[ 2021-03-08 ]

Today is International Women’s Day

By Hilda Ampomah

Accra, March 8, Today, March 8 is International
Women's Day (IWD). The Day celebrates women for
their immense contribution towards national
development and raise awareness on the need for
equality in all spheres of life.

The Day celebrates women for their immense
contribution towards national development and
raise awareness on the need for equality in all
spheres of life.

Women globally have offered great inputs in the
quest to building society in varied scopes like
health, food and agriculture, science and
technology, fishery, building and construction,
economics, sports, and even in mining.

They are able to combine perfectly and
effortlessly the roles of motherhood, wifehood,
and nation building activists.

Globally, women comprise 43 per cent of the
world’s agricultural labour force, rising to 70
per cent in some countries.

Across Africa, 80 per cent of the agricultural
production comes from small farmers, most of whom
are rural women.

According to Global Volunteers, the contribution
of women to a society’s transition from
pre-literate to literate likewise, is undeniable
and it is the mother in the family who often urges
children of both genders to attend and stay in
school.

“The role of women is at the front end of the
chain of improvements leading to the family and
community’s long-term capacity,” it said.

The global theme for this year's celebration,
“Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future
in a COVID-19 World", aims at highlighting the
role women have been playing at the forefront of
the global health crisis as health workers and
caregivers, community organisers and innovators.
The BBC explains that International Women's Day
grew out of the labour movement to become a
recognised annual event by the United Nations
(UN).

The seeds of it were planted in 1908, when 15,000
women marched through New York City demanding
shorter working hours, better pay and the right to
vote. It was the Socialist Party of America who
declared the first National Woman's Day, a year
later.

Things were made official in 1975 when the United
Nations started celebrating the day and the first
theme adopted by the UN (in 1996) was
“Celebrating the Past, Planning for the
Future”.

International Women's Day, since then, has become
a date to celebrate how far women have come in
society, in politics and in economics, while the
political roots of the day mean strikes and
protests are organised to raise awareness of
continued inequality and call for accelerating
women’s equality and recognition.

International Women's Day is a national holiday in
many countries, including Russia where the sales
of flowers doubles during the three or four days
around March 8.

In China, many women are given a half-day off work
on March8, as advised by the State Council,
although many employers do not always pass the
half-day on to their female employees.

In Italy, International Women's Day, or la Festa
della Donna, is celebrated by the giving of mimosa
blossom. The origin of this tradition is unclear
but it is believed to have started in Rome after
World War Two.

In the US, the month of March is Women's History
Month. A presidential proclamation is issued every
year to honour the achievements of American
women.

This year will look a little different because of
the novel Coronavirus and more virtual events are
expected to take place around the world, including
that of the UN.

Women have substantially played crucial roles
within their countries of origin and beyond
towards sustaining peace, development and
stability.

In Ghana, citizens cannot forget the likes of Yaa
Asantewaa (1840-1921), Queen Mother of Ejisu who
led the Ashanti rebellion against British
colonialism to defend the Golden stool and
promoted women emancipation as well as gender
equality.

Others are Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, widow of
the late former President Flight Lieutenant Jerry
John Rawlings, who led the 31st December Women’s
Movement to encourage women to stand for their
rights and be part of decision making processes
and Theodosia Okoh (1922-2015), who designed
Ghana’s National flag,

Other influential African women in history are
Miriam Makeba (1932-2008), affectionately called
‘Mama Africa’ who was an artist, activist and
major participant in both the South African
anti-Apartheid and Pan Africa movement, Professor
Wangaari Maathai (1940-2011), a famous Kenyan
environmentalist, women’s rights activists and
Nobel Laureate, and Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti
(1900-1978), a pioneering African feminist, social
activist, educator and anti-colonial freedom
fighter in Nigeria.

Other women, recognised across the globe for their
hard work and influence are Ursula von der Leyen
who was appointed as the first woman President of
the European Commission in 2019, Angela Merkel,
the first female Chancellor of Germany, and
Christine Lagarde, the first woman to head the
European Central Bank on November 1, 2019.

Others are Kamala Harris, the first woman in
American history, elected to the Vice Presidency,
and Melinda Gates, one of the most powerful women
in philanthropy and co-chair of the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, a charitable entity with
a $40 billion trust endowment.

About the role of women in controlling the
COVID-19 pandemic and its effects, Natalie
Merchant, a Writer, Formative Content, said female
leaders had been praised for their roles in
response to COVID-19, but remained
under-represented in decision-making.

Women, she stated, had been disproportionately
affected by the pandemic, representing 54 per cent
of overall job losses, however forum research
showed that the "role model effect" was helping to
close the gender gap.

The crucial role played by women in the ongoing
recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic would be
celebrated this IWD.

She said women had also been acknowledged as among
the most effective leaders during the pandemic,
with female heads of government, including New
Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, having been
praised for how they handled the crisis.

Women are very vital in society and it is evident
from the Genesis of creation, where God found it
necessary to create a woman to support a man for
their wellbeing (Genesis 2:22).

Irrespective of their peculiar roles in varied
sectors of the economy and nation building, the
ordinary woman with no formal skill at all also
helps to grow a home, a family and a society, with
acts ranging from selection and care of clothing,
maintenance of the house, catering for kids to
performing other organising and administrative
functions of the house.

They undoubtedly are great managers who might not
have acquired any formal managerial skills.

Although lives, resources and properties have been
lost to COVID-19, the great efforts of women for
centuries and in contemporary world towards human
growth and sustenance, cannot be underestimated,
neither can it be forgotten or overlooked.

It is for this reason that the UN chose the
aforementioned theme to celebrate women and their
contribution to national and global development
and deliberate on how to achieve an equal future
for both genders in a COVID-19 world.

Source - GNA

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