Flowers and salute to all women of the world!

You must have read the following in your FB? Shared by Literary Circle friend, Ginny from Japan, allow us to share this timely message for this year's celebration of Women's Day.

“An English professor asked his students to punctuate the following sentence: A woman without her man is nothing. All of the males in the class wrote: A woman, without her man, is nothing. All the females in the class wrote: A woman: without her, man is nothing. Punctuation is powerful.”

Power is still the crucial divide between males and females. Sadly, there are females who believe, like the males, that they are nothing, without their men. The challenge remains: how to encourage both men and women to see that without each other, they are nothing.

All throughout the world, women still face so much discrimination and violence. Those in India are still fighting off those who think women can be raped because they are women. A recent Japan Times article reported how a Libyan female university lecturer was stopped by militiamen who “kicked her car, beat up her driver, and threatened they would do the same to her” if she continued to violate “the word of God” by riding a car without the company of a male guardian. One male university student also told her “she shouldn't be giving lectures because a woman's voice is “awra” - too intimate and shameful to be exposed in public.”

Last Wednesday, the latest released MasterCard's Index of Women's advancement   (in employment, education and leadership positions in the private and public sector) showed New Zealand at the top score of 77.8, followed by Australia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, South Korea, Japan and India.

The Philippines has remained among the top 10 countries out of about 135 countries with less gender gap between males and females, based on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria summarized in annual Gender Gap Reports by the World Economic Forum since 2006.

This does not mean, however, that Filipino women do not bear multiple burdens at home, at work, in their communities, and throughout the country. Like millions of other women all throughout the world, our women are still receiving less pay for same jobs performed by males. Politics and leadership positions in public and private sectors are still male-dominated.

While women here and elsewhere in the world are enticed to more actively participate outside their homes, household chores are still placed on their shoulders, not equally or not at all shared by their male partners. As they are expected to share more of their time with their households, community, country and the global economic system, women's private time to attend to their own personal needs continues to shrink.

If it is any consolation, women continue to outlive men- perhaps because of their tenacity and strength to overcome challenges and stresses they encounter throughout their lives?

Women all throughout the world deserve flowers and salute and gratitude for propping this misguided, too materialistic world, on their overburdened shoulders!

The struggle is still on, to make more and more women realize their potentials, their power, their equality with men. We move on steadily until more equality for all, regardless of gender, age, class, religion, nationality, capacities, reigns in this world where homes are not considered as important as markets and economic production and distribution systems.

***

Email: cherryb_thefreeman@yahoo.com