Chinese Proverb – “Women hold up half the sky.”
March 8th, 2010 marks the centennial of International Women’s Day.
In Canada and around the world women, men and children will pause to celebrate, salute or honour the achievements of women who have struggled for centuries to have their voices be heard – to be recognized with equanimity and dignity.
The origin of International Women’s Day [IWD] is firmly rooted in the labour movement and the struggle for justice and equality. Unsafe working conditions, low wages, racial and gender discrimination were wide spread in industrial workplaces. Early attempts by workers to organize unions were met with hostility and violence.
In 1910, Clara Zerkin, a German socialist, called for an International Women’s Day to be established at The Socialist International in Copenhagen. Her idea was supported and approved by over 100 women from 17 countries.
Improved working conditions, voting rights, and global peace were the mantras of radical protest in the early years. These years also witnessed the fiery deaths of 146 garment workers, mostly young immigrant women who were locked in New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, the inhumane force-feeding of imprisoned British and American suffragettes and the grim loss of countless fathers, sons and brothers in the trenches of World War One.
The United Nations has chosen Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities for ALL as the theme for IWD 2010 since it is clear that while women have made extraordinary advances in the last century, the pursuit of equality is not over. Women continue “to be disproportionately responsible for unpaid work, under represented in parliaments, over represented in poverty and outrageously susceptible to rape, sexual harassment and violence.”[1]
More than wage disparity and under representation, Amnesty International reminds us that violence against women and girls is a global pandemic. At least one out of every three women has been beaten, forced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Every year, millions of women are raped by partners, relatives, friends and strangers, by employers and colleagues, soldiers and members of armed groups.
The World Health Organization has reported that up to 70 percent of female murder victims are killed by their male partners. Violence affects the lives of women everywhere, cutting across boundaries of wealth, race and culture. In the home and the community, in times of war and peace, women are beaten, raped, mutilated and killed with impunity. The violence affects women in different ways depending on factors such as their income, who controls it, social status, occupation, ethnicity, religion and sexuality.
In 2004, Amnesty International launched its global Stop Violence Against Women Campaign to help break the silence around this pandemic. The aim is to stop the violence and support the work of women’s human rights advocates around the world.
With this campaign, Amnesty International is showing that the right of women to be free from violence is integral to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As long as this violence continues, the promise of the Universal Declaration to humanity cannot be fulfilled. Please visit www.amnesty .ca for more information about this campaign and what you can do.
On this centennial of IWD, it is important to celebrate the gains that have been won, but we must consider what must still be done to ensure women – ALL women – are able to surmount remaining obstacles and achieve their rightful equality. We must ensure that we turn oppression into opportunity for women worldwide.
Group 82, Amnesty International will host an interpretive play, TOLD, by Maiji Robinson based on the book, Sold, by Patricia McCormick. The play is a poignant look at the harsh reality of the trafficking of girls into the sex trade.
This event will be held on March 7th at 2:00PM at the LE Shore Memorial Library in Thornbury. Admission is free will offering and refreshments will follow.
