International Women’s Day: What’s all the fuss about?

What is it recently that every person, profession and cause has to have its own ‘day’?

Case in point is International Women’s Day which is described on the official site by the following sentence: ‘All around the world, International Women’s Day represents an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women while calling for greater equality’.

While I get the importance of such a cause and I strongly agree and rally for more equality in the workplace as well as society in general, I cannot help but think that by denoting a specific date for such a cause, we are further establishing the sexist divide which has existed in the human race since the beginning of time.

Don’t get me wrong – like every 30-something working woman, I am proud of my achievements and consider myself to be successful by many standards, however do I really need one specific day to celebrate my achievements? Honestly, I do that everyday, just as I retire to home, pour myself a glass of wine and appreciate the life I’m living.

And it didn’t come by chance. Nor was it by luck that I got to where I am now. Damn right I worked hard for it! Born and brought up in  the developing and backwards culture in the Middle East – not to mention living through wars and surviving life abroad alone along with personal hardship – I think I owe no man or star alignment for my success.

However if there was any person I do owe anything to, it is to one phenomenal woman: my mother.

I know everyone says that about their own mother but I do believe – and for many valid reasons –  that she is the strongest woman I have ever known and the one I look up to in every imaginable way.

Widowed as a young 24 year-old and left with 3 daughters (the youngest being 2 months old) to look after in the midst of a ruthless civil war, and with no job, man or financial security, my mom never lost faith. And despite difficulties, she has managed to achieve the goal she has lived for and bring us up on her own in a somehow unconventional manner, much to the disapproval of her surroundings. Later in life, she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and beat it with her strong will – and some luck as well.

Seeing that her strength never waned despite the difficulties and tough circumstances thrown at her, I can only admire her and feel so small in comparison to what she has achieved and the satisfaction she now feels about her life in general. And if anything, it makes me realise that sometimes, it is those who are normally overlooked, who are the ones deserve to be celebrated the most. Yes, career women, sportswomen, astronauts and all those who work in ‘male-dominated’ fields should be proud and celebrate. But what about the field of life, where we get more judged than in any office or football field?

My mother didn’t have a career, wasn’t even a housewife but managed through her strength and persistence to prove to me – as well as the world – that regardless whether you’re a man or a woman, born under-privileged or with a silver spoon, you can be successful and lead a meaningful life. Perhaps even leave a bigger mark in life by setting a basic example. Society will judge, the ‘other’ sex might not allow you, but you need no charity or ‘day’ to get what you want and believe in your own strength. At least that’s what I believe and hence my disappointment in the fact that the day is becoming more and more ‘career-oriented’ and leaving out less fortunate women who struggle in war zones on a daily basis and overcome more life-threatening and difficult obstacles than being stuck as ‘Executive Manager’ level and not being promoted to the ‘Managing Director’ position.

So if there are any achievement I’ll be celebrating on the 8th of March, – it will be my mother’s and not mine.

Yes, there is a Mother’s Day on the calendar too, however I prefer to celebrate my mother not just for the sake of giving birth to me but for being a woman who is strong, free and capable. A woman in every sense of the word.

Rana Wehbe