Happy International Women's Day

editor:	Gurmeet Singh

March 8 is International Women's Day. Happy day to all women and women-identifying people out there. And much power to you all. As a cishet man, I can only offer solidarity and support, as well as my attempts to understand the various struggles women all over the world face.

From this perspective, I can say I think IWD is a vital and informative day to mark the contributions of women the world over, but one which suffers from the same problems all 'designated' days face. That is, the day itself can unfortunately be cast as a 'token' celebration, rather than a magnifying glass to highlight just how women are mistreated around the world. It is analogous to the problem of Black History Month – good in itself, but still, Black History is not bounded by the arbitrary parameters of a month.

In the spirit of celebrating and supporting women's causes, while also counteracting perceived tokenism, I'll highlight some different groups, actions and struggles around the world today.

Rituparna Chatterjee writes that in a post-MeToo era, celebrating women's day in India is a farce. This is because of the country's shocking levels of violence and sexual violence against women, as well as its deep cultural misogyny. Celebrating Women's Day as a 'celebration of women' rather than highlighting the struggles women face therefore becomes a farce. Nevertheless, marches are taking place right across the country, like the Aath March Saath March in Delhi, whose official position includes anti-war sentiments, and an anti-nationalist framework.
Spanish women are taking part in a nation-wide strike and there will be 1,400 rallies across the country to mark the day. With national elections looming, and Vox, the country's increasingly successful, far-right, Franco-loving party speaking out loudly against feminism and gender equality, this year's protests and marches have taken on a distinctly anti-fascist character.
The Guardian writes that "The new chair of one of the UK’s most influential business groups has accused Britain’s biggest companies of lying when they say they cannot find enough female or ethnic minority directors. Charlotte Valeur, who joined the Institute of Directors (IoD) in September, said she would start calling for new laws next year to force firms to improve their diversity if FTSE 350 companies failed to make faster progress."
In Cameroon, women are marching with custom-made pagne dresses. However, the focus this year is on the country's violent divisions, with civil war looking possible. This directly affects women. Sarah Lansky of Africa.com highlights just how these divisions have real impacts today, arguing that they prevent some women from marching, and the mission of women's day "cannot be fulfilled if only some women are allowed to march."
Rio Carnival turned political, with the usual celebratory atmosphere turning very anti-Bolsanaro, with so-called 'Barbie Fascists' defending women's rights.

It's an impossible task to highlight every collective women's struggle around the world, but I just wanted to showcase a few that show the variety and scale of the challenges women face, as well as the way these issues are refracted through broader social issues. Women can be and are negatively impacted by heightened nationalism, as this normally takes the form of traditional gender binaries, with 'strong men' and 'supportive women'. Women face issues in professional settings, with disparities in pay, and women of colour being particularly marginalised. And of course, women are fighting for their right to be seen – in conflicts which can engulf entire regions, the invisibility of women becomes a self-perpetuating cycle.

There are endless challenges that specifically affect women, but it's up to every one of us, and particularly incumbent on men to speak up and support women wherever we're able. Not just on one day in the year.

Call to Action

Empowering girls and women in South Sudan