Tuesday 8 March 2011

Happy Anniversary to Us!

It's the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, a day of celebration and commemoration "invented" by Clara Zetkin. Clara Zetkin was a leading German and European socialist politician until she had to flee from Nazi Germany in 1932.

In today's Germany, we're still at the stage of discussing whether companies and institutions should introduce positive discrimination to make sure at least 30% - less than one-third - of their leading positions are held by women. One of Germany's key international development agencies, GIZ (the fusion of former GTZ, DED and InWEnt) does not count any woman among its 7-strong Board. What would Clara Zetkin think? Has anything changed since 1911?

The Guardian Weekly offers rich material around the international women's day on its web-site. You can also go straight to International Women's Day, an internet hub on activities around the globe. Hackers reportedly attacked the site several times today, but it has been restored.
When you look up "Women's Rights" on Wikipedia, you'll invariably find a blurb "The neutrality of this article is disputed". What is it that makes some people so mad about women's rights?

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