Do we still need an International Women’s Day?

This week I’ve been comparing the first edition of The Atlas of Women in the World, written in 1986, with the 2009 edition, which states that since the first edition, ‘there has been some remarkable improvements in the state of women ...’ But even a superficial glance reveals that there are also new and rising threats to women, namely ‘religious fundamentalism and a resurgent conservative intolerance’. The former seemed inconceivable - at least to me - in the 1980s.

I recently attended the feminism debate at the ‘6 [sic] Billion Ways’ event in London, where these threats also alarmed at least one speaker. Pragna Patel, from Southall Black Sisters, who as a secular feminist condemns religious fundamentalism - of any description - and the ‘war on terror’ - equally - as the two main threats to women’s rights today. I’d add a third and that is the collusion of those on the left that seek to make allies of fundamentalists. What fundamentalists - of any persuasion - hold in common is a hatred (and fear) of women and on the basis of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’; we are seeing an alarming convergence that also threatens women’s rights.  More...

See also:

1. John Lennon's tribute to women everywhere...
2. Saudi king appoints first female minister...
3. Yemen's 10-year-old divorcée Nojoud Ali has written a book...
4. Britain: young Asian girls and forced marriages...
5. India: no country for young girls...
6. Crimes against women around the world...
7. Burying alive 5 women is no big deal in Baluchistan...