International Women's Day 2009

Happy International Women's Day. This year Liberia is hosting an event to celebrate the day. Many female leaders are expected to take part. The event is quite significant for Liberia in it's recovery and of course the country's first female president Helen Johnson Sirleaf will lead the celebrations. Since it's inception 100 years ago, the day has gradually grown in significance. In some countries International Women's Day is placed on the same level of importance as Mother's Day. I remember when I lived in China some male friends from various eastern European countries gave flowers to all of us female students in our dorm as a symbol of their support for the day.

Individual countries can have a theme, but the international theme for this year is 'Women and men united to end violence against women and girls'. This is a wonderful theme because the only way change can happen is with women and men working together. Also a key point of International Women's Day is that it is about positivity and not anti-male as some detractors complain.

This holiday has helped bring attention to numerous issues that pertain to women including sexual violence, abuse, pay equity, and access to education. We've clearly made significant strides in a variety of ills that plague the world including gender inequity but there is quite a long way to go. The good thing is that literally every day people are working towards improve things. One such example is a troupe of actors in Nepal who are apart of 'The International Theater of the Oppressed'. This form of theater uses drama as a way to highlight social issues and teach people how to make changes within their communities. This particular Nepalese production focused on domestic abuse. As with all 'International Theater of the Oppressed' productions audience members were invited to participate and become playwrights of a sort by deciding how the play ends. The actors included women and men, an example of how both sexes can work together for the betterment of women which ultimately improves men's lives as well.

We can look near and far and find plenty of examples of gender inequity. Each of us has the power to improve the lives of women by doing something as large as 'The Theater of the Oppressed', volunteering with local agencies, or even helping a friend. Basically the tenants of International Women's Day should be a part of our daily lives.