Why International Women’s Day Is So Important
Today, March 8th, 2015, marks International Women’s day – the annual event that promotes equality and empowers women. This year’s theme is ‘make it happen,’ clearly intended to encourage effective action for advancing equality and the recognition of women’s lives. We do need to ‘make it happen’; 'it' being both driving for equality in workplace, as women with the same jobs still earn less than their male equivalents, and raising awareness about women in countries where they are regularly forced into marriage or abused sexually.
This is a day to pause and remember how far we have come since the first event occurred over a century ago, when women had the right to vote in two countries and were too often denied the basic right to education. This day also acts as a reminder that we still have a lot to make happen and we need to come together on this day to remember the many women whose voices are unheard.
Around 15 million girls, some as young as 8 years of age, will be forced into marriage in 2015.
An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked into slavery each year; 80 percent of which are girls.
Only 76 countries have legislations that address domestic violence; just 57 of them include sexual abuse.
A documentary filmed in India recently sees the rapist of a woman brutally gang raped and killed on a Delhi bus blame his victim for the atrocious attack, stating that “A girl is more responsible for rape than a boy.”
Over 130 million women living today have undergone Female Genital Mutilation, which is a non-medical practice often carried out without anesthetic involving the removal of the external female genitalia.
The UK gender pay gap stands at 17.5%, with women on average earning 5,000 pounds less annually than male colleagues.
Globally, women fill only 24% of senior management roles.
At the current rate of progress, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission estimates that it will take approximately 70 years to see an equal number of male and female directors of the FTSE 100 companies.
1 in 3 women will be beaten or raped during their lifetime.
1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence.
A woman’s intimate partner commits 38% of all murders of women.
Less than 5% of girls are enrolled in school in Afghanistan due to the Taliban’s ban of girls getting any form of education in the 1990s.
The list goes on, but it is clear to see why International Women’s Day is so important: all across the world, women are being treated as if they are less than men, when in actuality, we must be treated as equals. While celebrating this event is not going to fix all of the issues of gender equality across the world, giving women’s rights an international recognition shows the global community that the struggle for gender equality is acknowledged. It will start the conversation about the struggles of women around the world, and hopefully move beyond us simply telling each other the words ‘make it happen’ into action with tangible results.
