Yesterday we celebrated ourselves,
women and all gender oppressed people of all backgrounds, race, nationality,
immigration status, age or disability, religion, sexual identity, gender
expression, and economic status.
On January
21st over 5 Million US demonstrators joined the Women’s March
worldwide and over 1 Million in DC to make our voices heard. But it’s not over.
We stood united yesterday in solidarity making March 8th A Day Without
a Women to speak against for inequity, injustice and for the human rights of
women.
The first
International Women’s Day took place in 1911 in Denmark, Switzerland, Germany
and Austria (According to the International Women’s Day website). On March 8th we reflect on the
courageous acts of ordinary women, who have and continue to play an
extraordinary role to eradicate the inequities that continue to plague women
today: receiving lower wages, discrimination, sexual harassment and job
insecurity (to name a few).
Why does it
matter? According to the Economist Gender Equality Scale: Glass Ceiling Index, a
metric that demonstrates where women have the best chance of equal treatment at
work, categorized the US below average in significant areas, when compared to
28 other Countries. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD
performs an international biannual analysis of the economic trend to promote
policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people. The
US, when compared to other Countries, was below the OECD average on wage gap
equity, child care cost, paid maternity leave and women employed in parliament
and government; and barely above average on gender equality for higher
education. Although the OECD has showed
improvements on the gender equity on an international scale, Finland scoring
the highest among 28 Countries, the wage gap continues to widened, furthering
the notion that there is much work to be done.
This is among other women rights issues that have stemmed from the
current administration, further jeopardizing our reproductive rights: the
defunding of Planned Parenthood and overturning Roe vs. Wade.
Yesterday,
united in love and in the spirit of liberation, women:
- took the day off from (UN) paid labor
- avoided shopping for one day (unless from women or minority owned businesses)
- wore RED in solidarity with A Day Without a Women
We won’t
stop until we close the doors to discrimination, gender injustice and all acts
of oppression. Women’s rights are human rights.
For more information:
Lidyvez Sawyer, MPH,
Director
Office of Diversity,
Equity & Inclusion
Drexel University
College of Medicine
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