Monday, March 12, 2007

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY: GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

I find myself not being able to blog at a comfortable frequency nowadays, possibly due to a busy schedule as well as more interest in reading blogs, which is why this post is very welcomed... See, with every non-blogging day, I end up missing out on an important event of some sort. Take for instance, International Women's Day which fell on 8 March.

Now, women have come a long way from the old days when they were unfortunately considered to be second class citizens and denied several rights like going to school, or voting or getting involved in politics or even defending their country (Remember Joan of Arc?)

However, things are much better for women now. We get to go to school and study in fields that were once only for men, we have the right to vote and we get to work. Although there are still some quarters which can be improved. For instance, safety for women in certain countries is still an issue, where a woman travelling alone may be kidnapped and raped, and closer to home, women are almost always the victims of unscrupulous snatch thieves.

In terms of culture, some people still consider the lady dressed rather sexily (some leg, maybe a bit of cleavage) as a tramp, and that she should dress down (read: more conservatively) to avoid getting raped. Other than that, there was a recent news where a politition suggested that chastity belts (for women) be reintroduced to prevent sexual crimes against women. (What the hell?!!!)

Some cultures practice unfair treatment of daughters because they will not carry on with their family names once they get married, which in extreme cases, these daughters are married off at an early age, or are killed off even before/or directly after being born.

Okay, this post was not supposed to head in that direction, but anyway....

It's nice to know that women all the world are celebrated on this day. My only hope is that things get better as time goes by!

HAPPY BELATED INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY to all the women out there :)

7 comments:

  1. A very interesting post Terra and now, I know why you're not blogging :-)

    In terms of culture, are you thinking Malaysia? It's gulfs apart when compared to the West. The Western culture (Britain & Europe) is far more tolerant towards's a woman's liberal attitude then I suspect Asian countries could ever be. :-)

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  2. Susan,

    I was looking at it from an Asian perspective, with Malaysia in mind as this is where I've lived all my life :D

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  3. Hello, Terra!
    This work is very good, thank you
    have nice week

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  4. Women have come a long way, especially in western cultures. I hope these trends for the better can continue to spread across the world.

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  5. The ministers in Malaysia say the most absurd things! Sigh.. ITs so frustrating sometimes.

    Nice post you just wrote! Shows women are still being control! Really hope things change in time.

    Happy Belated birthday!!! =)

    Who forced you to cut your cake?

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  6. david: thank you :)

    travis: yes, i hope so too.... :)

    princess: Tell me about it... worst still it was by the tourism guy himself! I'm embarrased to even think about it!
    Thanks...
    My mom forced me to cut my cake!

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  7. I heard about the Malaysian tourism minister attacking female bloggers unjustly (it was splashed on the local newspaper many days ago). It enraged a few of my female friends who were bloggers. What right did he have to discriminate bloggers!

    Yeah, I totally understand how daughters can be mistreated. Like in China, where a few baby daughters were killed, just because the parents did not want a daughter but instead a son to carry down the family name.

    Recently, I read a book called Princess by Jean Sasson which talks about the strong discrimination (hatred, even) towards women in Saudi Arabia by the Arab men. I thought it was horrible such sexism can still exist recently (even now, but not as bad as last time's). You should read it - it's a good book. I don't get the ending though. =S

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