MIt’s been nearly a hundred years since the first women’s day was held – back then women did not have the vote and most women did not have the opportunity of an education or a career.
Nowadays, however, some people question the need for International Women’s Day, as women in many countries are perceived as being equal to men.
International Women’s Day, also known as the United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace, is annually held on March 8th to celebrate women’s achievements throughout history and across nations.
But, if you scratch the surface of society and work, both nationally and globally, it will soon become apparent that the battle for equality is still far from over. Controversial issues regularly being raised internationally by feminists include the need for equal pay, objectification of women, violence against women, parental leave, female genital mutilation and the no-more page three campaign in England.
Here are some shocking statistics which I read in today’s Independent newspaper.
- Globally, about one in three women will be beaten or raped during their lifetime.
- On average, 30% of women who have been in a relationship report that they have experienced some form of physical or sexual violence by their partner.
- 38 per cent of all murders of women worldwide are committed by a woman’s intimate partner.
- A UN report said 99.3% of women and girls in Egypt had been subjected to sexual harassment.
- Over 130 million women living in the world today have undergone female genital mutilation
- A hospital in Birmingham, England, has as many as 40 to 50 women every month who are treated after undergoing female genital mutilation.
- Around 14 million girls, some as young as eight years old, will be married in 2014.
- An estimated 1.2m children are trafficked into slavery each year; 80 per cent are girls.
- In 10 countries around the world women are legally bound to obey their husbands
- In the UK, the gender pay gap stands at 15%, with women on average earning £5,000 less a year than their male colleagues. The disparity is even greater in part time jobs, going up to 35 per cent.
- Globally only a 24 per cent of senior management roles are now filled by women.
“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” Marie Curie.
Here are some of my favourite photographs and paintings depicting women taken from my journeys around the world.
- Girls on carnival day in Yogyakarta, Java.
- Sharing tea with Bedouin women in Petra in Jordan.
- Girls in Havana, Cuba.
- Folk singers wait their turn at Europeade the European Folk Festival in Riga, Latvia.
- Early morning rush at the food market in Hoi An, Vietnam.
- Four women going into the Rustem Pasha Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.
- Dancing on International Day of the Girl Child at Isamilo International School, Mwanza, Tanzania.
- Women selling jewellery on Vagator Beach in Goa, India
- Women walking on the edges of the Sahara Desert Morocco
- Woman selling limes at a floating market in Bangkok, Thailand.
- Three little girls from Arwad Island, near Tartous, Syria.
- Church outing on Mother’s Day in Rarotonga, the Cook Islands
- Nuns in the rain walking along the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy.
- Market sellers in Sucre, Bolivia.
- Dadas at Mzizima Fish Market in Dar Es Salaam – Tanzania
- Street Market at Dar’s Kivukoni Bus Terminal – Tanzania
- Women selling fruit and flowers in Anjuna Market, Goa, India.
- Women in the market in Merida, Mexico
- Women carrying water from Pushkar Lake in the early morning sun in Pushkar, Rajasthan, India
- Women at the Friday market in Damascus – from my Syria sketchbook.
- Learning some new dance steps on the International Day of the Girl Child, at Isamilo International School, Mwanza, Tanzania.
- International Day of the Girl Child at Isamilo International School in Mwanza, Tanzania.
- Making Christmas cards and snow flakes at Isamilo’s Saturday School Christmas party.
- Window shopping at a cloth market in Hyderabad, India.
- Sketch of Central Market in Mwanza from my Tanzanian sketchbook
- Dressed to impress at Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi
- Three little girls from Arwad Island, near Tartous, Syria.
- Girl on Matemwe Beach, Zanzibar
I will leave the last words of this post to the inspirational Malala Yousafzai, who said in her book “I am Malala”:
“Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.”
If there is one message for International Women’s Day it should be this.
alidunnell March 9, 2014
Reblogged this on Travels with my Art.
Natasha March 9, 2014
Wonderful post Ali – in words, photos, paint and the message.
alidunnell March 10, 2014
Thank you dear Natasha… I hope I will be able to do lots more art work on my next journey!
uma197 February 3, 2018
beautiful blog, I like the way you finished with the pictures. A picture is worth thousand words
Ali Dunnell February 12, 2018
Thanks for stopping by my blog and for commenting too 🙂
uma197 February 12, 2018
😀