Women's day in New Zealand

Around the world, every year on 8th of March, women’s day is observed as a symbol of vigour and courage. The world celebrates the success of women in every field including cultural, Political and social. But the question is in a country like New Zealand which became the first country to give women the right to vote. And here not one but there has been two female Prime Minister who have leaded the country’s responsibilities on their shoulder.

The answer to this really significant question is arguably “YES”, because we need to recognise and let the people of the country know the struggle she has gone through, to find a place for herself in the male dominated society that existed some years back. Although, New Zealand is one such country which has been named 10th of the 145 countries in the Global Gender gap Index, still it is not completely free from the prejudices and taboos that has created the difference between the male and the female. There are several disadvantages that women are facing which need to be worked upon.

In all spheres of life that gap still exits be it any field, safety, education or decision making. The society is laden with this unwanted dirt in the society that keeps women behind. Some example such areas are: still women are paid 11.8-14 % less as compared to their male counterparts, one in every four women is facing domestic violence and still only 31% seats in Parliament is occupied by women.

The most probable reason for this is the long history of cultural biases that have existed in the society. It is all running through our veins till now. It had all made its presence in our mind because of the traditional prejudices that our families, the media and communities had taught. The stereotype has made its roots so strong that it may take some more time to understand that these prejudices are the reason that we have not been able to progress at the pace we would have been in its absence.

To testify the fact that New Zealand still needs to celebrate women’s day, we may take up an incidence, in which a group called as “Return Kings” organized a meeting in New Zealand. This group believes that rape should be made a legal when it is done on private property and women should keep themselves thin, un-ambitious and quite. This shows that there are still people in the country who need to be taught the importance of women and their participation in the society.

Most people in New Zealand believe that they are now away from that women atrocities and gender gap that existed long year back. Nevertheless the statistical data reveal that have to say something very differently.

Those are not the intense beliefs that are hampering the growth of women rather those are the subtle aspects that remain hidden in the society and people are not able to recognize them. Those are the belief that has been deep-seated in our mind from the childhood. And so it needs to be dealt with very carefully.

Empower women to empower the society!!