International Women’s Day 2023 – Reflection on Struggle for Women’s Rights

On this International Women’s Day we reflect on the struggle for Women’s Rights in many parts of the world.

While progress has been made in improving gender equality in many countries, women in  many  parts of the world continue to face discrimination where their rights are violated, their voices are silenced, and gender inequality takes its worse form.

In Afghanistan, for example, two decades of progress in women’s education, employment, and empowerment in Afghan public life have been dramatically reversed by the Taliban.

Women hold no cabinet positions in the de facto administration, which has also abolished the Ministry of Women’s Affairs—effectively eliminating women’s right to political participation. The Taliban has also banned girls from attending school past the sixth grade and barred women from working most jobs outside the home. ( source : https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/in-focus/2022/08/in-focus-women-in-afghanistan-one-year-after-the-taliban-takeover)

Unofficial policing in Iran has significantly increased violence and oppression against women. What started with the the killing of Mahsa Amini while in the hands of Iran’s Morality Police has expanded now to horrific chemical attacks on Iranian school girls. Sadly, the tyranny is not limited towards their clothing style, but it also dictates their eligibility for jobs, the legal age of marriage (which is as low as nine years), international travelling and divorce (granted only by the husband or a male guardian).

In the USA, Women’s rights are under serious pressure following the overturning by the US Supreme Court of Roe vs Wade for abortion rights at a Federal level. This has been followed by many states now trying to further erode women’s rights by passing restrictions on birth control pills punishable by jail sentences in some states.

These are just a few examples of the challenges that women face in many parts of the world.

Although progress has been made towards gender equality, much more needs to be done.

On International Women’s Day, it is essential to remember the women who continue to fight for their rights and a better future.

Let us commit ourselves to support them in any way we can.

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