Changing Everyday Conversations: Happy International Women's Day!

Over the past centuries, patriarchal societies have been portraying women as the “other” self of men and were treated as their mere extensions. Law makers, shop keepers, merchants, farmers and other significant members of the society were male. Women were known as the lawmaker's wife, the shop keeper's daughter, the merchant's sister or the farmer's mother. This kind of representation rips women off of our own unique identity. This also placed women in a weaker and far lower position than men and were expected to keep these positions and not bargain for anything more.

This view on women’s position in societies led to our endless suffering and continued domination of men over every aspect of a woman's life. This male control over women predominantly affected her sexuality and independence. However, different forms of women’s resistance became visible in every turn of the century. These movements have risen out of the oppressed female population and the struggle to resist being muted by the same institution that kept these women silent for decades is still on-going.

I personally thank all the strong and beautiful women of history who have contributed in shaping the kind of society that we are living now. I am grateful for the women who were powerful enough to endure the inequalities they experience and I am truly thankful for the women who were brave enough to fight for our rights and for empowerment.

Although it is evident that the strides for women empowerment have achieved a lot compared to the past centuries or even decades, inequities are still very visible in our society and because of this reason, I can say, "The fight is far from over."

In 2021, personally, I believe that a lot of people are choosing social isolation and distancing due to our current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that our usual face-to-face women's march during this day may have shifted towards online forums and zoom webinars which may somehow affect our engagement for people to be part of our movement. Despite all of this, we need to keep our advocacies alive and I believe that by changing our everyday conversations we can add significant discussions regarding women and women's rights.

We can do this by consciously debunking our biases towards women's roles in society; by taking ahold of our sexuality; by fighting for our autonomy and control over our own bodies; and, by fostering a safe environment for women to reach our potential.

Let us all get rid the blinders given to us by society and openly challenge the archaic sexist concepts which may have been ingrained to us. Everyday conversations, rethinking biases and talking about women's issues will help shape discourses that initiates change and development.

Happy International Women's Day! - From PHI Corporation