International Women’s Day
Last Sunday, we celebrated International Women’s Day honoring the brave, resilient, diverse, talented, and amazing women who make our world go round. I’ve discussed how women need to recognize their inherent worth, and International Women’s Day commemorates the achievements of the women who raised us and the women we will raise. This month, we honor the socioeconomic and political successes of women everywhere — ensuring that their dedication and compassion is never overlooked.
International Women’s Day
The commemoration of human rights, for women was first recognized over 60 years ago in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights — rights which are now enshrined in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Violence Against Women Act and the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. We have come far in the fight for women’s rights, but not far enough.
Discrimination in the workplace remains a prominent restriction, inhibiting women from achieving new heights and forcing them to remain status quo. The Huffington Post notes that workplace discrimination disproportionately affects immigrant workers for a multitude of reasons: language barriers, poverty and fear of retaliation, “which often prevent low-wage workers from seeking legal assistance or contacting governmental labor and law enforcement authorities.” These barriers are particularly burdensome for women.
This month we will celebrate the unimaginable and the ordinary — the feats of women throughout the world who struggle yet achieve. Let us use this as a time for reflection — to acknowledge all that has been accomplished yet all that still must be attained. Our society will not function at its maximum potential until equality becomes an intrinsic part of our core value system; that is, until women are treated with the same respect and is if they are equally as capable as men. Until then, we must remain hungry, focused, and concentrated on establishing a path ofto true equality.