Ah, Women’s Day! That glorious day when companies suddenly remember they have female employees, rush to buy pink balloons, and send out emails about “empowerment” while ensuring Meena from Accounting still earns twenty percent less than Kumar from Marketing.
Don’t get me wrong—celebrating women is important. But must we restrict it to one day? Do women only exist on March 8th? If that were the case, I’d understand why we call it Women’s Day. But since women do insist on existing all 365 days, perhaps we should make sure their rights exist every day too.
History, of course, is filled with women who refused to accept the crumbs society tossed at them. Take Susan B. Anthony, who, in the late 1800s, dared to suggest that women should vote. How audacious! A woman having an opinion about who governs her? Shocking! She fought, she persisted, and though she didn’t live to see it, women finally got the right to vote in 1920 in the U.S. Or consider Emmeline Pankhurst, the British suffragette who didn’t just campaign for votes for women—she stormed the bastions of male privilege with a fierceness that made politicians tremble in their well-polished boots. She and her fellow suffragettes chained themselves to railings, broke windows, and even went on hunger strikes. They weren’t asking for power; they were demanding it.
And speaking of power, what about Rosa Parks? Though often remembered for civil rights, she also shattered gender norms. Her refusal to give up her seat on a bus wasn’t just about race—it was about dignity, equality, and standing (or rather, sitting) against injustice. Then we have Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who spent her career dismantling gender discrimination law by law. She didn’t just fight for women—she fought for equality so men could take paternity leave and women could be treated as equals in the workplace.
And let’s not forget Tarana Burke, the woman who coined #MeToo long before it became a viral hashtag. Because, believe it or not, women had been calling out harassment for centuries—just no one bothered to listen. So, where are we today? Well, we have laws against workplace harassment, but women still endure it. We have the right to vote, but women in many places are still told whom to vote for.
We have female CEOs, but they’re still outnumbered by John’s and Sunil’s.
This isn’t to say progress hasn’t been made. It has. But if we stop now, if we settle for a few success stories and an annual “Ladies, here’s a discount on spa treatments” day, then we fail the next generation. So, let’s raise a toast, not just to the women who fought before us, but to the ones fighting now. And let’s make sure that every day—yes, every day—is Women’s Day. Because women aren’t part-time citizens, and their rights aren’t seasonal discounts.
Happy Women’s Day. Today, tomorrow, and always…!
—bobsbanter@gmail.com
