IWD is a reminder for all men to be respectful & kind
Happy International Women’s Day!
Here’s to you, my daughters, my sister, my mother, my (female) friends, my Ex, my aunts, cousins, nieces, colleagues, partners, … you all deserve my acknowledgement and support — but not only on this day. You deserve solidarity and respect — especially from me as a privileged white man.
Yet, so do all the other women around the world — from all the other men (and all of the people in between & outside of the binary world…). So do also all the countless women in need, who are treated by men in terrible ways, we would never want our daughters or mothers or friends to be treated — ever.
Hey, men — this respect starts with questioning oneself — with analyzing our own behaviours; our words and actions, in how we treat women respectfully and “properly” — every day. Ask yourself: “Did I fail to keep my temper?” ; “Did I stop myself from taking advantage of (maybe) being stronger?”; “Did I fall into the trap of #mansplaining?”; “Do I support my beloved ones & protect them with enough kindness?”
There are moments, we are on the edge and we may be tempted to scream at our child or be harsh to the person we love — however we can do better — every day.
The IWD / international women´s day is more than just stories or celebrations. It is a day to think about the challenges inside families, relationships or societies. It is a day to particularly honour and acknowledge the rights of girls and women — an integral part of the #Human Rights.
Human Rights include equality and this is also one of the 17 SDG´s, the “Global Goals for Sustainable Development”. We have a choice to support these goals as well as to chose from thousands of different initiatives and organizations, which are working diligently since many decades on these topics — locally and globally.
#GlobalGoals video (2016) for #GirlsDay (which is Oct. 11 !)
By the way, since 2019 the “International Women´s Day / IWD” — the 8th of March — is an “official public holiday” in #Berlin. The Senate of Berlin chose to use this day as a new holiday, after balancing the amount of free days to others German states. (Bavaria used to have 3 more work-free days than Berlin). There were all kinds of discussions and many arguments for it & against it, but I think, it was a very good decision. As long, as the majority of the worlds population has still to fight for equal rights and is suppressed in various traditions, cultures and/ or countries — as long the elevation form a simple “international day” to a “public holiday” makes a lot of sense.
Of course, it is not only this day, that we should reflect and be aware. If you only think of your mother on mother’s day, you do NOT respect and honour your mother in the right way. Similarly, If you only think about “the plight of women” on March 8th, it may be merely lip service or even worse, a marketing strategy.
Furthermore, if we would only mention “mothers” on women´s day, we would really fail to understand what this is all about.
So, all of you men out there — try to be more supportive, understanding, kind and respectful. Make some more effort — today — and every day!
further info:
official IWD page: https://www.internationalwomensday.com
link to #Goal5 of the #GlobalGoals #SDGs — https://www.globalgoals.org/5-gender-equality
another great video from 2016: #WhatIreallyreallywant -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZQ2RUFd54o
for a selection of the “best videos from the last years” for #IWD see here:
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Activity/12287/Greatest-ever-International-Womens-Day-videos
#HeForShe, #BalanceForBetter, #InspireInclusion, #FreedomForGirls
PS: The woman on the picture above is my mother in the 1970´s — a strong and proud woman, who despite everything she had to endure never lost her good spirit and laughter until today as a 90 years-old great-grandmother. Her signature outfit (as a good catholic woman) in the 70´s & 80´s was the headscarf, “…because this was the easiest to wear with so many children and parents and relatives to always care for… and I never had time to take care of my own hair…”.
