International Women’s Day, in addition to being a celebration, it is a reminder of everything that women have accomplished over the years and of the paths we have yet to travel together.
This date was officially adopted by the United Nations in 1975, but it originated many years before that, with protests and marches by women in different parts of the world such as the United States, Russia, Austria, Germany, and China, among others.
The date that gave birth to March 8 marks a tragedy, the death of 120 women workers from a textile factory in New York. Who? For demanding better working conditions. Not much has changed, when in 2013, stories were uncovered regarding the death of more than 100 women in a factory in Bangladesh where working conditions were unsafe and unacceptable.
I don’t intend to send a feminist message in this editorial, I simply write with the voice of a woman, all women who have faced intolerance, who are treated unequally and with hostility, who have been exposed to humiliation and abuse, who have suffered discrimination and have had their rights stripped from them, who have been victims of violence, not to mention, those who are not here, who do not have a voice, who have disappeared.
However, there’s us, the ones who are here, those who do have a voice and know our rights and what we deserve, those of us who can sow a path for the ones who come before us.
I do not aspire that all women transcend time and history through great legacies such as Clara Zetkin, Irena Sendler, Rosa Parks, Malala Yousafzai, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, etc., but we can all aspire every day to be better daughters, mothers, sisters, wives, companions, women, and friends, and build a sisterhood to walk together through disadvantages and help lead each other down better roads.
Today we know the importance of unity, which is why I join (from afar) my Mexican fellow citizens who will do a national work stoppage March 9th in response to femicide and violence against women living in Mexico, showing what a day it would be… A DAY WITHOUT WOMEN.
Rather than considering it an oppositional or aggressive testimonial, let this be a clear and explicit message of the respect and justice that we demand in our country and every corner of the world.
Echoing our concerns and demands will not only be a mission for us, but to create new generations of men and women that live in harmony with respect and equality and ensure that women are not silenced or only heard through tears, but have a voice, one that has permanency.
Claudia Esponda
Fundadora de Meraki Magazine
Translated by Rebeca Espinoza
Bachelors Degree in Public Relations and Marketing from UTSA
