Are we REALLY celebrating International Women's Day?

Every Women’s Day is preceded by a debate – Should it be celebrated?

One fraction says that no special day is required to appreciate & celebrate women’s day. Each day is Women’s Day. Another portion concurs with the idea and believes that by celebrating and highlighting this day, we dilute the purpose of seeking #equality for women.

Do organizations really have an agenda when commemorating Women's Day, aside from?offering the chance to engage employees while having fun?

Primarily, the focus of celebrating this day is to extend respect, love, and appreciation to women and to celebrate their achievements - to give women a greater voice to further their demands for equal rights. It is a day devoted to celebrating the achievements of women and seeking gender equality.

Some women are empowered, and they don't need a specific day to recognize and celebrate the long road they've traveled to get where they are. Yet the women who are being denied equal opportunity deserve our full attention - women from small towns and villages or women from poor socioeconomic backgrounds.

I am proud to be a woman. But how many women really aren’t complaining (in their prayers if not aloud)? I happened to read a blog today of a fellow woman and she has absolutely nailed it… ‘It is about the millions of rural women out there who suffer and lack confidence in themselves. It is about bringing a change in their lives.’ Do these women even know that there is an entire day celebrated for them? No. They are beyond the special schemes, messages, emails, and posts. They can’t be tagged. Nobody will decorate their workspace, offer them a chocolate treat, or give them a rose.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the overall engagement strategy, which includes a dress code, welcome roses, special cakes & snacks, and the distribution of presents and coupons at workplaces on this day. This is a great way of appreciating these women and acknowledging their journey and contributions thus. And we women really do like appreciation and being made feel special. But we all know at least a few such colleagues/friends/neighbors/relatives around us who have ‘joked’ “All days are for women only. Even the special one. Hamara kya hai?!”, both a day before and a day after giving us that rose.

Here is what I am suggesting, on this day,

• Organizations could install a sanitary napkin vending machine in the washroom (and not chocolates), start a program that provides 1-on-1 mentoring sessions for young women (and not a Zumba session) and actually follow it through to closure,?or delve more into the subject of #inclusivebehavior at the organization, or anything else that makes a real difference to the life of the women in the organization.
• ?Women who have experienced opportunities for advancement, who understand what it's like to be treated as an equal (at least in part, if not entirely), and men who believe that women are their equals and believe in the concept of #inclusivity should work together to advance the status of those women who still lack a strong voice and who are likely unaware that there is such a thing as an #Internationalwomensday.
• ?Society should act toward providing #womensafety - with safe roads, safe workplaces, and safe homes.
• ?The government should do more to provide women a stronger platform so they can speak out against violence and obtain the support they require without being shamed.

?Is a day enough to do all this? I think not.

?So, share all the emails and posts you would on this day wishing the women around you, but what we really would appreciate is the effort you—or rather, "we"—make to achieve the goal of #Internationalwomensday.

?I am a daughter, a wife, a mother… I am a woman. And I wish that when my daughter grows up, she understands the essence of womanhood and #Internationalwomensday. And I wish that the smaller and larger sections of the society she is a part of too will understand it. I wish that she gets to celebrate it with those who have been denied the fundamental right of being a woman, of being a human.

And I wish that when she grows up, every day is celebrated as humanity day. A Happy #Humanity Day – every day.

To conclude, I quote Robert Frost:

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,??

But I have promises to keep,???

And miles to go before I sleep,???

And miles to go before I sleep.