International Women’s Day – Some Thoughts

Amal F Jhaveri, Chokher Bali and 2 others like this on FB Lassi with Lavina page

A special Day for Women – Why Not Every Day of the Year?

It’s International Women’s Day again and in a way, kind of grim that we still need to have a specific day set aside for women. Why do we need one special day – why aren’t women treated like the special people they are every day of their lives? The past year has been horrific with atrocities against women, young girls, even toddlers. When will all that end?

Why is it not even necessary to have an International Men’s Day? While so many wonderful men walk side by side with women, as friends and equals, as supporters and kindred spirits, many of the problems are due to warped ideas of what is manhood, of how men should behave in their relationships.   Maybe there should be a special day for men, to recognize their caring and humanity – and to help others to become the men they should be.

Look at young boys, how sweet and malleable they are. Somewhere along the way, thanks to a patriarchal society, to a received notion of what makes a man,  we lose so many of them to the dark forces. How do they even consider molestation, rape, abuse? Where does the gentleness, the humanity go? Why is it that it is mostly men who end up in jail and probation and the underworld?

Let’s have an International Men’s Day to reclaim the lost boys, sons, brothers. They are the ones marked because of their maleness to deal with the big issues – warfare and religion and invasions.  A partnership, shared counsel from the time of youth may yield very different results. Somewhere along the way, males and females start to talk different languages –  the connections break, the humanity is lost.

How is half the population not even consulted on the fate of the world?

Once again this year we celebrate women, our courage and our latent potential. It would be great if we could take the men along with us on the ride; they too need to be celebrated, we need to discover their courage and their latent potential.

Might we start really early, when the boys are young, idealistic and willing to learn all the magic of a peaceful, equal world?

Google has a new doodle and a lovely video of women across the world – if you watch it really carefully, you’ll catch our very own Asha Bhosle, boxing champion Mary Kom in it as well as Malala Yousafzai.

Here is the full list of tremendous women who are part of this joyful video which will make you smile.  Students, TV host, jewelry designer, mothers-to-be, canteen owner, women’s rights activist, aspiring engineer, artist, grandma – the list goes on and on. The truth is we come in many shapes, sizes, ages – with many dreams and aspirations.

Women  Warriors  from across the World

• Cee Chatpawee, TV host, IT Princess, Thailand
• Chinaza Godwin Christiana, Student, Nigeria
• Easkey Britton, Surfer and the first woman to surf in Iran, PhD and doctoral candidate, Ireland
• Rahimah Yussof, Developer group leader, Brunei
• Chen Yuhong, School teacher, China
• Naho Okamoto, Jewelry designer, Japan
• Mary Kom, Five-time World Boxing champion, India
• Funlayo Adewale, Canteen owner, Nigeria
• Jennifer Luo & Yi-hsin Chen, Mothers to be, Taiwan
• Alifiyah Ganjee, Developer group leader, Kenya
• Karnataka State Home Guard, India
• Ana Cecilia Castillo, Developer group leader, Guatemala
• Rivka Carmi, President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
• Camila Batmanghelidjh, Founded the place2be and Kids Company, caring for 17,000 children, UK/Iran
• Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of Lithuania

• Sarah Sechan, TV personality and entertainer, Indonesia
• Shoko Uemura, Under-23 Women’s Football Team member, Japan
• Janet Mock, Trans woman rights activist and author, USA
• Harusoga Fujima, Professional Nihon Buyo dancer (traditional dance), Japan
• Mara Gabrilli, Congresswoman & Brazil’s spokesperson for people with disabilities, Brazil
• Maria da Penha, Women’s rights advocate, named the law protecting women from domestic violence, Brazil
• Viviane Senna, Entrepreneur and founder of NGOs, Brazil
• Marta Silva, Awarded multiple times by FIFA golden ball as best female soccer player in the world, Brazil
• Students, Guatemala
• Maia Sandu, Minister of education, Moldova
• Chamki, Adventurous and inquisitive schoolgirl muppet, India
• Christine Van Broeckhoven, Molecular biologist, Belgium
• Tanha Islam, Aspiring engineer, Bangladesh
• Jake Feinler, Former head of Network Information Center at Stanford and Internet Hall of Fame member, USA
• Iryna Velychko, Galyna Korniyenko & Marina Derkach, Developer group organizers, Ukraine
• Marisa Millán, Proud grandma, Spain
• Noelle Wenceslao, Janet Belarmino & Carina Dayondon, First Filipinas to climb Mount Everest, Philippines
• Clarisse Reille, Managing Director of French Professional Committee for Apparel Economy Development, France
• Gesche Joost, Professor of Design Research and one of Germany’s “100 masterminds of tomorrow”, Germany
• Dora, Explorer
• Nogah Dufresne, Multinational baby, France/Israel
• Tooba Shaikh, Aspiring Developer, Pakistan
• Katelyn Donnelly, Executive Director of the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund, USA/UK
• Catherine Koo, Chairlady of United Christian College Parents Teachers Association, Hong Kong
• Roba Al Assi, Blogger, Jordan
• SOS Lambrate, Ambulance volunteers, Italy
• Camila Bernal Villegas, Director of the CRAN Foundation and cancer survivor, Colombia
• Malala Yousafzai, Education activist, Pakistan
• Ashaji, Holds a Guinness World Record as most recorded artist in music history, India
• Nonna Grishaeva, Actress, comedian and singer, Russia
• Ndileka Xameni, Runs an orphanage, South africa
• İpek Hanım’s Farm, Business woman turned farmer and her village , Turkey
• Prof. Jacqueline A. Oduol, Gender expert fighting for Women’s and children’s rights, Kenya
• Martha Debayle, Radio personality, named one of the 50th most powerful women in Mexico by Forbes, Mexico
• Alenka Godec, One of the most prominent jazz and pop singers in Slovenia, Slovenia
• Zakeeya Patel, Actress, dancer and winner of South Africa’s Strictly Come Dancing 2013, South Africa
• Astrid Sartiasari, Singer, Indonesia
• Jenny Chan, Ella Wong & Ching Hoi Man, Spokeswomen, Hong Kong
• Isadora Faber, Education activist, 14 years old, Brazil
• Refiloe Khaoli, Copyrighter, South Africa
• Serena Gu, Grace Liang & Sharon Tam, University start-ups advocates, Hong Kong
• Anne Geddes, Renowned photographer and women’s advocate, Australia
• Cecilia Chung, Social justice & human rights activist, HK/US
• Diaa Elyaacoubi, Serial entrepreneur, named Entrepreneur of the Year 2004, France
• Ros Juan, Entrepreneur and Social advocate, Philippines
• Funmi Victor-Okigbo, Events Production Designer, Nigeria
• Chen Junlan and QiQiGe, Office workers andproudd mothers, China
• Tarryn Tomlinson, Inspiring quadriplegic working with disadvantaged youth, South Africa
• Zahira Asmal, Founder of Design South Africa, South Africa
• Foluso Olaniyan, Agricultural pioneer, Nigeria
• Jirawadee Sudta, Awarded National Excellent Youth in law and protection of children’s rights, Thailand