International Women's Day celebrates solidarity

Chisato Haro, Contributor, Jakarta

On March 8, 1957, women in the garment trades of New England took the first steps toward claiming their fundamental rights by taking to the streets.

Today, the international women's movement has taken on global proportions, taking on new aspects as governments and societies have evolved, but its spirit remains the same.

As UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan pointed out in his International Women's Day message: "Gender equality is not only a goal in its own right, it is critical to our ability to reach all the others. When women are fully involved, families are healthier and better fed. And what is true of families is also true of communities and, in the long run, of whole countries."

It is in reflection of this communal spirit that the International Community Activities Center (ICAC) has hosted an International Women's Day luncheon for the last five years. It is one of the few non-profit, multi-cultural organizations in Jakarta to commemorate the day, drawing upon its 30 years of experience as a platform of exchange and cooperation between the Indonesian and international communities.

Themed in "Women's Health and Gender", this year's ICAC International Women's Day Luncheon featured keynote speaker Dr. Nafsiah Mboi, who is renowned both nationally and internationally as a champion of non-discrimination through her life-long work focusing on empowerment of women, issues of gender equity and child rights.

Emphasizing a responsibility that rests among both women and men to achieve change and progress, Dr. Nafsiah focused on three concerns: the AIDS epidemic, the health impacts of violence, and the challenges of aging.

While all three are global concerns, they are also crucial to Indonesia in its struggle to realize political reform and economic development, and in its recent advancements in recognizing the importance of civil society in contributing to growth.

Dr. Nafsiah pointed to this latter factor as being key to meeting the challenges of the concerns above in conjunction with improvements in law, education and health services as "They are truly issues of public health and public welfare."

The physical, economic and social burdens women bear in connection with these concerns affect not only the women themselves, but also the community at large through women's predominant role as caregivers.

Statistically, 50% of all HIV-positive adults in the world are women, as a result of their physical vulnerability - the female body is anatomically more vulnerable to infection - and their vulnerability as manifested through the societal constructs of gender stereotypes.

Domestic violence impacts on women of any socio-economic class, culture or religious belief both mentally and physically, and ultimately, the children who grow up in violent homes.

Violence on a larger scale, that of armed conflict, particularly impacts on women, who suffer a disproportionate impact in addition to the traumas inflicted through conflict, as they are also targets of specific forms of violence and abuse, including sexual violence and exploitation.

Aging poses a more significant concern than it may seem at first glance, as globally, the life expectancy of women is longer than that of men. In addition, 60 percent of women aged 60 and above live in developing nations, where the combined impacts of general poverty and a lack of accessible medical services compound the ensuing social, health and emotional problems.

In this sense, International Women's Day is truly a celebration of solidarity as a global, communal responsibility across all societies - without discriminating between women and men, children and adults, religion or culture, "developing" or "developed", as we strive toward the recognition of universal human rights and ensuring the health of the global community.