benefits. Only in this way can we successfully take on the enormous challenge confronting our world - from conflict resolution and peace building to fighting AIDS and reaching all the other Millennium Developmental Goals” Ban-Ki-Moon UN, Secretary General Dolly Dastoor Montreal, CanadaBehram Pastakiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07193720858897097618noreply@blogger.com