Ordinary women are makers...

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by Angela MacKenzie

Women around the world will mark the 30th anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2007 and celebrate the collective power of women – past, present and future.
According to the United Nations, it is a day “when women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development. International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men.”
A recent UN study found that violence against women is the most common, but least punished crime in the world. The number of women forced or sold into prostitution is estimated worldwide at between 700,000 and 4 million per year, and profits from sex slavery are estimated at $7 to 12 billion US per year.
The data also shows that, globally, women between the age of 15 and 44 are more likely to be maimed or die as a result of male violence than through cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war combined.
At least one out of every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime, and domestic violence is the largest form of abuse of women worldwide, irrespective of region, culture, ethnicity, education, class and religion.
Despite these often grim statistics, women continue to survive and succeed. Everyday, in small ways and big, women prove they are more than capable as leaders of community, industry and even countries.
In my own life, I look to my grandmother and mother as examples of strong women.
My grandmother survived the Korean War with all of her seven children. Intelligent and resourceful, she also fought to ensure her daughters were educated and taught them to value themselves beyond what society did at the time. She taught her daughters and granddaughters that women can endure and survive more than even they themselves may believe they can.
My mother bravely started a new life in a new country and by doing so, gave her two daughters chances at opportunities she was never given herself.
So this year, I plan to take a moment to reflect on the strength of the women who have influenced my own life – ordinary women and makers of history. I hope you do, too.

Angela MacKenzie is the editor of C3 News & Views. Send column submissions to aymackenzie@gmail.com. For more information about C3 Society, visit www.c3society.com.

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