It's nice to have received well wishes from both men and women on the 8th of March as we (women) rejoice in our own beautiful existence : )
Of course, as you all know the 8th of March (yesterday) was International Women's Day. It's originally known as International Working Women's Day. I gathered it all began in 1908 in USA when a group of working women marched through New York City demanding for better pay, shorter hours and voting rights. Two years later, in 1910 one smart woman from Germany named Clara Zetkin (a lady who was affiliated with the Social Democratic Party in Germany) suggested that every country should dedicate one day to celebrate women and push for their demands. And then a conference of more than 100 women from 17 countries agreed to Ms. Clara's suggestion and thus formed the International Women's Day (IWD). The first official celebration of IWD began in 1911 in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland. It was held on March 19th. The IWD's date was then shifted to March 8th in 1913. It's interesting to note that the United Nations only recognised IWD in 1975, that is 65 years after Ms. Clara mooted the idea for IWD. I wonder what took them so long. Yes, generally a woman takes a long time to do her make-up, choose the right dress/scarf, but hey, we are not as bad as the United Nations, being 65 years late is not cool. That's way beyond "fashionably late". LOL.
The theme for this year's IWD is "Be Bold For Change". So yesterday I made a pledge to be bold for change and I specifically pledged to: celebrate women's achievement. The IWD official website has defined the agenda under this as to:
- raise women's visibility as spokespeople in the media
- drive fairer recognition and credit for women's contributions
- launch even more awards showcasing women's success
- hail the success of women leaders
- applaud social, economic, cultural and political women role models
- celebrate women's journeys and barriers overcome
- reinforce and support women's triumphs
C'mon ladies [and gentlemen], click on the link below to make your pledge. You can pledge to:
- Challenge bias and inequality,
- Campaign against violence,
- Forge women's advancement,
- Champion women's education, OR pledge as I did, to...
- Celebrate women's achievement!
At the very least, when you go to the IWD website and click on the pledge you'll get to learn more about the specific action items under each pledge. We may not be in the position to do all in a grand way but it's OK cos Mother Teresa says: "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with love."
Yeah, it's not too difficult to celebrate a woman's achievement, just buy her a good book/magazine, a nice lunch, a lipstick, sunglasses or a scarf...
LOL
#BeBoldForChange
p/s
One man asked me this rather stupid question. He asked if I celebrate International Women's Day (IWD). LOL.
Of course! Any woman who knows about IWD would rejoice, would be inspired by Ms Clara Zetkin who initiated it and she would celebrate it not just on March 8th, but every day. Women are clever of course, to us every day is women's day, we make ourselves look good and feel good every day. We say our prayers every day. We don't let anyone (any man) talk us down on any day. We walk with confidence. As Muslim women, we recite plenty of salawat and we know the greatest man, Prophet Muhammad salallah alaihi wasalam, is behind our back.
The man who asked me the silly question should know that celebrating or observing IWD is not about going on a date or do things people might do on Valentine's Day or whatever. A smart woman does not need validation from anyone.
[Only a not-so-smart woman would impersonate and gatecrash her "competitor's" house in the presence of her own children and son-in-law. LOL]
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