WoMenS mOnth

It's the end of march. Anything special in this month? You bet, a lot there is..


It is my month. The month I was born..but who cares? It was only me. And who I am? Funny if you think about it and that same question might entered your mind, too. Who dared am I or if this is my month?


But, hey...let me finish my dears...Yes, it is my month - the month I was born - and THIS-is-my-Month - as a woman.


It is women's month by the way. And I am proud to be one!


It was first celebrated in 1911 in Europe. In March 8 that year, the whole world celebrated it as International Women's Day. In history, women are belittled. Fathers' became weary if they bore a daughter. Mothers are afraid of their husbands and the society if they gave birth to a daughter. A son is cherished...a proud of family. But a daughter??? They never even have the right to learn to read nor write, maybe even their name. What a shame. I was - and still - thankful that I was born these years, where women are treated the way men are. Women in the past has no rights, they had no voice. They only follow what are told them to do of their father or husband. It's much a shame that sometimes, a son is more powerful than the mother. That the mother have to follow the son not the other way around, mostly in Europe.


But as time goes by, in so many ways, women started to find ways to show their abilities, to seek rights the same as the men, to find voice for their thoughts. In many European nations, as well as in the United States, women's rights was a political hot topic. Woman suffrage — winning the vote — was a priority of many women's organizations. Women (and men) wrote books on the contributions of women to history.


From that day in 1911, the celebration became Women's History Week in 1978, and in 1987, at the request of the National Women's History Project, Congress expanded the week to a month, and the U.S. Congress has issued a resolution every year since then, with wide support, for Women's History Month. The U.S. President has issued each year a proclamation of Women's History Month.


From then on 'til now, we celebrated our month..we celebrated our talents and abilities..and what our women ancestors has contributed in the past.


Here in the Philippines the National Women's Month celebration opened last February 28 this year with the theme - "Babae, Tagumpay ka ng Bayan!" - it attempts to broaden the understanding of microentrepreneurs, partners from government and non-government organizations, academe, and the private sector on microenterprise development, government programs and services that are responsive to the issues and concerns of Filipino women relative to their dignity and rights, the environment, and family and work life balance.


This is the end of the month-long celebration. And as we end this month, may be not end but rather continue to honor and respect the dignity and the contributions of womens, then and now. ^_^