Women’s Day started in 1909 in New York, declared by the Socialist Party of America as a day to celebrate the achievements of great women, and to protest and strike over continued inequalities. The day became internationally celebrated in 1911.
This year’s theme is “Each for Equal,” an effort to celebrate women’s individuality as a way to empower the collective whole. According to the International Women’s Day website, “Equality is not a women’s issue, it’s a business issue … Gender equality is essential for economies and communities to thrive.”
When I first read this, I was thrown off. While it makes sense to push for economic equality — given that women, historically and currently on a global scale, have been paid less than men, are underrepresented in management positions, and have less decision-making power when it comes to finances in the household — I wonder if individualizing this issue is the most healthy way to reduce inequality.
Individualization places the responsibility of improvement onto the person. The International Women’s Day website explains the campaign theme: “We are all parts of a whole. Our individual actions, conversations, behaviors, and mindsets can have an impact on our larger society.” This seems like an ironic and exclusive goal. If our inequality is produced from systematic flaws, such as discrimination and sexism in the workplace or larger society — something out of our control — it seems strange to turn it around and expect women to take matters into their own hands.
Pulling from the International Woman’s Day website again, this quote stands out: “Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions — all day, every day. We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations, and celebrate women’s achievements.”
This is great — if you’re already on board with women’s rights and equality. The thing is, it places the responsibility to educate those who may not be on board with the movement on the individual, particularly on women. Educating others can be exhausting, and if women are already struggling in this economic system, how are they expected to spend the time and energy educating others?
While it’s great to have a day dedicated to women, we do need to ask ourselves if one day is really helping reduce inequality at all. Sure, it’s important to acknowledge the struggles of women and remind ourselves that there is work to be done, but International Women’s Day is at risk of getting lost in the myriad of other dedicated days for something-or-other.
It is especially important for Canada to be critically considering its celebration of International Women’s Day in regards to Indigenous women. On a global scale, Indigneous women and girls are the subject of undue violence, and face disproportiontly high rates of abuse, murder, and poverty. This inequality needs to be reversed on a systemic level, especially in Canada where missing and murdered Indigenous girls are a serious problem.
While economic equality will help prevent many problems ailing women in our society, it is going to take more than individual women and allies to bring about this change. It is high time that we start demanding tangible changes from how our government operates. In particular, it’s important to have more women in decision-making roles, but women can’t get there by themselves. This is not by lack of power from the individual woman — the individual can only swim upstream for so long on their own. It’s time to change the direction of the stream altogether so that women don’t have to constantly battle to prove themselves worthy and struggle to obtain positions they should rightfully hold.
The United Nations Population Fund lists several ways countries can, at a systematic and macro-level, improve equality between men and women:
“(a) Establishing mechanisms for women’s equal participation and equitable representation at all levels of the political process and public life in each community and society …
(b) Promoting the fulfilment of women’s potential through education, skill development and employment, giving paramount importance to the elimination of poverty, illiteracy and ill health among women;
(c) Eliminating all practices that discriminate against women; assisting women to establish and realize their rights, including those that relate to reproductive and sexual health;
(d) Adopting appropriate measures to improve women’s ability to earn income beyond traditional occupations …
(e) Eliminating violence against women;
(f) Eliminating discriminatory practices by employers against women, such as those based on proof of contraceptive use or pregnancy status;
(g) Making it possible, through laws, regulations and other appropriate measures, for women to combine the roles of child-bearing, breast-feeding and child-rearing with participation in the workforce.”
So, let this day be a reminder that we need to be working every day to respect and uphold women and demanding that systemic issues of inequality be abolished.
Darien Johnsen is a UFV alumni who obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree with double extended minors in Global Development Studies and Sociology in 2020. She started writing for The Cascade in 2018, taking on the role of features editor shortly after.
She’s passionate about justice, sustainable development, and education.