TODAY’s the centenary of International Women’s Day, a chance to focus on the rights of women, particularly in the developing countries.
So in the spirit of the occasion, I thought I’d highlight International Men’s Day, which takes place in a mere eight months’ time.
My intensive research on Google and Wikipedia tells me that the ten year old event is celebrated on Nov 19 every year. Apparently, its objectives include improving gender relations and promoting gender equality.
In other words, teaching men how to treat women right. So even International Men’s Day focuses quite a bit on women.
Truthfully though, it’s a bit hard to muster up much enthusiasm about either event, considering that I first heard about them three days ago.
As it turns out, just about everyone I asked had little idea what both are about.
Above and beyond official events and festivals though, perhaps it’s more important to consider the treatment of women here.
Women can drive freely (some might say badly), unlike in Saudi Arabia, where it is largely illegal for women to get behind the wheel.
If a woman is a victim of a sexual assault, she doesn’t have to be killed to redeem the honour of her family, like in parts of the Middle East and South Asia.
When a woman’s husband dies, she isn’t compelled to follow him into the funeral pyre, as still happens in certain parts of India.
While some might dismiss these as extreme scenarios, maybe it’s important to think about the things that we don’t have to go through here.
On the other hand, Singaporean women (arguably in common with many of their counterparts worldwide) are still likely to be asked in job interviews when they intend to get married and/or have children.
This is then usually followed by, ‘So how will you achieve a work-life balance?’
I shouldn’t think many men here have to answer such questions. While some female friends tell me that they have even been asked why they are still not married.
Cases of women losing their jobs for getting pregnant are still occasionally reported. Many would also argue that a glass ceiling for women still exists in Singapore.
Maybe after all this time, the men are still adjusting to the notion of equal rights.
Personally, it does seems that women are constantly having to adjust to a man’s world, instead of the other way round.
By comparison to much of the world though, they still have it a lot better than many of their counterparts.