Why do we still need International Women’s Day?
Today, 8th March, is International Women’s Day. It is a day when women are celebrated for their achievements no matter where they have lived or live, no matter what is the colour of their skin, no matter their national, religious, ethnic, cultural or political affiliations or history.
International Women’s Day (IWD) has its origins in the socialist labour movements of the early 20th Century in Europe and North America. The first designated Women’s Day was in 1909 in the USA. Organised by the Socialist party of America (yes there used to be one) it was held in honour of female garment workers who had protested against inhumane working conditions in NYC in 1908. In 1910 the Socialist International Society met in Copenhagen and determined that there should be an internationally celebrated Women’s Day each year to honour women’s rights and to build support for achieving universal suffrage for women. On 19 March 2011 the first International Women’s Day was celebrated and more than a million men and women took to the streets demanding that women have the right to vote, to hold public office, to education, employment and an end to discrimination on the job. For 107 years this day has continued to act as a rallying cry to build support for equality and parity of opportunity between the sexes.
So over a century after the first IWD why on earth do we still need this specific day? Why have the goals set out so very long ago not been achieved? The simple and sad fact is that there is still not one country on the whole planet in which women and men are viewed and treated absolutely equally; with ‘sex-blindness’; on merit alone. Don’t get me wrong, huge progress has been made, but we are not there yet. Whilst universal progress has been made on the issue of suffrage (well almost universal — there remains one country, the Vatican City, where women are denied the ability to vote), there are significant areas where progress has stalled.
In 1995, 23 years ago, The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was signed by 189 governments. It imagined a world in which every woman and girl was free to make her own life choices, to have an education and the ability to earn her own income and, importantly, to live in a society free from discrimination and violence. This world remains in the imagination.
Worldwide UNICEF estimates that more than 41,000 girls under the age of eighteen are each day forced in to marriage and sexual relationships for which they are not ready. There are countries where women are still required to ask for male permission before leaving the home. UNESCO states that “being a girl remains a primary cause for exclusion in the 21st century” and that “persistent inequalities in education cripples the lives of millions of girls and women worldwide”. UNESCO figures show that girls are more likely to never even enter education than boys, less than 40% of countries provide boys and girls with equal access to education and 31 million girls are still out of school worldwide.. Despite a 2012 United Nations declaration that female genital mutilation should be eliminated, it continues to be widespread with the World Health Organisation estimating that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have been violated in a manner that the UN has stated “reflects deep rooted inequality between the sexes and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women”.
It would be easy to shrug and to view gender inequality to be an issue in undeveloped countries. But, whilst the examples I highlight above certainly affect certain areas of the world more than others, discrimination and inequality remains present in the most advanced of countries. It may be more subtle, it may be less life-threatening; but nevertheless it remains.
The World Economic Forum measures gender equality annually in four key areas; namely health, education, politics and economy. In 2017 the overall average gap worldwide needing to be closed to achieve gender parity stood at 32%. In the economic field, however, the data shows that gender equality is still a whopping 217 years away. That means that by the time women have achieved parity in the economic field 324 years will have passed since the first IWD rallies called for economic equality. How can this be acceptable?
Perhaps more worryingly the data shows that, for the first time since the World Economic Forum started measuring (2006), the economic gap is widening. Progress in education has not resulted in equivalent gains for women in earning opportunity, economic independence and leadership.
It is widely accepted by governments and businesses that gender parity is not only good for women but it is also good for business. The World Economic Forum’s data estimates that closing the economic gender gap could add an additional US$250 billion to the GDP of the United Kingdom, US$750 billion to the GDP of the USA and a massive US$2.5 trillion to the GDP of China. It beggars belief therefore that out of all the FTSE 100 companies only seven are headed by women and only twenty seven of these one hundred companies have any women on their executive boards. Of the 27% who can proudly claim a woman, it is often just that; a single female voice amidst a sea of men. The situation is even starker in Singapore where only 8–10% of all the companies listed on the Singapore Exchange can boast a woman on the board. This ranks Singapore second to last (with only Japan faring worse) in a table rating the composition of company boards in all the major capital markets. The Human Capital Leadership Institute in conjunction with Boardagender (and with the government’s support) has set an aspirational target of 20 by 2020; that is to achieve a target of 20% of all listed company boards to be female within the next two years. I find it sad that in 2018 we are still having to set such low aspirational targets; and even sadder that it is likely that they will be missed.
I also found it sad when my daughter (a clever girl being brought up by a mother and father who are both feminists) tonight said to me that when she was older she “would have to look after the house”. A long conversation ensued as to the false basis of her assumption.
So for women and girls in other countries, for women in business and for my daughter tucked upstairs in bed we continue to need IWD as a rallying cry to build support for equality and parity of opportunity between the sexes. The campaign theme this year is #pressforprogress.
We should all make it a priority.
Lucy-Ann Dale
