Alice Walker (1944), an African-American writer and activist, reminds us of the power we have within ourselves to make change by saying, “The most common way people lose their power is to think they don’t have it.”
On this Eighth of March, as during other important dates, we can often hear women say that they can’t do anything, that they don’t have any power, thinking most often that they don’t have political power, but also that it’s not worth fighting for, because the world is the way it is. However, if women thought this way two hundred years ago, today I would not be writing this text, girls would not study, work and have the right to vote, freedom of movement and other rights and freedoms. Brave women in our history believed that they had the power to change things in their environment, so they mobilized other women and men to help them realize their vision of a better and fairer future for women, slaves, workers, minorities and all other marginalized groups. Because of such women who put us in debt, we celebrate the Eighth of March every year.
International Women’s Day is a celebration of success and achievement, not a consumerism fair where women are patronized and silenced with flowers and gifts so that they don’t ask questions about gender-based discrimination in the family and society, about militarization, exploitation, stratification and divisions, and environmental catastrophe .
When we are asked why it is important to celebrate March 8th after women have achieved civil and political rights and have the opportunity to get an education, work and engage in politics, we answer that it is important because most of these rights are only formally and legally guaranteed. In practice, women are still underrepresented in decision-making positions, are economically largely dependent on men, suffer various forms of violence and abuse and are still not trusted until they are killed – and even then society tries to find justifications for the perpetrators. In patriarchy, women are under scrutiny, exposed to double moral standards and their every step outside the given framework is harshly criticized and sanctioned, while justifications and mitigating circumstances are sought for the perpetrators.
How to celebrate the Eighth of March?
Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai raised her voice against men who prevented her from getting an education and almost lost her life because of it. When she recovered, she did not stop raising her voice, explaining: “I raise my voice – not because I want to shout, but so that the voiceless can be heard.”
Each of us should ask ourselves how we can raise our voice in the fight for equality and a fair society in which women’s work and achievements will be valued, and in which the lives of women and men will be equally valued.
This March 8, 2024, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is important to remind ourselves again of the history of women and their advocacy for civil and political rights, because without that struggle women would not enjoy the rights and freedoms they have today. In addition, it is important to raise awareness of the causes of economic disenfranchisement and exploitation that are obstacles for women to achieve full equality. Finally, it is important to constantly work on raising awareness about the disastrous consequences of gender-based violence and the measures that should be taken to prevent violence.
To know the history of the struggle for the equality of women and men
Those who do not know and respect what our predecessors did, risking their lives, health and other resources, cannot appreciate the rights they enjoy. Rights were not given, but were fought for with great difficulty, and were won by brave women, such as Elisabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and others in America, but also by numerous women in Europe, the most prominent of whom are Klara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg. Klara was a member of the Socialist Party of Germany, and later, as a journalism student in Paris, she would actively participate in the Socialist International. She edited the magazine Die Gleichheit (“Equality”). She was against bourgeois feminism because she believed that it divided the working class and did not help working women against capitalist exploitation. Rosa Luxemburg is another important name to remember. Originally from Poland, she was educated in Switzerland in the field of law and economics. She became involved in politics and lived in Germany because she believed that she should be at the center of events. Together with Clara and other socialists, she fought for the rights of women and workers. Based on the ideas of Flora Tristan from France, who wrote the work “The Workers’ Union” (1843), socialists sought to connect the fight for civil and political rights with the rights of workers.
In addition to the women who made a significant contribution in the fight for equality in the world, it is important to remember on this day the women who in Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina spoke about these issues and fought to improve the position of women. Among them are numerous female partisans and anti-fascists, then women who made a breakthrough in science, politics and culture, but also every woman who made a step forward in her family and community and paved the way for new generations to be better off. There is still more research to be done on this, and one part of that history is collected in the book “Recorded” (2015), which can be found on the website of the Sarajevo Open Center, as well as the edition # Žene BiH – an illustrated book about exceptional women , who represent the most significant women of our country. Such books can be a nice gift and a way to empower young women and men, because even though March 8th is a women’s day, men should also be involved and support their efforts in building a fairer society for all.
To make people aware that men and the state profit from women’s unpaid work
A recently published study by UN Women entitled “Baseline Study on the Economics of Care in Bosnia and Herzegovina” (Maja Arslanagić-Kalajdžić et. al., 2023) shows that the largest percentage of unpaid work, which includes caring for children, elderly and sick family members, cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, shopping and other tasks, is performed by women and that compared to other women in developed countries, they spend 6–7 hours a day on these tasks. This is a huge resource that is not socially valued or paid for, and the economy of every country relies on women performing these tasks without any compensation.
Imagine if all this women do is paid. What would happen?
It has already happened, in Iceland in 1975, when women decided not to do unpaid work. A real drama in society followed, and the state realized that it could collapse if this continued. Namely, the state is counting on unpaid work, because otherwise, if all these jobs were paid, women would be more economically independent and would be more valued, as would the jobs they do.
This has been calculated by some countries and the data is astonishing. An Oxfam study on unpaid work shows that the annual monetary value of women’s unpaid work is over US$10 billion. Oxfam’s methodology (number of women over 15 x number of hours of unpaid work x national minimum hourly wage) showed that in the American context, for example, in 2019, the monetary value of unpaid work amounted to 1.5 billion dollars, which is 130 times more than the net profit of the Amazon company in that period. In its analysis, the International Labor Organization shows that between 10 and 39% of the gross national income is unpaid work.
International Women’s Day is an opportunity for women and men in every household to remember that unpaid work is still on women’s shoulders and that they therefore do not have time for other paid and more valued jobs, and that it is necessary to distribute this burden equally.
Gender-based violence costs women, families and the state
One of the hot topics of Bosnian society, as well as other societies today, is gender-based violence with a large number of femicides. Although the formal legal framework has ensured legal protection for victims of domestic violence, in practice the female body, sexuality and reproductive capacities are still under the control of men. Social and cultural norming of gender roles and the masculinities and femininity desired in them continue to determine the lives of many women and men. A woman is still expected to be gentle, caring, patient, long-suffering, to sacrifice herself and her life for the sake of her family. If she rebels, then she is exposed to violence and eventually suffers, most often at the hands of a married or extramarital partner or a family member. Women, unfortunately, are the least safe in their homes, because as the United Nations estimates, almost 60% of murders of women occur within a family or partner relationship, that is, one woman is killed every 11 minutes.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, we do not have statistics, but rather estimates from individual non-governmental organizations based on media reports, so in the period from November 13, 2022 to November 16, 2023, eight women were killed, as stated in the CURE Foundation Report, noting that this is not the whole picture but only part of what was recorded in the media. All research on gender-based violence at the global level shows that every third woman has experienced some form of violence and that the largest percentage (over 95%) are men.
When celebrating the Eighth of March, we should remember all the women who were killed: Edina, Nizama, Emina, Selma and others, but also talk about the cost of violence. The biggest loss is a woman’s life and that cannot be materially compensated, nor can the pain and loss experienced by many families be compensated. What can be measured is that the violence experienced by women and children, as well as individual men, costs victims, families and the state.
A woman who suffers violence has to take time off work, and often loses her job. Also, when she goes to the doctor, most often after serious injuries, funds are spent from the health care system to repair the consequences of violence. Some Western European countries and America have made estimates of economic expenditures in the health system to show that gender-based violence costs the state, and thus its citizens, because the budgets are filled from their taxes. In America, victims of gender-based violence lose over eight billion dollars annually due to absence from work, and an average of 30% of victims lose their jobs. The European Institute for Gender Equality reports that the costs of gender-based violence at the European level are over 366 billion and that 79% of these costs relate to women.
Therefore, violence costs money, and we should openly talk about it and look for solutions for prevention, because when violence happens, only the consequences are treated. Therefore, it is an opportunity to talk about it on this day, the Eighth of March, instead of hiding the bruises and blood with red carnations, which are a warning that a woman can lose her life, her family – her mother, daughter and sister, and the state resources that can be used to improve the standard of living.
Let us have a happy Eighth of March, a holiday of (r)evolution, a reminder of the successes and courage of women, but also a holiday of questioning our attitudes, the lethargy and powerlessness behind which we hide, waiting for someone to solve these issues.
Source: https://tacno.net/osmi-mart-praznik-u-kojem-se-postavlaju-pitanja-i-traze-odgovori/
