What Have 100 Years of Fighting for Women Empowerment Wrought
Success Tinged with Sadness in World Wide Women Empowerment
March 8, 2011 marked the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, and saw women and women’s groups all over the world honoring those who had contributed to women empowerment throughout history, as well as those who have proven that there is absolutely a place for women in business. Some saw the day as the symbolic passing of the torch from second wave feminists to the new generation born to baby-boomer or younger parents.
As a speaker in Vancouver put it, International Women’s Day was “a global day celebrating the economic, political, and social achievements of women past, present, and future. It honors the work of the suffragettes and women peace activists, and reminds us of the inequities still to be redressed.” Celebrations across the globe included speeches, marches, and public events to highlight the two sides of the women’s movement – the outstanding success to date at overcoming arbitrary gender stereotypes and discrimination on the one hand, and the continued prevalence of a glass ceiling in the corporate world and outrageously high levels of rape and abuse coupled with decreased government funding for women’s groups on the other.
One of the results that older feminists remarked upon as a result of women empowerment and the women’s movement is that young women are more likely to self-identify as human-rights activists than as feminists, though many of the goals and strategies are the same. This trend is accompanied by what many middle-aged women call a feminine backlash against the attitudes that they say feminism propagated among every day women.
They are reclaiming and reaffirming the value of roles such as nurturing mother and caregiver as just as valid as a career in the business world. They argue that the benefit of the women’s movement should be giving women the option to pursue whatever work they want to without any judgment, as opposed to pushing the ideal that every woman is wasting her time unless she chooses to compete in the business world.
This result of women empowerment is evident on the 100th celebration of International Women’s Day, as more women in their 20s are turning to more domestic pursuits after college, or opting to seek professional fulfillment is activities such as human rights work. With many successes to point to and women gaining more power to empower every day, one can hope that a critical mass of momentum has been reached.
