International Women’s day (IWD) was initiated with an aim to promote and accelerate gender equality. It has been celebrated on 8 th March, for over hundred years. The question is ‘do we still need it?’
Women are shoulder to shoulder with men in so many domains around the globe. Be it politics, economics, social or cultural fronts. Women have grown by leaps and bounds. So while we say they are equal to men, why do we still need IWD? While I believe, there is no concrete answer to this, the fact is there are still places where men and women do not have equal rights. Barring the well developed and progressive areas, women empowerment is still needed. The popular notion that men are stronger than women still persists.
Having said that, men have their own share of problems too. The social pressures they face cannot be ignored. Right from childhood, they get to hear ‘boys don’t cry’, ‘you have to earn well to get a good girl in life’, ‘be a man’, etc. When we talk about rights, we mean human rights. So, we’re humans first, XX and XY later.
On a lighter note, IWD does have the perks of receiving surprises and gifts from our brothers, fathers, partners and friends. And just for the record, there’s an International Men’s Day too, celebrated on 19 th November. If only men were good at remembering dates!
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