international women's day

happy international women's day! this is my second fu nu jie in china. international women's day is celebrated as a mini-holiday in china. most women get a half day off work, some get the whole day off. people celebrate with their friends and family. i was supposed to have an english lesson tonight with amy, my chinese teacher, but she is celebrating with the women in her life. except for me. duff and i were instructed to go out for dinner. we see amy three nights a week for chinese and english language classes, we welcomed the chance to have a late dinner.

the students celebrate with cakes and flowers, and i almost wonder if it isn't like another valentine's day for the girls. international women's day was first celebrated as national women's day in america in 1909, and then spread to europe. it wasn't always on march 8th. lenin made march 8th a holiday in russia, to celebrate the 'heroic woman worker'. in 1975, the u.n. started to sponsor international women's day. now, i believe it is mostly celebrated in developing countries. it was, i am sad to say, completely off my radar while in america. in china, the surrounding days are filled with workshops, speeches, dinners, and exhibits.

the evolution of women's rights in china is closely linked with that of the communist party. the communist party has campaigned for greater rights and equality for women since it was first founded in shanghai in 1912. duff tells me his writing students from last year would often write: 'chairman mao has said: let women hold up half the sky.' in 1949 women were granted sufferage, and polygamy was outlawed. women, from this time, were supposed to have free choices as far as marriage and to have equality in their political, economic, cultural, educational and social life. women's rights have come a long way. experiencing modern day china, i can hardly imagine it is the same country as the one i read about in 'wild swans,' by jung chang (an excellent book that follows a family from 1890s in northen china to the modern day), where marriages were arranged, and the women's feet were bound.

the united nations and international women's day use march 8 to remind and promote awareness of women's rights issues worldwide. i pulled the below off a u.n. web page, i closed it though, and lost the link. sorry.

Some of the issues the U.N. and International Women's Day have focused on include the following:

* About 25,000 brides are burned to death each year in India because of insufficient dowries. The groom's family will set the bride on fire, presenting it as an accident or suicide. The groom is then free to remarry.
* In a number of countries, women who have been raped are sometimes killed by their own families to preserve the family's honor. Honor killings have been reported in Jordan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and other Persian Gulf countries.
* According to the World Health Organization, 85 million to 115 million girls and women have undergone some form of female genital mutilation. Today, this practice is carried out in 28 African countries, despite the fact that it is outlawed in a number of these nations.
* Rape as a weapon of war has been used in Chiapas, Mexico, Rwanda, Kuwait, Haiti, Colombia, Yugoslavia, and elsewhere.

yikes. i have more comments about what i have observed in china, but i will wait to share those, and i have lessons to plan. i'll close with the words of james oppenheim's poem, 'bread and roses'. i fondly remember singing this song in girl scouts.

Bread and Roses. Words by James Oppenheim, music by Caroline Kohlsaat.

As we come marching, marching in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing: "Bread and roses! Bread and roses!"

As we come marching, marching, we battle too for men,
For they are women's children, and we mother them again.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses!

As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient cry for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for -- but we fight for roses, too!

As we come marching, marching, we bring the greater days.
The rising of the women means the rising of the race.
No more the drudge and idler -- ten that toil where one reposes,
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses! Bread and roses!