Gender equality still distant goal despite progress
Source: Agencies |
March 9, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE head of the new UN women's agency said yesterday there has been "remarkable progress" since International Women's Day was first celebrated a century ago but gender equality remains a distant goal because women still suffer widespread discrimination and lack political and economic clout.
Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said in a statement marking the 100th anniversary that the pioneering women who launched the commemoration to promote better working conditions, the right to vote and hold public office, and equality with men, would probably look at the world today "with a mixture of pride and disappointment."
It was discrimination against women that brought over 1 million women and men from the socialist movement onto the streets for rallies in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on what was originally called International Working Women's Day on March 19, 1911.
The day became popular in Eastern Europe, Russia and the former Soviet bloc, and eventually spread around the globe. In some regions, it lost its political flavor and became an occasion for men to express their love for women with candy and flowers while in other regions, women's struggle for human rights and political and social equality remained the focus.
In 1975, the United Nations began celebrating March 8 as International Women's Day. Two years later the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a day for women's rights and international peace.
"The last century has seen an unprecedented expansion of women's legal rights and entitlements," Bachelet said, pointing to virtually universal voting rights for women, inroads for women in professions from which they were banned and laws penalizing domestic violence in two-thirds of the world's nations.
But Bachelet said despite this progress, "the hopes of equality expressed on that first International Women's Day are a long way from being realized."
Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said in a statement marking the 100th anniversary that the pioneering women who launched the commemoration to promote better working conditions, the right to vote and hold public office, and equality with men, would probably look at the world today "with a mixture of pride and disappointment."
It was discrimination against women that brought over 1 million women and men from the socialist movement onto the streets for rallies in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on what was originally called International Working Women's Day on March 19, 1911.
The day became popular in Eastern Europe, Russia and the former Soviet bloc, and eventually spread around the globe. In some regions, it lost its political flavor and became an occasion for men to express their love for women with candy and flowers while in other regions, women's struggle for human rights and political and social equality remained the focus.
In 1975, the United Nations began celebrating March 8 as International Women's Day. Two years later the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a day for women's rights and international peace.
"The last century has seen an unprecedented expansion of women's legal rights and entitlements," Bachelet said, pointing to virtually universal voting rights for women, inroads for women in professions from which they were banned and laws penalizing domestic violence in two-thirds of the world's nations.
But Bachelet said despite this progress, "the hopes of equality expressed on that first International Women's Day are a long way from being realized."
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