International Women's Day 2011
Dear Colleagues,
Today is March 8, International Women's Day. The theme of this year is 'Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women'.
International Women's Day was officially recognized by the United Nations until in 1975, the first International Women's Day, was celebrated in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. In New York, women garment workers protested for demanding better working conditions and adjust salary in their company. This year it has turned into 101 years. ICDDR,B is celebrating this day across the organization and in all field sites since its inception of gender policy from 2005 .
In the last half-century, women have streamed into the labor force and assumed well-paid professional and managerial positions; they are among the captains of many nations. Women are contributing the family income thus making impact in the national economy.
Despite such gains there is a gap exists between woman and man's work type and dignity. There comes the term Decent Work. The primary understanding of the decent work is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity (ILO, 1999a).
Women are no doubt under represented and underestimated in terms of decent work. There are virtually three categories of jobs most discussed, white collar, blue collar and pink collar. White color is especially for men and pink color is deemed exclusively for women. Job segregation is ever wide in every nation for its women and men's workforce. There is a glass-ceiling effect in the pathway to women in the organization level.
Lack of access to education, needful training, less access in the field of science and technology are the major reasons for this lower status of women for decent work. Nearly two-thirds of the world's adult illiterate are women. The higher level education the percentage is very much lower than male (male 4.16% and female 1.40%).
In the field of science and technology the status of women is much more disappointing. Throughout the world, most of the scientists, technologists, engineers and IT experts are male. In the family settings, boys ate the primary recipient of computer, cell phone or any latest gadget. Women are discouraged to go in engineering and technical education. Women will always lag behind in getting a decent work if they have no exposure to knowledge and expertise to science and technology. International Women's Day is a day to reflect aspirations form the present need of women, draw inspirations from past achievements, and express solidarity with our sisters in order to look for future directions. I wish its every success.
