Last Friday I was bored to death listening to my teacher of Translation’s History and Criticism talking about the little importance of translators in the Antiquity when the mate sitting next to me nudged me in the arm.
She was fuming because her boyfriend had forgotten to give her a present the day before. She gave him the hint that on 8 March something important is celebrated but he couldn’t guess. Apparently he also suffers from the syndrome of forgetting-all-important-dates as almost every man I know! So she reminded him that it was woman's day and asked him if he had bought her a present but the answer was negative. But what really made her hit the roof was his inopportune remark: - Why should I give you something if there isn't a men's day? In fact in some countries there is a men's day as I checked in Wikipedia, but that’s another story. My answer to my friend's boyfriend is: - Men's day is everyday. They don't need a specific day to be celebrated.
Woman's day was created so as to celebrate women because during centuries they were considered as inferior human beings in comparison to men who were the intelligent, the brave and the strong ones. Their abilities were undervalued and they were seen as sex objects and ornaments. As time went by men finally understood that apart from being housewives, taking care of the children, gossiping about neighbours and going shopping, women are far more intelligent and useful to the society as they have grasped.
But there are some women who think that women's day is a way of discrimination. If men and women have equal rights why to make the difference between them? What do you reckon?
7 comments:
women's day, valentine's day blah blah blah. I hate buying presents, flowers etc when i am told to do so. I buy things for other people when i want to , and not to conform to a stupid marketing day when they jack the prices right up ! I congratulate the boyfriend for buying nothing....
yours - obviously without a girlfriend ! - Graham
In my opinion, woman’s day is an important date, because it celebrates women’s achievements throughout the centuries, and it is also a reminder for the injustice and indifference that women still have to endure in the XXI century: Women still earn less that men in the same jobs; part of men still think that women belong at home, more specifically in the kitchen.
It is an important date, no doubt about it, but I don’t think gifts are necessary. Just a reminder and a “thank you for being who you are” should do the trick…
Graham’s spot on!
This is just another example on how our society has become addicted on consumption!!
Nowadays there isn’t a real needed for a woman’s day although it would have been very useful before the 50's.
With this I don't mean that there aren't inequalities, unfortunately they exist but I think that the vast majority of people are correcting those idiotic behaviours.
To me woman’s day is everyday. I don’t need a day to remember how important women are to our society.
I don’t buy anything because I reckon that it’s not about giving a gift on a particular day. To me it’s far more important to treat women with respect and as equals every single day!
People still today think that it is more important to seem that it is to be.
If I was alive when equality between man and woman was discussed I would stand along beside women, fiercely, as I still do today but this is not about that, it is not about equal rights, repayment or whatever … this is just about gifts.
Cya Saturday….
i think nowadays men and women are treated equally by the younger generation, it is the older generation who still have some strange views in this area.
there is an arguement that things have swung the other way !!! (this will put the cat among the pigeons !!!) at wimbledon this year the women are going to be paid the same as the men - but they only have to play 3 sets whereas the men have to play 5. is this equality ?!!!!!
in most countries women are allowed to spend far more time off with their children than men are. is this equality ?
i say equality for men !!! :)
Men and women aren’t treated equally. Yes, it is undeniable that women are becoming more and more active in society. However, if on the one hand, it’s quite common these days to see women performing tasks that not many years ago would be considered as men’s jobs (such as taxi or bus driver), on the other hand women are still penalized towards men. Several companies don’t accept women as employees just because employing women in the long run will mean higher costs to the employer. This happens due to the fact that women at a certain point in their lives want to settle down and start a family (in other words: maternity leave and stuff…). So, economically speaking it is more profitable to hire a man than a woman.
Well, the bottom line is whilst such situations are still a reality it makes all the sense to celebrate woman’s day. And I say more: all women in this day should be entitled to take the day off.
Power to women!!!
:o)
The way I see it, Women's Day is both about respect for women who have been or currently are oppressed due to their sex and somehow managed to overcome that and to make people chew on the need for gender parity in today's world. I don't think respect should ever be expressed with damn gifts, that gets us no where.
Moreover, all stereotypes based on gender are ultimately a form of sexism. Feminism is supposed to advocate equality, not put down all men.
Graham's right when he says younger generations don't have nearly as much prejudice on women's role in society as the elder ones. The need for a women's day is gradually fading in the western world and hopefully we won't need one in 10 or 15 years. There's even a pretty good chance things will "swing the other way", but I believe we'll be able to find the middle ground.
All in all, in women's day (and every other day, but that's a different story), rather than longing for rewards or just ignoring it, we should stop and look at the myriad of problems that usually don't affect us directly but do exist and are ignored. Women being trafficked and sold as sex slaves everywhere, genital mutilation in a lot of Middle Eastern and African societies, physical aggressions for minor reasons, rape, just to name a few.. This is where it gets sticky.
well, i don't think i have much more to say about this subject. However i would like to tell graham that the fact that women are now payed as much as men at wimbledon is a victory. Not for women nor for men but for human rights. It is true that men have to play more sets(in case one of them doesn't win the first three, which would mean they wouldn't play more as women.)but it is also true that more people watch women playing. I think it is more than fair they earn more money. However i do not understand why men play more than women. I don't think they should play more nor less, the same would be fine.
Long live Billie Jean King who fought(and still fights!)for equal rights in sports.
n.b.:loved what the men in our class wrote.
diana
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