March 8 marks the annual "International Women's Day" (IWD)when women around the world celebrate their achievements, potential, and global womanhood. The event has been observed unofficially since the early 1900s and has a long history of political resistance. This "feel good" exhibition of solidarity is a cheerful and well-meaning gesture of female unity against patriarchy and oppression.
But one has to be careful with the use of terms such as "global womanhood" that whitewash the socio-economic, religious, and political differences between women- the differences that make some more equal than others. In a lecture at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Nefissa Naguib highlights the stories of forgotten, marginalized women. She tells the stories of brave Palestinian village women and their daily struggles in search for water and security. Her stories bring them alive, but not in the way TV images depict them. They are not black-robed, anonymous women tearing at their hair, wailing by the shattered walls of their homes, and submitting to their plights. Rather, she tells of resilient and resourceful women, tender and humourous but brave and strong-willed. Naguib also tells of nuns in Palestine who find and care for orphaned children, teaching them Qur'an and sewing wedding trousseaus for the young orphaned women of marriageable age.
According to Naguib, there is a need to go beyond sweeping slogans and meta-narratives (big stories) about women. As she rightly states, we need to "engage more specifically with women's lives "as lived" and "dealt with" under critical conditions."
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