The 100th International Women’s Day! March 8, 2011 Chally It’s the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, and, to celebrate, I thought it would be an idea to read opinion pieces from women around the world on what IWD means in their contexts. For The Fiji Times, Matelita Ragogo writes Ignorance is not an excuse anymore. Dr Elizabeth Menon writes Elusive equality at India’s The Hindu. At the UK’s The Guardian, Lucy Mangan says The feminist fight is not over yet. Adele Horin writes Stuck on an uneven playing field for The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. Also in Australia, if you’ll permit me, I myself wrote a piece on celebrating IWD for Yopinion. My wall of women comforts me by Heather Mallick at The Toronto Star in Canada. At The Zimbabwean, My battery-powered legacy by Fungai Machirori.
Is there even a point in arguing with those that spew misogynistic crap on the third article? Comments by men suggest that feminism turns women into bad people, the pay gap is not a problem and that men and women want “different things” in life.
Ugh, this is horrible. http://twitter.com/pakinamamer Props to these Egyptian women for showing up today. Of course if we show too much support to these women it’ll be labelled imperialism.
It’s great that you’re drawing attention to women in different parts of e world. Too much of what I read on IWD was about white cis western women, mostly from the US. It’s refreshing to see something different, thank you.
Butch Pornstache told us all about how he learned a little bit about Women’s Issues today. When I commented that his contribution upset me (even as satire) because I think it’s a horrible thing to do on a holiday celebrating women, I was banned. C’est la vie.
“How do trans women fit into this?” http://transfeminisms.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/international-womens-daya-time-for-celebration-mixed-with-realism/
Great round up of articles, thank you! For IWD I wrote an article asking ‘Where is the Feminist Revolution?’ http://cchronicle.com/2011/03/where-is-the-feminist-revolution/
transfeminisms: “How do trans women fit into this?” We don’t, and we won’t as long as the unspoken default is cis.
In Iran, Key Critic Leaves Hist Post Link “Mr. Rafsanjani’s daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, a former lawmaker, has served as a one of the prominent female faces of the opposition, attending rallies and speaking on behalf of women’s rights and more social freedoms. She was briefly detained at an anti-government rally two weeks ago and, according to online videos, came under verbal attack by a group of plainclothes Basij militia who called her a “whore” and shouted “Death to Hashemi.” Reposted from a comment on WSJ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcjJ5mmu7tE In Iran , on the 2nd of March 1979, it was announced that women could not be judges, a precursor to many other draconian measures. On the 6th of March 1979, Khomeini announced that women could work outside their houses, but they must wear the hijab. On the 8th of March 1979 thousands of women demonstrated in the streets of Tehran against the state’s Islamic gender apartheid policy. The protests were violently disbanded. These protests constitute the first civil society demand on the IRI. As a result of this, the 8th of March, International Women’s Day, turned into widespread demonstrations in Iran. This protest has been met with violent reprisal from the regime. Undeterred, the 8th March has become a focus for women’s resistance to injustice as well as an occasion for increased intimidation. …and one of the biggest jokes on humanity today, is that Iran was again voted in, in 2011, as a member of the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women, which is supposed to be, (try and keep a straight face!) “dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. It is the principal global policy-making body. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.”