8th March: International Women’s day!

My phone started buzzing early morning with messages about the significance of women. I checked the date and realized that it was yet another ‘International Women’s Day’.  I am not a big believer of ‘this’ day. Why does one need a day to remember the importance of the women in their lives? I, almost immediately, set aside thoughts of this day and as per my daily morning routine, opened Instagram.  Insta was flooded with posts, videos, photographs about celebrating women-hood. I wondered why this day had garnered so much interest whereas the International Men’s Day on 19th November barely gets any attention.

Equality. Equality is what began this all. For centuries, women and men were treated as different. Men were the bread earners and they had control of their family, their money and how their society functioned. The only role of a woman was to support her man. She had no voice. Over a century ago, women found their voice and demanded for their rights, equal rights. Hence, International Women’s Day was born in 1910 to commend women and calling for gender equality. It was celebrated for the first time in 1911. It has been over a century and is gender equality still such a big issue that we need to celebrate this day with such fervour every year?

If your answer to my previous question is yes, then riddle me this.. If a century of celebrating IWD hasn’t been able to bring a difference in how the world views gender equality then isn’t it time to stop celebrating such days and actually take action that will bring some change? It isn’t good enough to just celebrate this one day and feel like you’ve done your job towards gender equality. Equality is a mindset that needs to be cultivated and one day sure isn’t making any difference towards changing it.

If your answer to my previous question is no, then this day has achieved what it set out to do and we should now retire it!

Instead.. I’d like to propose celebrating a new day, International Human’s Day!  On this day we will show love and care to all mankind. And when do we celebrate this day? Everyday! Yes, every single day. What does it entail? Be compassionate about the junior who got stuck in a traffic jam. Be patient while you converse with your ageing parents. Smile at the person next to you on the metro, maybe they are having a rough day. Buy a meal for a homeless person. Give a hug everyday to your child, maybe they are finding it difficult to cope with studies. Send an old friend a gift randomly to surprise them, maybe life isn’t treating them well. Instead of saying something rude, walk away. Whenever you are upset during the day, go water a plant and that plant will help your future generations thrive. Give your house help a day off when he/she seem over worked. Everytime you are happy during the day, put aside one rupee and at the end of the year donate that money to someone who needs it. Buy a book, read it and donate it. Spread kindness. Spread love. Spread peace.

Happy International Human’s day to you all!!!