Soon we might not need an International Women’s Day

A world where every day is Women’s day

On this International Women’s day, mark my words.

In next 50 years’ time, women will rule this world.

Many more Heads of countries, CEO’s of companies and the top power in every field will be Women.

I am not dreaming and neither am I a hard-core feminist.

This thought is purely based on what is currently going on around the world. The winds are changing direction.

POWER

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s current prime minister, is a woman of 37, who, just a week before being elected in October 2017, found out she was pregnant and now is serving the country at 6 months of pregnancy. This may not be a first but is no small feat.

Helena Morrissey, a mother of 9 children (yes, you read that right – 9 children), at the age of 50 is a former CEO of an investment management company and currently heads Personal Investing at Legal & General Investment Management UK. She also established a club named 30% Women. The club campaigns for greater representation of women on the boards of FTSE100.

IWD

International Women’s day is said to have started in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through the streets of New York demanding voting rights, better pay and shorter working hours

The original aim of marking & celebrating International Women’s day was to achieve full gender equality for women around the world which has still not been realised. A gender pay gap persists across the globe and women are still not present in equal numbers in business or politics. But that is set to change due to small but impactful actions by some women.

CHANGE

One of the most senior journalists at BBC, Carrie Gracie, resigned from her post in January 2018, because of the gender pay gap at the corporation.

said she was resigning from her position as China editor while accusing the corporation of breaking equality laws. This action brought about a furore in the country. This protest prompted not only BBC but many other large corporations to review their pay structure to reveal an imbalance.

# ME TOO

As mentioned at the start of this article, this era is going to lead to something bigger for women. The storm about sexual harassment bringing down Harvey Weinstein and many more like him, is a proof of women power rising to another level and this strength will encourage the women of the future to be leaders in whatever they do without being scared or feeling intimidated.

HOPE

I understand and fully appreciate that there are many parts of the world where women are still fighting for their basic rights to freedom. Figures show that globally, women’s education, health and violence towards women is still worse.

But hope is kindled when we see the image (that went viral), of a young girl in Iran taking off her White hijab and flying it on a stick – as a symbol of breaking free. These maybe baby steps by those women who are not equipped to be world leaders but their actions have a collective effect on Women rising, almost like strong winds spreading a fire.

DREAMS

When a 24-year-old, Avani Chaturvedi, from a small town in India, becomes the first woman pilot of a fighter plane, the world needs to take notice that the day is not far when women will not need a Women’s day to celebrate their power.

These are just a few examples from around the world which give the signal of a storm building, waiting to wash away everything that we see, to build a new world –

A world ruled by Women.

A world where every day is Women’s day.

Mark my words.