Wednesday, March 6, 2013

International Women’s Day: “Gaining Momentum” on Gender Equality


Image Source: http://fluxmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/National-Womens-Day.jpg

Come March 8 and throughout this month, the whole world will celebrate International Women’s Day. Ever since it was established nearly a century ago, the observance of this yearly event has been focused on the empowerment of women, in which respect, appreciation and love towards them are highly regarded.

As it is with other celebratory events, the International Women’s Day is often bound by themes that are political and social in structure. Global institutions, from organizations, governments, to women’s groups, often have their own themes each year with regard to the struggle of women and other relevant issues on both the global and local levels.

Recent themes celebrate the vital achievements that women garnered amidst the dominance of men within the political, social, and economic strata. In fact, the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum.

Women and gender equality


On a related note, the United Nations (UN) has its own theme for this year, and that is A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence Against Women. As we all know, the recent news reports of violence against women, physical abuse or otherwise, have been on the rise. Despite the measures to solve such issues, institutions have been aggressively promoting women’s rights in all aspects of society, letting the world know of the daily struggles and hardships that they strive to do just to be recognized equally.

Looking at the theme for the upcoming International Women’s Day, addressing the issues with regard to equal rights of women have been, so to speak, gaining momentum. Current institutions have been instrumental in keeping up with the times as regards to this common goal. As we all know, women nowadays have become catalysts for change, continuing the ongoing fight to sustain what their predecessors have fought for.

Changes in the employment scene

One of the most pressing issues that are often tackled during this time of year as regards to women and their rights is in the realm of employment. As it is, discrimination and harassment have become even more and more rampant despite employment and labor laws. In most, if not all, cases of such unfair treatment often target women.

The common challenges that they face in employment include getting sexually harassed by their employers and receiving less than the amount of pay and benefits than their male counterparts. Any employment decisions that are motivated by gender or sex and degrade the value of women are deemed unfair and wrong in the eyes of the law.

Thankfully, agencies on the federal level such as the EEOC, as well as those on the state level, have been pursuing the rights of aggrieved women by going after employers that discriminate against them.

Incidentally, Los Angeles employment lawyers and other legal experts hope that giving importance to women and their accomplishments shouldn’t be made on one day only. People must realize the impact of women in the society, and recognize that they, too, are gaining momentum in terms of achieving and sustaining equal rights.

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