WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY REALLY ALL ABOUT?

To mark the International Women's Day, social networks over the last few days have been inundated with personal tributes to wives, sisters, mothers, aunts, basically all possible relationships with a woman. Husbands openly declared their wives as the 'best woman' of their life; daughters their mother as their favourite woman, sons acknowledging their mother's contribution in their upbringing, and so on. Opinion columns in newspapers made space for personal tributes to mothers, daughters, and in one case even to the columnist herself, as exemplary women on personal levels. Some have highlighted how much more the woman in the relationship has done for the family compared to her spouse, thus charitably admitting his own deficiency in the area. The day was marked by many seminars and events to acknowledge women's feat in various professions. We have seen series of photos of female awardees being recognised for their entrepreneurship. Women have been celebrated with flowers, chocolates, gifts.

Despite the ludicrous remark by the nation's Shipping Minister on this special day that the sexual harassment of some women on Pahela Baishakh was "inconsequential", March 8 was the day to hail women for being women. This is where my confusion begins. Are we, women, being celebrated for being individuals taking our share of responsibility? Are we to be pleased that our contributions at home and in the professional domain are finally being conceded? Are we to be content by the generosity of the patriarchal society for indulging us with our rightful space for our existence? This is the impression I am left with from all the love, respect and honour we women are being showered with. While all these accolades leave me warm inside, I can't help but feel a chilling nervousness about the implications. Are we forgetting the injustice and the struggle that International Women's Day is marked for? Do we run the risk that the flashy celebrations of the day will leave our younger generation ignorant of its core value of promoting equal rights for women? 

We are still a nation where almost 85 percent of women's rights are not the same as that of men in the eyes of (Muslim) law related to inheritance, marriage, child custody, or simply as a witness. We are a society which must maintain a few congested seats for women in the front part of a bus and on the hot engine by the driver to keep them away from men's uncontainable lascivious behaviour. We are the people who cave in to social pressure and possibly financial hardship by marrying off three or four of our girls before they reach adulthood. We have allowed an environment of rampant rape on the streets, and sexual abuse of girls remains a regular but silent household affair. The list of gender inequality and injustice against women in Bangladesh is yet to see a limit. Although Women's Day saw its first observance in New York in 1909, over the following years it gathered momentum in Europe where it is still marked as a day to make demands for a gender balanced equal society. My fear is lest we, men and women, forget to make the demands for a healthy, balanced society with equal rights and respect for both genders in Bangladesh.

The writer is Associate Professor of Public Health, Karolinska Institute, Sweden.