Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all
Celebrations for International Women's Day have varied from country to country ever since the UN set aside 8th of March as a day to commemorate women's achievements and contribution to the universal society. This year's (2011) theme for the day is Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all. The theme calls on the universal community to recognise the rights of women and to grant them equal opportunities if there is to be achieved a meaningful progress for all in our modern society.
It is true that a lot of strides have been achieved with regard to the recognition of the importance of the contribution of women to social, economic and political realities in our society. However, women and girls are still disadvantaged in in all these spheres. There are still communities that have not yet given priority to the education of girls. How can equal opportunites in other sectors be achieved if the basic right of education has not been realised yet?
There are already international and national instruments like the Convention on the Elimination of all kinds of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) that pupport to address women discrimination in all aspects. Many nation states have also signed or ratified these documents. A great challenge, however, lies ahead for governments to implement practical measures that would ensure the incoorperation of women in the progress of their nations. Laws even good ones alone are not sufficient. There is a need for delibarate efforts and practical strategies to address the issues.
As the world marks this year's IWD, let us all pull together efforts to ensure that the women population is actually fully incooperated in the efforts to build our human family.
Let us celebrate this day, honoring all the women in our lives: our mothers, our wives, our girlfriends, our sisters, daughters, aunts, etc. How would life be without them?
