For the annual celebration of women’s rights let us make a brief history excurse and see how far women have come in the last centuries and which important milestones have been achieved.
Since November 1918 women are allowed to vote in Germany. Germany and Austria were therefore the pioneers in Europe allowing women’s participation in politics.
In the year 1963, the soviet woman Walentina Tereschkowa became the first woman in space.
In the 1970s several European countries legalized abortion. Until those years it was illegal in most countries and women could go to prison for several years when conducting an abortion.
Very shocking for me personally is that in Germany rape in marriage was not a crime until July 1997. I was born before that date. Until then women were sent home if they reported rape from their husband, being told it is part of their marriage duty. In January 2021 Kamala Harris is sworn the first woman and first woman of color as vice president of the United States. Her quote remains one of my favorites of all time: "While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last.” I can recommend reading her book The Truths we hold.
Although this all might sound like great achievements, we are far from having equal rights for women. Even in Europe and the United States, we cannot talk about gender equality in the 21st century. Men and women might be equal on paper, but the reality is different. Unequal pay, hiring preferences for the male gender, underrepresentation of women in the movie industry or politics. Additionally, it is usually the women who stay home or go into part-time work when children are born. Getting less salary and a lower pension makes women dependent on their husbands so they do not suffer from old-age poverty. But when we compare those western problems to the situation in countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Iran Qatar, or Syria they seem relatively small. Women are not protected from sexual violence, are not allowed to work, or to decide about their own life. Often, they are married early, moving the power over them from the father to the husband. Child marriage and female genital cutting are still common practices in a lot of African and Asian countries. If you are interested in those topics, you can check out our blog posts from before.
I consider myself a feminist, and I think everyone should, unimportant gender and age. Because feminism only wants equal rights for everyone. Today and any other day let us stand up and fight for our rights because women’s rights are human rights.
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