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The
International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated annually on the 8th
of March. In Sri Lanka the United Nations (UN) inaugurated IWD on the 5th
of March as 8th was packed with various other activities for the
local partners, under the global theme “Equal
Rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all”
There was a panel discussion on the theme
covering:
§ Governance,
§ Working women in
plantations, garment factories & middle east women workers,
§ Working women in the
formal sector and implications of policies & some aspects of laws,
§ Women in IDP
situations and other disasters
To
highlight the theme a play on how women in tea plantations are exploited by
male supervisors was staged followed by songs by “Soul Sounds” on women. It
was also announced that on the 8th, the chair of the UN Development Group and
Administrator of UNDP, Helen Clark together with the
Indian Prime Minister, will launch “2010 Human Development Report of
Asia – Titled “Power, Rights
and Voice: A Turning Point for Gender Equality in Asia Pacific"
in New Delhi. The bulk of the work for this report was done at the Regional
Centre, Colombo.
On
the 8th The UN Gender Theme Group invited a number of Community
Based Organizations (CBOs) to be present at the UN
compound in order to give visibility to the work done by them for the
advancement of women and disadvantaged groups.
They displayed their
work including products which were produced by economically marginalized
rural women, battered women, HIV positive women and men and abused children.
A street drama on issues the women workers face in their working life,
including sexual harassment was staged outdoors by garment factory workers
from Katunayake.
A song of the day
titled ‘Let us light a candle in the name of all mothers” was also sung.
WHO sponsored this
event partially being an active member of the Gender Theme Group.
“Let’s light a candle in the name
of all mothers”
“Let us light a candle in the name of
all the mothers
Who nurture the whole world in their
warm hands
Let us light a candle in the name all
brave women
Who struggle and sacrifice their lives
To build a better world for their
children”
“Let us light a candle in the name of
all daughters
Whose lives are crushed before blooming
Let us light a candle in the name of
all infant daughters
Whose embryos were destroyed before
they were born”
“Let us light a candle in the name of
all brave women
Who shed their blood and sweat in
factories
Work places, farms, homes and in the
silicone valley
Let us light a candle in the name of
all widows
Whose lives were destroyed by the
cruelty of war”
“Let us light a candle in the name of
all grandmothers
Who take care of grand children even
when they are feeble
Let us light a candle in the name of
all strong women
Who struggle for their rights, for
peace and democracy
To build a better world without
violence and destruction”
Lyrics: Puspa
Ramlani Dissanayake
Program Co-ordinator
of the Women & Media Collective
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