Monday 8th March marks the centennial celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD).
Image credit: UN Photo/Marie Frechon
Today’s blog is written by Zena Nyakoojo, BSc in Biomedical Sciences and one of the newest members to the TLS team, who reflects on the meaning of International Women’s Day.
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Despite globally, women, on average, living six to eight years longer than men, females continue to be affected disproportionately by HIV, and suffer at the hands of sexual, maternal and reproductive ill health
As countries around the world begin their celebrations, it is also an occasion of careful reflection as we consider the accomplishments to-date, and future ambitions.
Following its initial establishment in 1909 in the United States, National Women’s Day became recognised as an international institution with an accompanying conference in Copenhagen the following year. Since then, the campaign has progressed to become an official annual holiday in many countries including China, Russia and Bulgaria, and is continuous in its attempts to liberate and encourage women throughout all areas of life, celebrating their social, political and economic accomplishments on a grand scale.
On a traditional level, the holiday sees women receive small gifts and tokens; this convention however, is only a surface gesture of the much more important and life changing objectives initially envisioned in 1909; objectives which maximised equal rights for all women in all societies in every respect. As such, this year’s global United Nations theme is Equal rights, Equal opportunities: Progress for all – a representation of gender issues around the world.
Globally, there is an obvious difference between the societal representation of men and women, especially in business and financial settings, and this may be the setting most would initially connect with gender inequality; It is however, not just in the workplace that differences are in stark contrast, and legislations involving women’s health and education, raise similarly important issues that need to be addressed.
Whilst it is not easy to summarise the current status of women’s health due to global and regional differences, it is undeniable that health inequalities remain at the forefront of global issues.
Despite globally, women, on average, living six to eight years longer than men[1], females continue to be affected disproportionately by HIV, and suffer at the hands of sexual, maternal and reproductive ill health; all of which demonstrate a need for gender specific healthcare reassessments as well as globally successful family planning regimens.
It seems that the continued failure of societies to fully meet the healthcare needs of females, is preventing girls and women from accessing their full potential; a view that is also emphasised in the World Health Organisation’s recent report, Women and health: today’s evidence tomorrow’s agenda[2]; an article which not only emphasises the negative impact of gender inequities on women’s health, but highlights that the poor distribution of resources including income, education and nutrition, due to such gender inequalities, are all heavily associated with poor health.
Although IWD Progress over the last ten years is undeniable, headlines of the day threaten to overshadow celebratory attitudes with articles emphasising high maternal mortality and labour death rates[3]. Such statistics should however, serve to extinguish complacency, and rather, act as a reminder of targets yet to achieve; a standpoint recently taken by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who also, encourages societies to celebrate the positive aspects rather than highlighting the negative ones.
The general warned that the race is far from over and discrimination against women continues to persist everywhere, with women’s education, health and status remaining unequal.
We should not however feel demoralised. Such words do not serve to belittle or ignore how far the journey towards gender equality has come, but rather, they highlight the importance of continued action, global perseverance and international unity.
Zena Nyakoojo
BSc (hons) Biomedical Sciences
Queen Mary University of London
References:
[1] WHO – Women’s Health. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs334/en/index.html
[2] Women and Health: Today’s evidence, tomorrow’s agenda. Available at:
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241563857_eng.pdf
[3] High maternal death rate overshadows International Women’s Day in Afghanistan. Available at: http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/health/High-Maternal-Death-Rate-Overshadows-International-Womens-Day-in-Afghanistan-86759682.html