As March 8 dawns upon Goa, the state along with the
rest of the world will celebrate International Women’s
Day. While Goa has sometimes seen its women portrayed
in a negative light, in many ‘silver-screen’ moments, yet
it sees women turn to its shores for their own comfort,
owing to the fact that they have been welcomed into a
culture that allows them to thrive and be themselves, all
the while ensuring their safety and well-being.
By and large, the occasion is a global day that
celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political
achievements of women. The day also marks a call
to action for accelerating gender parity. This year,
the UN has gone on to set a theme for Women’s Day
2017, titling it, ‘Women in the Changing World of Work:
Planet 50-50 by 2030’, promoting it with the hashtag
#BeBoldForChange. The UN theme for International
Women’s Day always tends to send out a strong and
powerful message for gender equality.
Different countries will, of course, commemorate
the day differently. For instance, in America, women
will go on strike in what is billed as ‘A Day Without A
Woman’. The day is billed as one of protest and advocacy
for gender equity organised by the activists behind
the January 21 Women’s March on Washington, which
fought for women’s equality; Ireland will undertake
a march of a similar kind. However, Italy will go the
more cheerful route, and women will enjoy free entry
to the country’s museums and cultural sites, which
will devote themselves to exhibitions that ‘celebrate
the feminine world’ by highlighting art by and about
women. In Russia, Women’s Day is considered to be
of more significance than Valentine’s Day, and men
will be rushing to arrange extravagant celebrations
for the women in their lives. Armenia sees March 8
mark the start of a socially accepted ‘Women’s Month’,
culminating on April 7 with a ‘Motherhood and Beauty
Day’. Even a place that has been known for its stringent
laws, Saudi Arabia, celebrated its first-ever women’s day
last month in Riyadh. Which begs the question of what
Goa can do for its women. Can it offer them the safety
and respect that they seek and crave? Many believe that
it can (turn to page 2 for more details), which is a mark of
huge strides towards progress.
Going back in time, one can read about the
first women’s national day, which was organised by the
Socialist Party of America in 1909, to commemorate the
New York garment workers strike the previous year, when
thousands of women had demonstrated in support of
better conditions. However, this was further cemented
in status by Russian women, who took to the streets to
mark International Women’s Day in 1917, sparking off
the start of a revolution that would change the course of
history. When female textile workers left their factories in
the then-capital Petrograd — on February 23 in the Julian
calendar, March 8 in the Gregorian — to march for ‘Bread
and Peace’, their action prompted food riots and a mass
strike. The army backed the demonstrators, the tsar was
toppled and women were granted the right to vote.
We have, of course, fortunately come on in leaps
and bounds since then, and while there are still many
more steps forward to be taken, there are many which
have already fortunately gone in the right direction, and
Goa in its own right, is a place which can, by and large,
account for those same steps.
