International Women’s Day
by V.E. on March 8th, 2010
filed under fyi, personal, politics
Today is International Women’s Day, as March 8th has been every year since 1975. This year’s theme is: “Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all”, something about which I’m not sure what to write. Women still don’t have equal rights or equal opportunities, even in supposedly great nations such as the United States and other first-world countries like Japan, Germany, England, Spain, Italy, and France. 
And yes, I’m being specifically Eurocentric because it’s European and North American countries that have made the most progress—as far as I can see, at least—in women’s rights, much less other countries that still have honor killings and female genital mutilation of all things.
I’m somewhat conflicted about having an International Women’s Day (IWD) at all. If IWD is on March 8th, what does that make all the other days of the year, by default? Yeah, I thought so.
A couple of weeks ago, I was in my night class, “Women, the Earth, and the Divine”, when we were asked to come up with a personal and then group definition of “feminism”. According to Wikipedia, feminism is
a political, cultural or economic movement aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women. Feminism involves political, cultural and sociological theories, as well as philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that advocates gender equality for women and campaigns for women’s rights and interests.
While that’s accurate, I decided to go for something simpler. I wrote, Feminism is the radical idea that women are human. It’s not an original idea (Cheris Kramarae said it first), but it seemed to me the simplest way I could say something that’s so apparently controversial that calling someone a “feminist” is (or, at least, can be) like calling them a bitch or worse—insulting. Feminists are not man-haters, for example.
Anyway, my group liked the definition so much that they decided to forgo theirs completely and use mine as the group definition. I was flattered but anxious about that because the teacher didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would really understand the sentiment (or appreciate my sense of humor, for that matter). I was right; she didn’t. When she got to my group’s definition, she read it aloud and then sat there, appalled, for a good half minute before saying something like, ” Well, that’s completely insulting.” I ducked my head, flushing, even though she didn’t know who’s definition it had originally been. What a bad idea that had had been, right?
Well, she brushed over it after the class finished laughing, we moved on to other groups’ definitions, and the moment passed. But I think it would have been prudent for her to have actually addressed what she thought was insulting. I mean, my definition is true. Feminism is the radical idea that women are human. For centuries, women (and children) have been recognized only as a part of a man—daughter to a father, wife to a husband, or mother to a son. It’s been the man who’s been important, and the woman has been an extension of him.
The day women stop being considered in terms of men and start being considered in terms of their own merits is the day feminism will have served its purpose. Until then, though, we’ll just have to keep working toward equity.
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Also, on an unrelated note: today is B—’s birthday. I find it to be completely ironic that he and IWD share a day; he’s certainly done his part to maintain the white male privilege status quo.
On another unrelated note: today is also A—’s brithday. Since she wrote me that note a while ago about not wanting to be my friend anymore, she’s sent me numerous Facebook invites, etc., which I find to be totally faux pas. Are you my friend, or not? Just pick one and let’s be done with it. (I’m leaning toward not, though I guess etiquette is complicated when I’m Facebook friends with someone who isn’t really a real friend.)
