|
|
|
| Sunday, 05 March 2006 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
"Help me not to ask for help" by Aditha Dissanayake "I married beneath me. All women do", said Lady Nancy Astor. Could this mean Simone de Beauvoir's statement in the introduction to The Second Sex, that "He is the subject, he is the absolute - she is the other", is no more?
But history has it that the greatest struggle for equality, justice, peace and development began in 1908 in the United States when, for thirteen cold winter weeks, 30,000 women garment workers went on strike, marching in the streets of New York protesting against low wages, long working hours and inhumane working conditions. Their slogan was "Bread and Roses" - bread symbolizing economic security and, roses, a better quality of life. Two years later, in August 1910, at a meeting in Copenhagen, the Women's Socialist International had decided to commemorate the strike by observing an annual International Women's Day. And so, finally to come to the point - in three day's time, on March 8, it will be International Women's Day - the day which recalls the centuries old struggle of women to participate in society in an equal footing with men. No longer wanting to be associated with roses and sweets women today, have begun to play, not only the roles of wife and mother, but also the role of the breadwinner. With the increase in access to education and proper health care women's participation in the paid labour force has grown; grown so much so that today in Sri Lanka a sizeable contribution to the country's economy, especially in the tea plantations and the FTZs are made by women. About 600,000 of them, working abroad, contribute a foreign exchange of more than 70 billion rupees. But nowhere in the world can women claim to have the same rights and opportunities as men. Three-quarters of the women over 25 in much of Asia and Africa are said to be illiterate. In Sri Lanka out of a total women workforce only 16% are employed in decision making professions. Everywhere women continue to be victims of violence, with rape and domestic violence listed as significant causes of disability and death among women of reproductive age. This year, in a bid to end violence against women in six countries of South Asia, thousand participants, both men and women from all over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan will gather at the Vihara Mahadevi Park from 7th to 9th March, under the slogan 'Small actions can make big changes". The campaign planned by a confederation of 12 organizations working together in more than 100 countries called WE CAN International will reach and influence ordinary men and women to challenge deep seated gender biased attitudes, customs and practices that endorse inequity and discrimination in society. Apart from the creative workshops and interactive discussions on providing support and protection to women facing violence, a large quilt bearing messages written by the participants on women's rights will be stitched on the grounds of the Viharamahadevi Park to mark the event on March 8 2006. Undoubtedly, since that day in 1908, when the shirtwaist makers in the garment factories of America took to the streets women have made tremendous progress towards achieving equality with men. The silence has been broken, and through the celebration of International Women's Day, a platform for action towards building a just and developed society has been achieved. The day, the Latin American poetess Alejandra Pizarnik's plea - "Help me not to ask for help", comes true, will not be far off. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
But surely the real silence was broken ages ago when adventurous women
like Suppa Devi ran away from home to join a gang of travelers in order to
seek independence. And by women like Lysistrata of ancient Greece, who
initiated a sexual strike, and refused to have sex with men until they
stopped the war? 
