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Do they know it is International Women’s Day?

Posted by Sarah Arrow on March 8, 2010 · View Comments 

I don’t know much about the history of International Women’s Day and I must say up until last year I had never so much as given it a second thought.

So what happened last year? Well I got an unexpected call from a company called Prowse asking if I would join them and other women to celebrate International Women’s Day. I asked what would that involve and the answer came lunch at the Canadian High Commission in London, oh and we really like your story very much we would like your permission to send it to news outlets as part of this year’s celebrations.

Ida Horner

So I went from not knowing much about this day to being featured in Mail on Sunday to lunching with the then Women’s Task force amongst others

As part of this year’s celebrations I have been invited to address the Ugandan Diaspora in Manchester. My brief is to tell them about how I got started with Ethnic Supplies, what sort of help is available to women wanting to get started in business. I am also expected to discuss integration into British society, apparently this is a big issue for this group of women and it prevents them participating in the community they now call home. Phew!

As I read through the brief my thoughts turned to the women in the developing world on this day. I wondered “Do they know they it is International Women’s Day? If so what does this day mean for women world wide?”

My thoughts turned to some of the things that women in the developing world grapple with and one such issue and one that is not talked about much is access to a toilet and sanitary towels!

Yes, folk this is something that we may take for granted here but for some young girls in the developing world access to a toilet is a big deal as it impacts the sort of future a girl has to look forward to.

Young girls who can’t access toilets and sanitary towels during that time of the month miss out on school days and in some cases stop going altogether. The lack of education is a surest way of being confined to a life of poverty and can you imagine the impact of this on a whole country for instance?

If you are like me and had never given this much thought, it is scary stuff. Whilst writing this I stopped and thought I ought to look up this issue on Google to see how well documented it is and this is what I found

http://water.org/2009/09/four-ways-a-toilet-can-change-a-girls-life/

It is very sad indeed!

There is some good news elsewhere, as mentioned in my blog on Rwanda, where there are public latrines/toilets along the highways so men or women are never far from a toilet.

Are we there yet in terms of equality? I would say not by any stretch of imagination! If the lack of access to a toilet affected men this way, would they have found a solution to it by now?

How will you spend International Women’s Day?

Ida

(note from Ed. I have asked Ida to supply a donate button as so many people were interested in supporting the girls to reach a better life as it has such a profound impact in the communities around them. You can donate to the “Let them help themselves” charity which helps foster independence.)

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  • Just as an FYI, I am writing daily from Africa about food and agriculture issues for the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet blog. I've been focusing on highlighting women and their innovations to help alleviate hunger and poverty. Here is the link to the site www.nourishingtheplanet.org, feel free to check it out. I would love for you to consider cross-posting any posts or to include a link to your site. My personal diary about the trip is called BorderJumpers at www.borderjumpers.org. I'm headed to Ghana now, we've done research and written about Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana, South Africa, Madagascar, and Mauritius. Thanks again for your coverage of International Woman's Day, Danielle Nierenberg
  • Many thanks Danielle, I will drop you a note through your blog
  • Thought provoking blog, Ida, thank you.

    I found this information from The Girl Effect website, about the importance of education for young women.

    http://www.girleffect.org/#/fact_sheet/

    - When a girl in the developing world has seven years education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children

    - When girls and women earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it in their familes, compared with 40 percent for men

    - An extra year of primary school boosts girls future wages by 10 to 20 percent

    - An extra year of secondary school boosts girls future wages by 15 to 25 percent
  • Staggering statics indeed and that is sadly the reality. On my travels I meet women with husbands that more interested in beer than the well being of the family. I can't get used to this sort of news however many times I hear it. The truth most economies in the developing world would crumble without the efforts of women, who work the land and are at the market at the crack of dawn

    Last year I go introduced to women displaced by the 20 year old war in northern Uganda and they were the subject of my other blog on women's day. Here is the link to it

    http://ethnicsupplies.org/african-women/should-...
  • That's a very powerful website Ann, with some incredulous statistics. Sponsoring a girl child would be a grand idea. According to Wiki - International Women's Day (IWD) is marked on the 8th of March every year. It is a major day of global celebration of women. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements.

    Women displaced by armed conflict – often living alone with their children – are frequently exposed to sexual violence, discrimination and intimidation. Many face poverty and social exclusion as well. International humanitarian law therefore includes specific provisions protecting women, for example when they are pregnant or as mothers of young children
  • Morag
    Wow, significant facts, Ann. And I'm liking the idea of "distance adopting" a girl child, as suggested by Bian.
  • Hi Ida

    I asked myself the same question of women/girls in India 'Do they know it's Internation Women's Day?'

    Some of the issues Indian women face are:

    Being aborted even before they are born because of dowry
    Not having access to education
    Not having access to clean water
    Forced prostitution

    I worry that even as we're celebrating being women, there's a lot that the world needs to do to address the needs of women worldwide.

    If there's one thing I'd recommend to anyone who wants to make a difference is to adopt a girl child in one of the developing countries. I've seen how it changes lives ... giving them opportunities they wouldn't be given by their own families and society can give them the independence and pride they need. What more can we ask for as women.
  • It is a real shame that things have not moved on at all for women in some parts of the world. This morning on Radio 4 it was announced that in some parts of the world health care provision for women is at the same level it was in the UK 100 years.

    I have often wondered about the issue of dowry and the role of women in enforcing it. What would happen if they started campaigning against it?
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