When I think about the last couple of years, I have met some very great women around the world. Each of them had a very strong characteristic from which I could learn so much. For example, my dear friend Haeyoung, who would never speak bad about someone. Or Tanvi my ex-colleague, who was never too shy to claim her work. My dear Helene, who is such a strong mother and creative mind, who showed me how to forgive without ever getting an apology. My teenage friend Julia, who’s always been there for me and knows how to gentle push me to the right direction. And there are just so many more women I’d like to mention here but the point is, all of these are role models to me.
Since today, is women’s day, I want to dedicate this post to all women around the world and with that being said, there might be some questions coming up from the opposite gender around today. I put together 4 of the most common questions/assumptions about women’s day here for you:
Do I need to buy my wife/mother/sister/girlfriend/friend flowers today?
The simple answer is: no. You can if you want to of course. Today is not about a small gesture of appreciation to your loved ones. Today is about something more. This day became a thing sometime before the first World War. It was initiated during a time when women were fighting for equality and the right to vote.
Nowadays events, speeches and demonstrations for women’s rights are held on that day. If you’d get flowers or chocolates to women in your life, it would not be representative to the meaning of the day.
Why is there no men’s day?
There is a men’s day actually! It is celebrated on 19th of November! This day is focusing on
- male related health problems
- gender relations improvement
- gender equality and
- male role models
Men’s day is used to highlight discriminations against the male population and celebrate achievements of men. In a broader sense it is a day to promote basic humanitarian values.
What is women’s day good for?
International Women’s day has basically two tasks:
Firstly it’s a reminder for us, to the fights fought and glass ceilings broken. Women were not allowed to vote, women were not allowed to open their own bank accounts, women were not equal to men and thanks to many great activists like Clara Zetkin, Rosa Parks or Malala Yousafzai, these problems are a relict of the past for most of the countries in the world.
And since not all boundaries have been broken down yet, to achieve full equality around the world, this day is a great reminder for that and it is used -as described above- to hold speeches, events and demonstrations.
What can I do to support women all-year around?
Great acts of support for women’s rights
- vote for political representatives who are female (and support female issues)
- support women organisations such as women’s houses, etc.
- hire women in your teams
- go to women’s marches and/or demonstrations for women’s rights
- pay mothers equally as if they haven’t had a baby -after all you already do that for dads
Small acts of support for women’s rights
- Don’t support people who have publicly voiced their opinions against women’s rights
- support women in the arts by watching movies directed by women, reading books written by women, watching female comedians etc. The demand of female voices being heard in the arts will ultimately increase the offer.
- Let your female co-worker be in charge of projects
- Let your female co-workers finish their sentences without interrupting them
- invite your female co-workers to have lunch with your team
This is just a small list of all what we can do throughout the year to achieve better equality in our society. I’d be very interested to hear your stories and suggestions on what else one can do to make women equal in society. Please comment!
Here’s a video that might give you more inspiration on that matter:
Have a wonderful day, after all it’s not only women’s day but also Friday!
Picture: by me
Video: by Pixar
marimolodi.com 