International Women’s Day and capitalism: An uneasy marriage

Now that all the International Women's Day celebrations have calmed down, we can have a conversation about this. Let's go through what we have seen last week and in the last few years around the celebration of International Women's Day (IWD).

To discuss this present situation, we must go back a hundred years. Before International Women's Day, we had Suffrage Day. It all started with women asking for their rights to vote, their rights to make decisions about their own bodies, and family laws. 

If I think about it today, I cannot think of a logical reason why women did not have voting rights. But history has all the answers. 

It is very recent that women are being considered citizens of their respective countries. A good example of this is the wedding vow. For the longest time, Christian wedding vows were between a man and his wife. They said, 'Now I pronounce you man and wife'. This reflects how women were perceived. 

Bangladesh is a very new country. By the time Bangladesh gained independence, women already had the status of being citizens of the world. 

I also cannot think of a good reason why women did not have the right over their own bodies. But here we are, in a world where France is the only country that has given constitutional rights to abortion.

Women's movements have taken different shapes throughout this period. So did feminist movements. As the understanding of the layers and dimensions of discrimination got deeper, the movement also adopted different ways of resistance. 

From being a white woman's movement, it discovered the path of intersectionality. Through the work done by all the women and feminists in the last hundred years, one thing that we have successfully achieved is that now people are talking about the struggles of women, gender discrimination, and ways of resistance. 

We have mainstreamed women and gender, yet there is a long way to go.

Every day I see social media posts, memes, hate speech, and personal stories around these discussions. 

There is a big group of people who are lashing out at the feminist movement towards an equal and just world. However, the number of people who are unknowingly harming the core motivation of the feminist movement is actually higher than the number of people who are doing it knowingly. 

Somehow, this kind of strategic normalising through adopting a layer of 'inclusivity', is harming these movements more than anything else. 

A visible, known enemy is easier to fight than an enemy who is disguised as a friend. In this case, the enemy is capitalism, like in most other cases.

Let's discuss the current trends of celebrating IWD in Bangladesh. 

This past week, we have seen workplaces celebrating IWD with a lot of pinks and purples, chocolates, balloons, cakes, special food, etc. Men wearing pink shirts in solidarity with IWD. Women employees getting gifts such as make-up or skincare products. 

Undoubtedly, the newest addition to this celebration is contributing to more social media videos on Instagram or TikTok. I was scrolling through one of my social media apps and I saw fifteen to twenty men surrounded by women in an office setup, making a dance video on a recent popular Hindi song as a form of celebration for IWD.

Of course, there was backlash against this kind of celebration as well. The classic, 'Is there a day for men when men can also get gifts?'

I might also highlight here that last November I also saw workplaces celebrating Men's Day in the name of gender equality. Again, the celebration was filled with cakes and food, but no pinks or purples.

I am writing this article to discuss my uncomfortable feelings about these trends in celebrating IWD. I feel a huge discomfort in observing how capitalism has twisted a day like IWD in its own narrative. It gives me more discomfort to know that we are all part of this. These activities reflect workplaces running away from their responsibilities. 

It feels like these workplaces are trying to fix women's demand for workplace safety or equal pay or maternity leave by cutting a cake or giving them a pink flower with a card that says, 'Women can do anything'.

 It is not only the office that is giving women soap bars and face packs for IWD, but also all the brands who are using this day as their promotion. 

The beauty and jewellery brands offer discounts to women to buy themselves gifts with hashtags like 'you deserve it'.

These activities promote a woman as a girl boss who can do anything, who is a multitasker, and who is a perfectionist. These promote stereotypes. These are pink-washing capitalism and exploitation.

Please don't interpret this article as opposing the celebration of International Women's Day. International Women's Day holds significant value, especially for women worldwide facing various forms of inequality. 

It matters for those on the frontlines of climate change, confronting the glass ceiling, residing in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, relying on microcredit loans, striving for education, belonging to Dalit communities, and being unable to afford menstrual hygiene products. This day is crucial for acknowledging discrimination and advocating for justice.

This International Women's Day, it was important for us to talk about the women of Palestine. Women who are struggling to survive. Women who have died. 

Women who are dead and are still being objectified and sexualized.

This article is calling for all to understand intersectionality, use platforms and spaces to discuss discrimination, and ask for justice, which cannot be done in the set-up of a capitalistic celebration.

Simin Ibnat Dharitree is studying Gender and Development at Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.