Why do you think we need to celebrate Women's Day

Sometimes when we celebrate Valentine's Day, we wonder: why do we only celebrate it on one day of the year? Shouldn't every day be a day for love?

The same goes for Women's Day. Why should we set aside one day to celebrate the amazing women in our lives when we could be celebrating them every single day?

This year, on Women's Day, we're focusing on breaking the daily biases. There are still some gaps, barriers, and biases that need to be addressed—even among ourselves. We can have unconscious biases that have been passed down from generations before us.

A more equitable and just society would be more loving and compassionate, which is what we want to create.

International Women’s Day celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It’s also a time to reflect on progress made and the steps that need to be taken to reach gender parity.

So why do we have to celebrate it one day to be able to say like there’s no need for this day anymore because it’s a societal norm.

We no longer need to remind each other to say “Hey you know let’s give equal access hey give equal opportunities because it is already a lived reality” so that will be the dream but for now we are still working towards it.

In this episode, we have two new co-hosts joining us, Kevin and Fannie, a power couple with plenty of experience and knowledge to share on our show. Before that, let ask them;

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Kevin, anything special for Fannie, this Women's day ?

Kevin: "Do I do anything special for her [Fannie] on women's day?"

The answer is no—because she knows that every day is special.

Fannie: Kevin express it by holding the fort at home on the days when she has to be busy with her women's organizations meetings and events.

His way of enabling and empowering her is giving her peace of mind to know that the kids are looked after well and that he's okay taking care of them. He's not whining or complaining, or he's not resentful about it. So he really allows her that peace of mind to go and do what she needs to do, which she's very grateful for. So that is very special, very practical, very needed, and very special.

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What’s the difference and how do you respect and honour women. How does his work play about?

Equality is a tricky word. I think women and men are different. We can't say we want everyone to be equal; it's almost like communism, to be honest. Equitable is a more just way of treating people.

For example, if you have a fence and three people differing heights, the shortest person probably needs to stack two boxes for them to see what is over the fence.

For someone that's middle height, maybe they just need one box. And then of course for the person who's tall, maybe they don't even need any assistance to look over the fence. So equitable is like a more just system; it doesn't have to be all fair, because all of us have different starting points and access to resources as well.

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In what ways do women would feel disrespected by men. What kind of qualities of men or actions by men would make women feel disrespected?

Kevin shared an instance where he opened the door for a lady, but received an unexpected reaction.

She said, "Why are you doing that? Am I a weaker species or lesser than you, until you feel I can't open the door for myself".

That was never Kevin's intention, he just wanted to be a gentleman by opening the door for her. But in her perspective, he was portraying that she's weaker. Today's world is definitely different from what it was in the past.

For example, back then, a man's role was to work, and a woman's role was to stay at home and care for her children and look after the house. Nowadays, though, both men and women work!

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Conclusion

In the end, "Women's Day" is really a simple reminder of how far women have come in terms of equality, however, there is still work to be done.

In encouraging each other to appreciate women and their lives, we're able to share our successes with each other. It also helps us realize that while much work still needs to be done, there are already many amazing women who are worthy of honour.

If we look at empowering women through the lens of historical injustice, it's clear that a lot still needs to be achieved in terms of gender equality. But if we choose to be positive and optimistic, it's also clear that we are making progress. And with every step towards creating gender equality, it becomes easier for the next generation of females to succeed. In the end, educating our girls will benefit us even more than we can imagine.

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Source: Podcast WADT, Kevin Goh, Fanny and wearethecity