International Women's Day - "Make it happen"

-

Today is International Women's Day

Over the past week I have read numerous articles and discussions on International Women's Day  which has been celebrated annually since 1909, when it was first organised by the Socialist Party of America.

This was in remembrance of the strike the previous year instigated  by the International Ladies Garment Workers union.    

There have been events to celebrate and applaud women's success in all walks of life, including Business, Science and Technology, the Arts, Sport and Equality. The theme this year is "Make It Happen".
Amongst the discussion has been the question of whether we really need the day anymore - we have after all come a long way since 1909. Though progress has been made in many areas there are women in the so called "most developed" countries who do not have equal pay, are subject to exploitation and violence and and are far from equal  even in the basics of human rights. 
In my own town - and many others in this country, it seems - we are continuing to experience the aftermath of the Child Sexual Exploitation scandal, where hundreds of girls have become victims of appalling abuse. The abuse has been allowed to happen and perpetuated by attitudes and actions that I find hard to believe are still possible in the 21st century.  (It is written about elsewhere and does not need further explanation here. ) 
International Women's Day is a product of women wanting, needing and working for change.  It is more than teaching our girls the power of believing in themselves. It is more than appointing women to be councillors, directors, lawyers or any other traditionally male roles.  
There is much that has been changed in the last 100 years, but it is not enough.
We must continue to "Make It Happen" no matter what or how difficult the circumstances are and no matter how many the defeats. 
Women can not do this alone ; the support of the men in our world is vital to achievement and success, and vice versa. 
Make it happen today and every day in the future. 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Every Picture Tells a Story - Remembering Maltby

-
Image
Whether it's one of those coincidence things or just that sometimes things do work nicely together, it's good when it happens. I am pleased to announce on this blog that Facebook page  Remembering Maltby  has to date 585 members in just over a week. I am more than a little overwhelmed with the interest in it and am looking forward to collating all the pictures and stories together to make an invaluable historical record, made by the community. Feedback about this has been amazing and there's some brilliant photographs, memories and stories being shared between 3 or 4 generations of  Maltby  people. Some are Maltby born and bred, some were born elsewhere but now call Maltby their home, some spent their childhood here but now live on the other side of the world. At the risk of sounding too sentimental, it really is wonderful to be part of this and I am very grateful for everyone's responses. The other thing that I'm chuffed about is this ... I am the winner of Janua...
Read more

The One Where the Mother Feels Useless

-
Post cycle 3 chemo - Day 6 We are half way through the chemotherapy - and when I say 'we' of course I mean Jane, who is as strong, amazing and more beautiful than ever.  With each session of drugs so far, it seems to take longer than last time to feel normal again, though of course real "normal" won't be for a while yet.  The drugs in the chemotherapy treatment so far are  f luorouracil  (also called 5FU) e pirubicin c yclophosphamide docetaxel  (also called  T axotere ®)    (FEC-T from the initials of the drugs name)   The side effects include risk of infection, bruising, feeling or being sick, diarrhoea, sore mouth, anaemia, loss of appetite, taste change, hair loss, sore eyes, skin changes and of course,desperate tiredness and aching bones.  This is what I am watching my daughter suffer, and this is why I feel useless. It's past the time of trite comments of "why her and not me ?"  and wishing that I could take i...
Read more

Bio - metrics : Machine v Man in an Airport Queue

-
Image
Arriving at Manchester Airport recently to re - enter England / United Kingdom of  Great Britain and Northern Ireland / European Union I was faced with the option  of  two queues for passport control  - EU or Non EU. My passport looks like this and so I do know that I am classed as EU (despite having 2 conversations in the streets in Istanbul about what type of money the British use. It seems that many non EU citizens can not believe that we do not use the Euro and wanted clarification that GBP is still in existence).  I had traveled within the EU using this newly issued passport, but not taken much notice of  the symbol of the bio metric facility on it.    ePassport gates are automated, where a passport reader and camera, rather than a border officer - in theory -  verifies your identity and checks your ‘chipped’ passport. To use the ePassport gates, you must have a ‘chipped’ biometric UK, EU, EEA or Swiss passport.  These ePassp...
Read more