International Women’s day is celebrated around the globe every year on 8th March. Women’s day is celebrated for equality, justice and the human right of the women through a-day demonstration of unity. This is the day when women are recognized for their achievements with disregard to divisions i.e. national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political.
International women’s day started after looking at the activities of labour movements at the starting of the 20th century in North America and across Europe. Since then, this day has become a global dimension for women in developed and developing countries like India. This day has been marked as a day of togetherness by identifying the value that women from all backgrounds add to our socio-economic system.
Earlier, women were paid lower wages, experienced inequities, were susceptible to discrimination, sexual harassment and job insecurity. Today, the government is asking women to step out of the house and encouraging them to work. Women are being promoted in every division around the globe.
A woman sets an example of being an all-rounder. They are taking up 9 to 5 job – 5 days a week and are taking responsibilities towards house & family as well. Thus, it is important to keep one day in the year for them to recognize and celebrate their hard work & achievements.
Holi is the festival of colors that comes around March. Usually, the days of difference is not much between the Holi and international women’s day. Many events are organised across India having a theme of both.
The festival is celebrated across the four corners of India or the globe. This festival embarks the arrival of spring, a season of joy and hope. On this day, everyone comes together and celebrates the unity of humanity.
Society has divided the people based on profession, gender, caste, age groups, etc. On Holi, people of all age, caste, linguistic, gender come together to celebrate this festival. Like international women’s day, this festival means breaking all the barriers of gender, nationality, race and religion from elder to young.
On Holi, people greet and bond each other by putting colours. Colours are usually associated with feelings and emotions. Red color represents anger, green signifies jealousy, pink shows love, white signifies peace, etc. Every person has the essence of these colours in them which keep on changing. To make life more colorful, vibrant and joyful, harmony in diversity is very important.
Life should always be colorful just like Holi. When all the colors are mixed, blackness fades away. Similarly, everyone should be given respect and treated equally.
With respect to Holi and International Women’s day, Mud fest is organised in Surat every year. The purpose of this event is to bring local communities together and promote tourism irrespective of nationality, caste, religion and ethnicity. This allows a woman to bring along a female friend especially who has never been to such events before.
An equal world is an enabled world!