Is 8^th of March Really a Woman's Day?

Of course it is, but not always and not everywhere. In some parts of this wide world, people understand very differently this International Women’s Day. Some celebrate it gladly and with dignity, while others do not even mention it, do not even want to hear about it. Still, this date of March 8^th in some countries does not stand for anything or mean anything.

I remember how this holiday was regarded worldwide as proof of women’s social equality day. This day was also celebrated in the previous century in the Balkans too. The country once called Yugoslavia, now dismembered and dispersed into six countries, thanks to the "international community", it is now a version of nationalism and especially the dominant role of NATO and its allies. My father and mother never mentioned it, as well as women in my neighbourhood who came to our house that day to have a cup of coffee with my mother, when the male family members, like my father and my brothers were away.

For me, a child of the Second World War, this day was a very obvious occasion. I grew up with boys on our block and with back street boys only, because there was not a single girl in my immediate neighbourhood, except one that never came out to play with us. I was healthy and robust enough to make the boys on the street understand that I am going to play with them, regardless of the fact that they were all boys and I was the only girl. So we played soccer with a rag ball that my mother made for us, plus hide and seek, marbles and other children’s games. Actually I remember one big boy of my age who tried to eliminate me from all of the street teams, and who was calling me names I did not like. I warned him many times not to call me Dolly when my name was Molly. But he only laughed. One day I was really fed up with his behaviour and his resentment and I chased him and gave him several punches on his nose and that was it. From that moment I knew that I could run faster than him and I was even stronger than he was. The problem was solved without any interference of my or his mother or friends. All of this experience helped me to understand men later in my life. At least I believe I did.

At school, we have learned only a short segment about the history of Women’s Day and the rights that the women fought for. But it was not enough. In our Socialist society at that time men and women were equal. There was no need for anyone to make that a big issue. Women had success in all aspects of public life. They also fully participated in the rebuilding of the country after World War II devastation.

However, years later, I have learned that we women living in the Balkans, were not only privileged and equal with men, but we were more than equal. How so? It was owing to the fact that women could enter freely the educational system, labour market and consequently for any job (except night shifts) if they met the job requirements, gave the women in the Balkans an additional possibility to work not only in the professions, but also the opportunity to work at home. Home chores were traditionally, solely the women’s responsibility, while men in the Balkans were not willing to share them. In addition it was rearing children, of course was done by women. All in all, there were often times that I thought that we women had too much equality that resulted in a huge burden of duties.

In Yugoslavia the celebration of Women’s Day was a public holiday. Woman worked of course during the weekdays. After work in most enterprises a party was held. There was always a lot of food and drinks. Most of it made by women and bought to work. Every working woman received a red carnation and a kiss from their male coworkers. Better and bigger enterprises organized a shopping spree either to Italy, Austria or Greece, while some husbands took their wives to dinner and gave them flowers. Women that did not work received flowers also. Sometimes this celebration got the men too drunk and they came home late.

Therefore many women in the Balkans realized that men love to celebrate Women’s Day too long and were to ready to continue with their celebration in the restaurants and women felt that the men could appreciate the women differently every day, not just on this International Women’s Day. Men should carry some responsibility and share equally in the various ways.

Coming to Canada, in a way made me think again of the International Women’s Day, or to say it another way, the women’s place in society. I was surprised and annoyed to see remarks in some ads regarding equality of women. That practically meant that I’ll have an advantage here as a woman. I did not like that, because I always wanted to be treated as an equal, as a human being. In my opinion, women should not wait to be equal; they should fight for that right. Not because of their sex, but because of their personal qualities as a human being.

Here in Toronto, not only in my community with a Balkan syndrome, I sometimes hear that there is man’s poetry and there is woman’s poetry – that the best cooks are men, not women - that changes are needed because there are not many women holding high positions in political and business world, etc. In my opinion, the only thing women should do is actually compete as humans beings, in their own way and by their own choice.