On March 8th of every year, without fail, from 12:00 am to 23:59, the world is busy posting statuses and sending messages about their staunch and unwavering camaraderie towards the ‘second-sex’ or in simpler words ‘the women.’

They will praise the divinity of motherhood, the necessity of womanhood, and the purity of girlhood. Ah! When one reads such delectable words, one might forget that these performative stunts will be foregone the second the clock strikes midnight on March 9th. May I ask you, how many of us know why March 8th is chosen to be celebrated as International Women’s Day? Have we ever stopped a moment to think about it? – Of course, that is a No.

International Women’s Day was first conceived at the Second International Socialist Women’s Conference in 1910 as the leaders, notably Clara Zetkin, a German activist, wished and wanted to mobilize working women in a setting apart from the mainstream feminist movement, as they felt that they were overlooked in favour of their bourgeois sisters. However, a fixed day for the observance was later proposed by Zetkin, in 1921, in honour of a workers’ strike in Petrograd on that very same day in 1917, which also marked the beginning of the Russian Revolution. Though the concept of a day to celebrate women workers caught on to Europe, the American counterpart was hesitant to celebrate the holiday due to its socialist and communist origins.

While Roe vs Wade is stripped off from our American sisters, the country and her corporates, today, are busy celebrating National Women’s History Month to recognize and celebrate womanhood. To ‘Americanise’ the said holiday, a myth was spread. Allegedly, a strike was held in New York City on March 8, 1857, when the American female garment workers of multiple factories joined forces to demand better working conditions and their right to vote, which ultimately led the group to form their union, despite police harassment. Such an inspiring story – or would be – if were true only. There is no evidence, sadly, to support such a strike or the unionization of American female garment workers.

In the 1970s, as an effort to amplify women’s history in schools, American feminist groups extended the now-mainstream International Women’s Day to Women’s History Week, which was nationally recognized by Jimmy Carter in 1980. Women’s history observation in the USA snowballed from there, and each U.S. president since 1995 has issued a yearly proclamation honouring the role of American women in history. And the United Nations, in 1975, moved to formally sponsor an annual celebration of International Women’s Day.

In this contemporary burning world (literarily and metaphorically), we do tend to believe that there is less visibility of women and women’s rights. When one sect of people is yelling, there is no need for the women’s rights movement or feminism, the other groups are yelling this is exactly why we need both. So, let me ask you a question – have women around the globe achieved equality and equity so that we can forgo Women’s rights movements and Feminism? The answer is not simple.

Indeed, there are many rights to be achieved for our sisters living around the world; but let us not forget how many Women’s rights the past four waves of feminism have helped us to achieve in recent decades. Also, let us look into the reasons why we cannot yet call a stop to our fight for women's liberation.

Copyright Fineacts

The rights our sisters have achieved:

1. In France, before 1965, women could not apply for a job without their husband’s authorization. (Well, apparently, husbands own their wives, don’t they?)

2. In Switzerland, before 1971, women could not vote or participate in elections. (Talk of women being individuals or humans has left the chat.)

3. In the US, before 1974, women were not allowed to have bank accounts or apply for credit by themselves. (Our American brothers are well-versed in women’s oppression.)

4. In the US, before 1978, women could be fired because they were pregnant. (We are cookin’ a new generation, still, no rights can be seen on the horizon.)

5. In Italy, before 1981, a law protected men who killed their wives due to behaviours perceived as damaging family honour. (Family honour is greater than female autonomy, pfft… of course!)

6. In Canada, before 1983, husbands could beat their wives, and no criminal charges would be brought against them. (You too, Canada?!!!)

7. In the US, before 1988, women could not get a business loan on their own. (US yet again. I’m not surprised anymore.)

8. Around the world, before 1990, women were not included in clinical trials for any medicine, especially 80% of pain meds, considering 70% of chronic pain patients are women. (It's all in our heads, sistah!)

9. In Peru, before 1991, rapists could avoid punishment by marrying their victims. (Even trauma got trauma reading this.)

10. In Brazil, before 2005, husbands had the right to rape their wives. (Consent, I have never heard of it before!)

11. In China, before 2015, women were forced to abort if they already had a child. (Your body but Government’s choice.)

12. In Germany, before 2017, women could not marry women. (Apparently, love happens between men and women only.)

13. In Saudi Arabia, before 2018, women were not allowed to drive. (What if we allow them to run away from oppression? No, can’t do, amigo.)

14. In Russia, before 2021, women could not drive trucks or trains nor pursue any kind of mechanical career. (Did you know people believed that the uterus would fall out of women if they travelled in a train or pushed something heavy?)

Copyright Nevada Arts Council

The Rights our sisters still need to achieve

1. Since 2000, femicide has increased drastically in Türkiye. (Our mere existence enrages Men. ‘kay.)

2. Since 2020, in Poland, it has been illegal to get an abortion. (Your body, our choice.)

3. Since 2021 in the UK, a woman, on average, has been killed by a man every 3 days. (Liberated and progressive country, they say.)

4. In 2022, in Iran, a woman can get killed for not wearing her hijab properly. (How dare you seduce us with your hair, temptress?!!!)

5. In 2025, in Niger, Tchad, and Mali, children can be legally married. (Kids. They are KIDS.)

6. In 2025, in Israel, women cannot ask for divorce without their husband’s permission. (They can’t let people live peacefully.)

7. In 2025, in Jordan, single women are expected to go to prison. (Okay, what about the man responsible? Oh, he walks freely. Noted.)

8. In the UK, domestic violence cases reported increase twofold after every football match in which the UK loses. (Did you know that during the lockdown period, there was an alarming rise in domestic violence towards women?)

9. Marital rape is still not a crime in 32 countries including but not limited to India, China, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Lebanon, South Sudan, Yemen etc. (Women are properties sold and to be used at Man’s will, isn’t it?)

10. In India, even today, Female infanticide is practiced. (To kill or not to kill – that is the question!)

11. In many African countries, female genital mutilation is still practiced. (What did our poor clit do to you?)

12. In Iran, women can be flogged for dancing or singing in public and showing their hair. (Female creativity – no, we can’t encourage that.)

13. In Afghanistan today, women cannot be heard speaking to each other, cannot be seen through a window, cannot wear hijab other than the colours blue or black, or walk in a park. (Women – a non-human specimen.)

For half of the world, marrying someone they like, pursuing a degree that they want to study, wearing the t-shirt that they love, cutting their hair in the latest style, enjoying their hobby, or talking to any person might sound simple as it is second nature for them. But for the other half of the population, us women, we are scared to walk on a road even in daylight, and we have to think a million times before talking to or rejecting another person (have you heard about acid attacks?). We cannot exercise our free will when more than half the world thinks of us as a property and problem, and who considers us as property that needs an ownership transfer the moment periods hits between our legs. We live in a world where we are blamed for rape because it was our dress that caused him to do that and never, he has a rapist mentality. We live in a world where we need to second – no – million guesses our decisions and thoughts.

You might not understand the need for feminism or Women’s rights – I understand that. But your silence is only fuelling the fire that is already burning us slowly day in and day out. I am not asking you to be loud or to join protests (if you can, that would be good) but asking you to un-learn and re-learn your perspective towards women. For example, stop saying you should not rape her because she might be somebody’s sister or daughter or wife. Stop rape because she is a human and no human or animal deserved to be violent thus. Stop laughing over rape jokes. We are humans with equal rights and desires like you. Think of us as Humans who have desires and dreams like you do and not as things that cannot be left in charge of her body, mind or soul. Respect us as humans so that the world can thrive in peace and stop referring to us as daughters, sisters, wives, mothers or grandmothers. These relations attached to men do not define us. We are complete in who we are with or without these relations.

FEATURE IMAGE COPYRIGHT: OPEN GLOBAL RIGHTS