The Need for International Women's Day

There was International Women's Day recently, the 8th March. You probably heard about this, as the day has become increasingly prominent in the media over the past few years. Of course, with increasing recognition inevitably comes increasing criticism, and International Women's Day is now invariably accompanied by the shrill cries of certain male commentators who argue that there is no need for a day to specifically recognize and address issues that face women, and to ask why there isn't an international men's day.

The second of those criticism is easily addressed by pointing out that there is an official, UN-sanctioned International Men's Day. It's on November 19th, so don't forget it and feel free to celebrate as much as you want. The other issue requires a little bit more looking at – is there still a need in the modern world for a day that focuses on women-specific problems? I think there is, because, contrary to what some people convince themselves of, there are still many problems and inequalities facing women around the world.

Physical violence and abuse, particularly from close relatives and partners, for example. During the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, for example, around 6,600 US soldiers have been killed. During the same time period, 11,700 women in the US have been killed as a result of domestic violence – not too far from double the number of soldiers. Female genital mutilation is still a fairly common practice around the world, and is not only an issue in underdeveloped countries – there is currently a debate going on in the UK about protecting young female students who are taken to their ancestral communities to be circumcised during high school breaks.

UN statistics suggest that at least 250,000 rapes (primarily of women) are reported annually. That data only covers 65 countries, and has no way of taking into account the number of unreported rapes or the prevalence of rape in war zones or other lawless areas – so we can safely assume that the real number is much, much larger. Meanwhile, the conviction rate for reported rapes remains shockingly low – despite some rather flagrant twisting of numbers by the Crown Prosecution Service, the number of reported rapes in the UK that end in convictions is below 10%. In the US, where conviction rates are slightly higher, recent years have seen numerous high profile cases in which victims have been disbelieved, ostracized, or blamed for their own predicament – such as the case of the rapists in Steubenville, Ohio, star football players on the high school team, who were essentially treated by the local community as if they were the victims of the rape they committed.

Discrimination remains an issue as well, even if statistics are improving here. Women are still statistically likely to be paid less than men in equivalent jobs, and are less likely to be promoted to positions of power. The few prominent women in positions of power – such as Marissa Mayer at Yahoo or Hilary Clinton – are often pointed to as a way to suggest that the 'glass ceiling' has been shattered. But they remain the exception to the rule, rather than heralding a new era of equality.

So International Women's Day remains important, because it provides an opportunity to bring attention to problems like these and to highlight the fact that many women around the world remain poor, exploited, and oppressed – and the fact that not all women are in that situation doesn't detract from this. However, rather than focusing on this for only one day a year, it would be much better if we could remove the need for International Women's Day altogether by making every day one in which we focus on ending violence, discrimination, and inequality against all people.

[ International Women’s Day, 8th March, physical violence, Crown Prosecution Service, Steubenville, discrimination, Marissa Mayer, Hilary Clinton, glass ceiling ]