B&FT: Observing International Women’s Day (IWD) should change attitudes

While the world has made unprecedented advances in women’s empowerment, no country has achieved gender equality. Less than 25 percent of parliamentarians were women as of 2019. One in three experience gender-based violence, still. International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8th of March every year around the world.

International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.

The theme of International Women’s Day 2020 is ‘I am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights’. Generation Equality marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the most progressive roadmap for the empowerment of women and girls everywhere.

Multiple obstacles remain unchanged in law and in culture. Women and girls continue to be undervalued. Women earn 23% less than men globally. Women occupy only 24% of parliamentary seats worldwide. Obviously, there is much more ton be achieved for true gender equality – and that battle continues unabated.

Thanks to the sustained persistence and fight by gender advocates, civil society and feminists alike pushing for equal rights and opportunities for both gender, a certain level of consciousness has been cultivated.

A World Bank study has revealed that more than 150 countries still have at least one law that restricts women’s opportunities. This implies that 8 out of every 10 countries on earth have such restrictive orders.

Again, 46 countries provide no legal protection against violence –and 41 countries across the globe provide no legal consequences for sexual harassment at work. Globally, 1 in every 6 girls does not go to school.

All these point to the fact that while we celebrate and honour women for their outstanding contribution to life, we ought to relegate old habits and traditions which demean and sideline our women and girls from fulfilling their true potential to the background of history.

Today, women are achieving remarkable feats that would have been bottled up had we not resolved to eliminate all forms of discrimination as enshrined in the Universal Human Rights. It was so refreshing to watch a documentary on the first African women Dreamliner captain of Kenya Airways, which only goes to prove that women can attain any height provided they are encouraged and given the opportunity.