Today, women and women's organisations worldwide will be celebrating International Women's Day (IWD).IWD was first celebrated in 1911, following a decision taken at the second International Conference of Working Women held in Copenhagen in 1910. The conference was attended by over 100 women from 17 countries, representing labour unions, socialist parties, working women's clubs, and the first three women elected to the parliament of Finland.
At the conference, Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women's Office of the Social Democratic Party in Germany, proposed that every country should celebrate a Women's Day annually, to enable women to press for their demands. Her proposal was agreed to unanimously, and the first celebrations took place in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland where over one million women and men attended IWD rallies. They campaigned for the end of discrimination against women, and their rights to work, vote, access training, and hold public office.
In 1911, the Bread and Roses campaign, in which women marched for fair wages, better working conditions, and equality for workers, is still relevant in T&T today.On March 8, the song, One Woman: A Song for UN Women, will be launched. The song is a musical celebration of women worldwide, featuring 25 artists from 20 countries across the globe. The song calls for change and celebrates acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who daily make extraordinary contributions to their countries and communities.
This song gives women hope and is inspired by the message of unity and solidarity with women worldwide and reminds us that equality, human rights and human dignity are the birthright of every human being.
Much progress has been made by women and women's organisations who have been at the forefront of campaigns on a wide spectrum of issues including crime and violence against women and girls.Recently, we all witnessed when people worldwide declared solidarity with a Pakistani girl who was shot for championing education for all, especially girls. In India, a young woman, a medical student, was gang-raped so violently, she died of her injuries and another committed suicide out of shame. One may ask the question: is change happening and is there still hope?
We need to recreate our outrage about violence against women and the wider violence and insecurity in the society. A zero tolerance of violence against women and children, as promoted by the UN Secretary General, would require a co-ordination of efforts by the police, courts, social workers, non-governmental organisations, schools, workplaces, and others.We also need to recognise that our work is not only for the improvement in the quality of life for individual women but also for a transformation in the relations between women and men and to develop new ways of being women and men.
Cafra T&T believes that T&T needs a transformation in its approach to women's rights and gender equality as we celebrate IWD 2013.Prof Patricia Mohammed stated: "A gender policy is...premised on relatively straightforward principles. It envisages a society which recognises the similarities and differences existing between men and women and which provides for their full participation in services and resources required for the realisation of their full potential in national development."It assumes that strategies to achieve gender equity and equality will be effective in so far that institutions, groups and individuals in a society are prepared to accept social change in areas that have been traditionally resistant to change." (http://sta.uwi.edu/cgds/genderPolicyLetter.asp).
CAFRA T&T