UK suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. Photo: PA WireThe world has changed a bit since 1911, what with computers, rockets, human livers being grown on bits of glass, easyJet, that sort of thing. It’s changed a bit, specifically, for women too.
Back in 1911, when the first official International Women’s Day (IWT) was held, women could not vote and could not really work.
Now, thankfully, only two countries in the world (Saudi Arabia and the Vatican City) have never granted women suffrage.
But before we feel too smug about our march to equality, let’s look at other, infinitely less celebratory, figures from across the world that prove our journey has barely begun.
First, the leadership question. A couple of years ago, a mere 20 per cent of political power across the world lay with women.
Things are just as dark in the non-government work arena too. European figures calculate a current pay gap between women and their male counterparts of 16.4 per cent, and countries like Sweden that offer equal paternity and maternity leave are hailed as revolutionary, rather than the norm.
In fact, tragically, it seems more common for women to suffer in relationships than find equality in the office. An EU report has just revealed that 33 per cent of women living across their member states, equating to 62 million people, have been a victim of physical or sexual violence during their lifetime.
Also horrifying are figures relating to female genital mutilation. Despite a huge global and national debate over the unspeakable practice, experts warn that there are 1.25 million women in the world today living with its resulting pain, indignity and danger.
In many parts of the world, women have gained a large degree of legal equality, at least in theory, but laws can only achieve so much
So, it may be over a century since the first event, and, some things have progressed in ways those women who suggested it, battling for the basic right to vote, may never have dared imagine – but in endless ways, the UN-backed event has never been more relevant.
“This day is an international feminist achievement and worth celebrating,” insists Zoe Fairburns, a British feminist writer.
“In many parts of the world, women have gained a large degree of legal equality, at least in theory, but laws can only achieve so much.
“Even when men’s violence against women is illegal, it still happens, and even when women have equal rights in the workplace, this is often undermined by inequality at home. Patriarchal attitudes in many of the world’s religions also put obstacles in the way of women achieving full human rights.”
Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter of Suffragette Emmeline, is heading a march in London, run by overseas development charity Care International UK to raise awareness of women in developing countries who have to walk miles each day just to collect water.
“The suffragettes of old would say that the vote was only ever just the beginning. If they were alive today, they would be outraged by the myriad of injustices faced by women and girls around the world,” she says.
“Their job is not yet done.”