BREAK THE BIAS

How many times have you heard the people say, ‘women are their own worst enemies’ or ‘a woman can’t reverse park a car, or ‘women lead with emotions, they’re too soft for leadership.’ There are many others like a woman belongs in the kitchen. How sad. None of these gender stereotypes and biases should be in this century or any other century for that matter.

This month, we dedicate the blog to ending gender biases and stereotypes. International Women’s Day is held every 8th of March, this year’s theme is to celebrate women’s achievement, raise awareness against bias and take action for equality. It is a public holiday in several countries and is observed socially or locally in others.

According to Wikipedia,’ the earliest purported Women’s Day observance, was held on February 28, 1909, in New York City, organized by the Socialist Party of America by the suggestion of activist Theresa Malkiel. There have been claims that the day was commemorating a protest by women garment workers in New York on March 8, 1857, but researchers have alleged this to be a myth intended to detach International Women’s Day from its socialist origin. In August 1910, an International Socialist Women’s Conference was organized ahead of the general meeting of the Socialist Second International in Copenhagen, Denmark. Inspired in part by the American socialists, German delegates Clara Zetkin, Käte Duncker, Paula Thiede, and others proposed the establishment of an annual “Women’s Day”, although no date was specified. The 100 delegates, representing 17 countries, agreed with the idea as a strategy to promote equal rights, including women’s suffrage.

The following year, on March 19, 1911, the first International Women’s Day was marked by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. In Austria-Hungary alone, there were 300 demonstrations with women parading on the Ringstrasse in Vienna, carrying banners honoring the martyrs of the Paris Commune. Across Europe, women demanded the right to vote and to hold public office and protested against employment sex discrimination. The United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day in 1975, which had been proclaimed the International Women’s Year. In 1977, the United Nations General Assembly invited member states to proclaim March 8 as an official UN holiday for women’s rights and peace. It has since been commemorated annually by the UN and much of the world, with each year’s observance centered on a particular theme or issue within women’s rights.’

Some findings behind the new Gender Social Norms Index, released by UNDP in 2020, reveal how social beliefs obstruct gender equality in areas like politics, work, and education. According to the index,

‘While women have the same rights as men, the survey reveals that men make better political leaders than women do, and the university is more important for a man than a woman.’

To end these biases, society must stand up for the rights of women. Workplaces must support equal pay for men and women in the same roles. At home, the kitchen should not just be left for the women, men must also play their part. When it comes to politics and breaking the glass ceiling in the workplace, women should not fear, and aim for these positions. Only then can we shatter the bias.

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