Happy International Women's Day

Happy International Women’s Day!

Yes, March 8^th is International Women’s Day. The UN says they adopted the day for two reasons: “to recognize the fact that securing peace and social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms require the active participation, equality and development of women; and to acknowledge the contribution of women to the strengthening of international peace and security.”

I couldn’t go to any of the hundreds of global events taking place worldwide, so I spent my day commemorating in the Twitterverse by following hashtags #InternationalWomensDay, #IWD and #IWD2011. I am proud to say that #InternationalWomensDay was even a trending topic today!

I am inclined to believe that knowledge of and participation in International Women’s Day was much bigger this year than any other. Yes, it is the 100^th anniversary, so it could be just this year that the day is getting more recognition everywhere. However, I learned that in countries like Italy and Russia(video), men buy flowers for the women in their lives to show appreciation. Why doesn’t the US do that? Why doesn’t Hallmark have Women’s Day cards? Even my beloved alternative SomeEcards.com doesn’t have them! Not that I think we need another commercialized holiday in our country, but it would be nice if women were celebrated for being women, not having children or being an administrative professional or having a birthday. Why should women get this special day when men don’t? Because being a woman is hard, at least it is harder than being a man.

In the UK, a PSA playing off the James Bond character has Daniel Craig dressed as a woman and Judi Dench telling of the inequalities women endure (see end of post). These are the sort of Women’s Day events I would like to see happening in the US next year.

Of course, we could not expect to be free of obnoxious woman-hating tweets that I can only hope were meant as jokes. And of course, since woman-beating mentally unstable Charlie Sheen is “so hot right now,” I was not the least bit surprised when I saw this being retweeted through the universe:

@charlieesheen I'd like to say a few words on behalf of #internationalwomensday ... SUP BITCH? lolz!

To be fair, this is not Charlie Sheen’s Twitter account, just an imposter account that has since been deactivated. Still, it reminds me that our culture is at best ignoring and at worst glorifying Charlie Sheen’s unacceptable behavior and attitudes towards women. (More on that from Anna Holmes in the NYT)

Here’s to hoping that next year, knowledge of and participation in International Women’s Day will be even bigger in the US and worldwide. In the meantime, we can focus on empowering women, demanding legislative change, and unfollowing Charlie Sheen (HaHa yes! There’s an #unfollowcharlie movement! Learn more!)