international women’s day

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abortion laws, elections, equal rights, international women's day, Ireland, politics, right to vote, women's day

Over a hundred years ago the the Socialist Party of America celebrated the very first Women’s Day. A few years later women from 17 countries took up the idea and empowering the working woman became the main focus.

Equal rights was the driving force behind Women’s Day, with the right to vote the highest on the top of the list. Thankfully, after years of demonstrations, that right was given in many countries across the globe – but it took a long time and many may be surprised to read that women couldn’t vote in Switzerland until 1971, in Portugal it took until 1976 and Lichtenstein only granted the right in 1984. Saudi Arabia took even longer and only allowed the first women to vote last year (2015) in December.

But sadly equality is still a big issue – women still don’t earn the same as men, and across the globe women still do not have equal representation in politics and finances. So while women may have been able to break in to middle management they are still few and far between in top level jobs in every industry.

Gender quotas seem to be the only way to make this change, maybe sadly, but it has proven to work. And looking at Ireland’s latest election the prove was on the posters, twice as many women were up for election than 2011. Since the foundation of the state in 1916 there has only ever been 91 women elected, that isn’t even one a year. Between 1992 and the last elections in 2011 there was only five women in the Dail, in 2011 that changed to 25 but that still was only 15% of the 166 seats, now, after the election a few weeks ago,  there are an additional 10 – a total of 35 women now sit between the men.

A bigger issue in Ireland is however a women’s right to her body – abortion is still illegal, forcing hundreds of women to travel if they chose to not have a baby. And whether the choice is based on health reasons, financial ones or just because a women may not want to become a mother is irrelevant in the eyes of the law.

I wonder if the women back in 1909 thought it would take this long for change to happen, and I wonder why we have changed the agenda from empowerment to celebration when so much is still not achieved.

International Women’s Day

 

the white rose

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history, human-rights, miscellaneous, morals and ethics, nazi germany, politics, quotes, religion, Sophie Scholl, sophie scholl the last days, The White Rose, thoughts

Most people know about Anne Frank and her famous dairy but fewer know about Sophie Scholl. She was just 22 when she was executed by the Nazi party for being part of the non-violent resistant group The White Rose.

The university student was arrested on the 18th of February 1943 and was put to death only four days later on the 22nd. Seventy years ago, Sophie and her brother were imprisoned for distributing anti-war leaflets in the University of Munich which was enough to convict them both for treason leading to education by guillotine.

Although Sophie had been part of the Bund Deutscher Maedel (League of German Girls) she soon became very critical of their views. Heavily influenced through her father, who had strong Christian beliefs, and the experience of seeing her brother being arrested for participating in Die Deutsche Jugendbewegung (The German Youth Movement), a collection of youth work organisation separated from the Nazi Youth, which the Nazi state did not allow, Sophie became involved with the White Rose.

The group didn’t have any particular religious affiliation, however most of the members had strong christian beliefs. They were motivated by morals and ethics and were concerned about how the Nazi party discourage the freedom of thought. The intellectual group produced six leaflets opposing Hitlers dictatorship and distributed them in the University of Munich.

Although only 22 Sophie Scholl was a true hero, a woman at the beginning of her life, willing to sacrifice all for what she believed in. Her parting words as she walked up to the guillotine were:

How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?

If you want to know more about Sophie Scholl check out the films:

Sophie Scholl: The last days (2005) 

 The White Rose (1982)

Or the books:

Sophie Scholl and The White Rose by Annette Dumbach

The White Rose  by Inge Scholl (her sister)

wordless

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arts, Budweiser, change teh world, change the world, Emily Pankhurst, French revolution, Lorea'l, Martin Luther King, Max Frisch, McDonalds, Mikhail Gorbachev, miscellaneous, Neil Armstrong, Nike, politics, quotes, random, Red Bull, thoughts, wordless, words that changed the world

People say that pictures say more than a 1000 words but I am not so sure about that.  While I do love art and enjoy wandering around museums admiring all the old and new masterpieces I do think that words have a power of their own which can easily compete with a painting, drawing, sculpture or photo.

Don’t get me wrong I love that a work of art can make me think, dream, wonder and lose myself in the world or vision it creates but a single word can do the same.  Love, friendship, hope, dreams, family or even hate, envy, fear and hurt are all words that evoke ideas, memories and feelings. A single word or a selection of words can do even more, they can literally transform your life, thoughts and the world.

Martin Luther Kings “I have a dream …” changed the way millions of Americans thought. Neil Armstorngs “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” made the world dream of the impossible. Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité embodied the French Revolution which changed Europe forever. Emily Pankhursts  “Trust in God – she will provide” transformed the way women saw themselves and led to women being able to vote. Mikhail Gorbachevs “Perestroika and Glasnost” may have failed in their essence but these words were the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. They led to the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the reunification of Germany, which in turn led to the the EU, be that positive or negative is a debate.

And of course there is advertising, ads use images to sell but they also rely on words to get the message across. I mean how many of you have said “WASSSUP?!” even if you weren’t thinking of Budweiser, or have said “It Gives You Wings” even if you weren’t drinking Red Bull, or prompted “Just do it” and weren’t wearing Nike, told someone “because they were worth it” even if they didn’t use Lorea’l or sang “I’m Loving it” nowhere near a McDonalds.

There are many, many more examples of words spoken or written that changed the world, and millions more that changed a single person who in turn changed the way people think. But today I fell wordless, empty don’t know what to say so I will leave you with these wonderful words by Swiss play-write and novelist Max Frisch :

You can put anything into words, except your own life.