International Women’s Day? – PLSC 359: Global Governance

I opened up Instagram on March 8^th to a picture of a worker stacking bricks, at least 15 high, on a woman in the brick kilns in India. It was in honor of International Women’s Day. In the comments, the photographer, Jodi Cobb, spoke of modern day slavery and how the slaves in the brick kilns at times count themselves lucky as they are not separated from their families. Her words mirror many of our class discussions. She even points to the fact that her project took place in 2003, and despite having one of the largest responses from the public or National Geographic, not much has been done. Later on in the day, National Geographic posted about a girl in Pakistan and spoke to the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Bill which was just passed in 2015 as being a step in the right direction.

Link to NatGeo Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/?hl=en

At first this seemed like a great trend, posts for the day in honor of International Women’s Day; however, then I realized there were 9 more posts that day, which had nothing to do with honoring women around the world or drawing attention to their plight in other countries. Then the question became, can National Geographic not dedicate one, of the 365 days in the year, to only posts celebrating women? Or is some attention better than none?

Around the world, marches were held to celebrate accomplishments, the Washington Post wrote about how in the Philippines women celebrated the ability for the first female candidate to run for the presidency. Or in many South American countries there were marches against femicide and illegal abortions. Then my question became what we did in the United Stated to celebrate this over 100-year “holiday.” It began in the US with a march for voting rights, so what are we doing to continue the celebration as the pioneers of the day?

I know there was a snapchat filter, and Michelle Obama spoke with a muralist, so what else?On the Guardian article for the day, Michelle Obama made the top post, for speaking with a muralist. I am not saying this is not positive as it is connected to HeForShe Arts week, but with all the other celebrations worldwide such as the picture to the left; this really took the top spot. The only other information I could find was a UN woman ringing the NY Stock Exchange bell. To be honest, I am slightly disappointed in the US and their actions compared to a global scale. I am just as guilty, but I believe we should have done more to celebrate the day we began over 100 years ago. It seems as if we do not do it justice or respect it as women in other countries.

http://www.newsweek.com/international-womens-day-2016-how-itll-be-celebrated-around-world-434169

In many cases people may argue that our lack of action, through the Google Doodle or the Snapchat filter is in part due to the great women’s rights we have in the country. Though I argue this, we may not have modern day slavery or women’s inequality near to the extent as other countries such as the woman depicted in the NATGEO Instagram in India. I push back by saying slavery is still present in the US, and until it is at zero, the fight should not end. More so, equality is not reached by any measure until women have equal pay and access to education country-wide. Great strides have been made in the US, but that does not mean the fight should stop. If we do not even celebrate International Women’s Day, a day recognized globally, do we even still fight as a country for equality of the sexes? Lastly, if the US has already moved on to new issues, while yet in other countries the fight is just beginning, the hope is that these countries will not follow the same procedure and the movement be not be forgotten globally.

Aileen Echelberger says:

April 30, 2016 at 12:40 pm

I was disappointed to read that there was such moderate enthusiasm for International Women’s Day in the United States, but not necessarily surprised. Julia makes a good point that, since conditions in the United States seem good in comparison to many countries around the world, groups of people with agency to affect change are likely to be more apathetic to the issue. We take what strides have already been made for granted, but there is still further to go.
I don’t know exactly how, but people need to understand how special it is that gender equality has come so far in this country and others in the past century, so that these strides are not taken for granted. Furthermore, it needs to be known that these strides are a part of a process that is not yet over. We can’t look at other countries with a condescending eye, because there is plenty of work we have to do at home to improve equality of the sexes.