IWD: Who Are You Celebrating?

A few days ago I wrote a whole page on the International Women’s Day but left the draft to breathe for a while. By the time I came back to it, I knew I shouldn't post it because it was all wrong.

Sure I had written about The Woman. How not many of us are appreciated enough, if at all. About how, if we have never been celebrated for the things we do as women in our families, our work places, our communities, groups etc., perhaps it was time to be the one actually celebrating others - without airs, without condescension, not sizing one another up because we do this a lot. Woman to woman. Lets face it, we women mostly don't like each other.

But then I thought that we shouldn't even concentrate on us us this time. I felt that the very people we should celebrate are those who have no idea what the ‘International Women’s Day’ is all about. I thought, how can we make their day? How can you and I let them know that their daily struggles, their challenges, their very life is appreciated? Our drivers’ wives, our security/gate man's wife, the young women who clean and serve in our offices, our favorite customers in the market, our stewards, our nannies! – those women we (sometimes) never really seem to notice, much less think about.

What have we got that we can give? Those things that wont even cost us much; it should cost us something because sometimes a free gift is just that, free -gives  nothing else in return, no feeling of ‘accomplishment’, pleasure or satisfaction. But the very least we can do, for those who don’t believe in free gifts, is give a smile to someone to let them know that though they may be in the background working, their impact is felt in all that they do. In fact, for some, all you need do is say their names for once! You will be surprised at the reaction.

These women are not aware that we are celebrating a day dedicated to our gender because they don’t read the papers, they don’t receive our broadcast messages or emails, they are not online to read about offices and organizations that are giving kudos to women all over the world to celebrate their womanhood and achievements, what’s more, they are not invited to the conferences and summits that celebrates them.

This is the group of women to whom I dedicate this year's Women's Day celebration.  

I hope I have piqued your interest and steered your thoughts in the right (and a new) direction.

I plan to do. I hope you do. I wish we would all do... Something.

Be free oh.

Card culled from Google.com