It's International Women's Day. This year's theme is "Empower Women - End Hunger and Poverty". I was excited when I started reading and hearing about Women's Day in the news, but this morning I got to thinking - why is Women's Day not celebrated in the States? There are news blurbs, and politicians makes comments, but that seems to be where the day ends. It's a national holiday in many countries, especially those in Eastern Europe. I don't believe the countries that designate today as a national holiday necessarily value women more than the US values women, so why has this day not picked up momentum here? I know that we do not have as high of a population of women who are facing hunger and poverty than in developing countries, but there are definitely hungry women living in poverty trying to make it day-by-day in the US.
The more I think about International Women's Day, the more I am confused. On the one hand it is clearly a political day, a day to call attention to the needs and progress of aide to women across the world. On the other hand, it seems like it is just a day to celebrate womanhood. Would it be a frivolous American thing to use Women's Day to celebrate all the fun things about being a woman, when women across the world are focused on just having their basic needs met? Would it be greedy if today in the States we focused on women being able to speak their mind without the risk of being publicly slandered (ie maniac radio personalities) when there are women in other countries just praying not to endure torture and rape?
What are your thoughts? What should Women's Day be about? Would it be strange to have different themes for different countries?
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