International Woman's Day



Today is Eight of March-
The International Woman's Day-
And I have been so busy celebrating,
Reading all those poems that I wrote in the past
To mark this special day,
That I almost forgot to write one today!

What can I say; the world has come a long way
A woman is her own master, mother and daughter,
She holds her reigns in her own hands
And steers her life the way she wants today...

But some of the old beliefs, and it is such a pity,
Remain, exactly the same
since the beginning of Time:
She is still the slave, the object of desire,
Of the all Supreme Male!
She still sweeps the floor, feeds the cows,
Cooks three meals a day...

She is still used and abused
Raped and sued
And 'made sport of'
as and when it suits
The fancy of men
Who strut about boasting
Of their modern ways
While in truth they are
The same beasts they were
since the beginning of their days...

And we say it is
the 'International Woman's Day'!
While the one on the street
Who trades her body
For a meal a day
Is not even aware
That there exists a Day,
She can call Her-Own-Day!




Author: Zoya Zaidi
Aligarh (UP), India
Copyright©: Zoya Zaidi
8th of March 2008


Notes: Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime — with the abuser usually someone known to her [1]- Nicole Kidman, Ambassador UNIFAM;
For women aged 15 to 44 years, violence is a major cause of death and disability [2].
In a 1994 study based on World Bank data about ten selected risk factors facing women in this age group, rape and domestic violence rated higher than cancer, motor vehicle accidents, war and malaria [3].

As for Rape, the world figures are:
USA: 89,110 ; South Africa: 53,008; Canada:24,049; Australia: 15,630; India: 15,468; Mexico: 13,061; UK: 8,593; France:8,458 .Just to name a few [4]

According to a recent study committee commissioned by the UN reveals: 70% of world's poor are women; Two out of three children not in school are girls; and that women own only 1% of the world's titled land (The Hindu Daily, 08.03.2008)[5]

References: [1][2][3] http://www.unifem.org/campaigns/vaw/facts_figures.php
[4] http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_rap-crime-rapes
[5]The Hindu Daily, 08.03.2008






Poetry by Zoya Zaidi
Read 1012 times
Written on 2008-03-08 at 22:07

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Teddy Donobauer
Zoya,

I deplore the fact that I am a male when i consider how men act so often.
I signed the petition as a matter of course.
But there is one awful corollary: the majority of all men grow up at the bosom of a woman. How come they learn such bad manners in the primary embrace of their life?
If women cannot manage to instill respct for themselves in their man children is there any wonder tyhat the men go on maltreating the very women who care for them.. Well absent fathers start with present mother's. Is it not so?
How saddening this all is..
But up with people, male and female alike..
2008-03-11


Zoya Zaidi
Dear Nick, Don’t take it personally, this is a reflection on the general condition of woman the world over, who face violence in more ways then one; Of course there are men like you who understand, are compassionate and emancipated, and the world goes on because of them; but they are a hand full. Do you know that women suffer sometimes at the hands of their own men- husbands, fathers and brothers- which render them quite helpless… In my own country for instance there is an alarming rise in Female Foeticide in the last two decades, so much so that there is a gross gender imbalance in the general population in India, with ratio tilting heavily towards men; that the number of girls born to 1000 boys has gone down to 723 in India, as against the world average of 1003-1005 girls born to each 1000 boys. Read my poem on these issues posted here around 8th March in previous years.
2008-03-09


Zoya Zaidi
My dear Jehrico,
This poem is not based on prejudice; the facts are:
Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime — with the abuser usually someone known to her [1].
For women aged 15 to 44 years, violence is a major cause of death and disability [2].
In a 1994 study based on World Bank data about ten selected risk factors facing women in this age group, rape and domestic violence rated higher than cancer, motor vehicle accidents, war and malaria [3].
As for Rape, the world figures are:
USA: 89,110; South Africa: 53,008; Canada: 24,049; Australia: 15,630; India: 15,468; Mexico: 13,061; UK: 8,593; France: 8,458
Just to name a few [4]
Reference: 1, 2, 3, http://www.unifem.org/campaigns/vaw/facts_figures.php
4, http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_rap-crime-rapes
if you knew that 70% of world’s poor are women; Two out of three children not in school are girls; and that women own only 1% of the world's titled land. probably you would not say what you have said.
2008-03-09