08/03/2021 of Celebrating Women

[Nizam Adrienne]

In Russia, we have both Men's (Defender of the Country) and Women's Day. They're kind of like Mother and Father's Day equivalent in USA.

I feel like the holiday is sort of being hijacked for a new movement lately though. 

Yeah, that's a bit different than International Women's Day though, no? It's not the same as the Russian holiday given that it's international, which means it's not always going to move the same once it leaves the area. I just looked it up and the reason for it starting in Russia is really cool and I totally respect that and apparently it's a whole day off work (meaning government recognition) and everything. It's a proper holiday.

"After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917 (the beginning of the February Revolution), IWD was made a national holiday on March 8; it was subsequently celebrated on that date by the socialist movement and communist countries. The holiday was associated with far-left movements and governments until its adoption by the global feminist movement in the late 1960s. IWD became a mainstream global holiday following its adoption by the United Nations in 1977." (Wikipedia)

It's not really that elsewhere and doesn't have the same meaning, at least from what I know/where I sit. I don't know -within the international context, it just feels very much like a token effort to me, much like Women's History Month and similar efforts within the US do sometimes as well but at least that's a more sustained concentrated effort. IWD feels like a "Hey, well, we gave you a day. Why aren't you happy now?". Keep in mind that that's my viewpoint as an American, where it's not really widely known/talked about/celebrated, and as one without any Russian heritage. I first heard about it through this game four years ago and that continues to be basically the only place I ever hear it talked about.

And that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the circumstances that drove their creation from the feminists that were like "hey, we should do this to highlight women's contributions to society and history" and am happy that there is some recognition at least in some capacity. But I find it super frustrating that beyond that initial effort, there's little actual impetus to change it from "women's history" to just "history" and integrate it. There's a lot of talk on doing that but talk is cheap and it tends only to crop up around March every year and then fall by the wayside. Very little has changed and there's not a lot of widespread concentrated/sustained efforts being made to make changes, I feel at least, and it's been almost 50 years since the adoption of Women's Day as an international holiday and the creation of Women's History Month.

When I go on on International Women's Day and see posts from Wikipedia highlighting that less than 20% of all biographical content there is about women and talking about all the red links with women's names on them, that is discouraging (although their post is cool and the initiatives highlighted in it are worth checking out/getting involved in). I appreciate the efforts being made by some but am still frustrated that there's a need for it, 100 years after women's suffrage, 50 years after these holidays were created, etc, etc, and by the dismissal from others because holidays like these exist with people pointing at them and saying things like "we do recognize it, see?" and thinking that's good enough. I don't want to be relegated to a day or even a month. I don't want women to be an afterthought in discussions about history. I want women to be recognized every day, not as a trend or an excuse for businesses or the government to pretend they care one day/month out of the year.

tl;dr I'm not dunking on your holiday, Sky. I'm just frustrated by what it is within the wider international community and by society's treatment of women in general.

 

[Sorenia]

Yeah, that's a bit different than International Women's Day though, no? It's not the same as the Russian holiday given that it's international, which means it's not always going to move the same once it leaves the area. I just looked it up and the reason for it starting in Russia is really cool and I totally respect that and apparently it's a whole day off work (meaning government recognition) and everything. It's a proper holiday.

It's not really that elsewhere and doesn't have the same meaning, at least from what I know/where I sit. I don't know -within the international context, it just feels very much like a token effort to me, much like Women's History Month and similar efforts within the US do sometimes as well but at least that's a more sustained concentrated effort. IWD feels like a "Hey, well, we gave you a day. Why aren't you happy now?". Keep in mind that that's my viewpoint as an American, where it's not really widely known/talked about/celebrated, and as one without any Russian heritage. I first heard about it through this game four years ago and that continues to be basically the only place I ever hear it talked about.

And that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the circumstances that drove their creation from the feminists that were like "hey, we should do this to highlight women's contributions to society and history" and am happy that there is some recognition at least in some capacity. But I find it super frustrating that beyond that initial effort, there's little actual impetus to change it from "women's history" to just "history" and integrate it. There's a lot of talk on doing that but talk is cheap and it tends only to crop up around March every year and then fall by the wayside. Very little has changed and there's not a lot of widespread concentrated/sustained efforts being made to make changes, I feel at least, and it's been almost 50 years since the adoption of Women's Day as an international holiday and the creation of Women's History Month.

When I go on on International Women's Day and see posts from Wikipedia highlighting that less than 20% of all biographical content there is about women and talking about all the red links with women's names on them, that is discouraging (although their post is cool and the initiatives highlighted in it are worth checking out/getting involved in). I appreciate the efforts being made by some but am still frustrated that there's a need for it, 100 years after women's suffrage, 50 years after these holidays were created, etc, etc, and by the dismissal from others because holidays like these exist with people pointing at them and saying things like "we do recognize it, see?" and thinking that's good enough. I don't want to be relegated to a day or even a month. I don't want women to be an afterthought in discussions about history. I want women to be recognized every day, not as a trend or an excuse for businesses or the government to pretend they care one day/month out of the year.

tl;dr I'm not dunking on your holiday, Sky. I'm just frustrated by what it is within the wider international community and by society's treatment of women in general.

I totally get your viewpoint. My view is just more 'skewed' as a result of the holiday in Russia and it being an actual holiday, like you pointed out.

The IWD definitely has been a novelty in USA. Our work started up events for March 8th I want to say 4? years ago by now, mostly as a result of us having a Women's group for inclusion and diversity the year prior. 

While it's frustrating that we have to have this 'month' for women's contributions, it's at least an effort? 

 

[Nizam Adrienne]

I totally get your viewpoint. My view is just more 'skewed' as a result of the holiday in Russia and it being an actual holiday, like you pointed out.

The IWD definitely has been a novelty in USA. Our work started up events for March 8th I want to say 4? years ago by now, mostly as a result of us having a Women's group for inclusion and diversity the year prior. 

While it's frustrating that we have to have this 'month' for women's contributions, it's at least an effort? 

It's been an effort for 50 years though. It was an actual effort and initiative at the beginning but now it just feels like people have shrugged and gone "whatever, good enough".