By Robert Kigongo,
OPINION
As the world commemorated the 2026 international women’s day on 8th March, dubbed ‘Give to gain’ I noticed a number of people missing out on the core founding awareness details of this humanitarian noble cause.
Many people unknowingly are posting their biological mothers, sisters, daughters and guardians as if it is “Mother’s Day” literally without any footprint of a greater good in the broader society, instead of celebrating the phenomenon women at the frontline and in headlines making lasting impact in society.
This reminds me of last year’s commemorations, when I conveyed ‘Kind wishes’ to a female work colleague that is making exceptional contributions towards wildlife conservation and biodiversity restoration in national parks, to my dismay she declined the kind wishes, sighting not being a mother to enjoy the trend and privilege of the day like other fertile women.
Let’s be guided, there is a difference between international Women’s Day and Mother’s Day.
Therefore, the lack of substantiating between the two undermines the historical awareness campaigns and inclusive advocacy efforts towards emancipation, gender mainstreaming and empowerment enshrined in International women’s day vision.
In the spirit of leaving no behind, people must learn to substantiate that there is a difference between the International women’s day and Mother’s Day.
I wish to remind the world that yes, every woman can give birth and raise a child into a responsible citizen but there is more to that as far as international women’s day commemorations are concerned.
International women’s day is broadly about phenomenal women who have stretched beyond procreation capabilities into championing different causes of a greater good in society beyond just biological responsibilities.
International women’s day is about exceptional women who have courageously conquered fear and stereotypes against women, bullying, harassment and domestication of the female gender.
Yes, don’t get surprised, am talking about fearless woman demanding a role in shaping society and challenging misogamy in all its form, that’s exactly the kind of phenomenal women we are ought to celebrate on International Women’s Day day and women month.
Are Our mothers worthy to be celebrated? Yes! but being a phenomenal woman does not happen every day, it takes sacrifice, courage, self-belief, determination, diligence, emotional intelligence, perseverance and resilience for a particular female individual to stand out from the pool of women.
Persons who don’t substantiate between International Women’s day and Mother’s Day end up excluding the barren women, religious nuns in the catholic church, celibate feminists and other minority groups of women, yet the core objective of IWD is leaving no one behind.
Imagine if the recognition was only left to biological mothers perhaps there would be no one to celebrate phenomenon women like Rosa Park, Mother Teresa, Oprah Winfrey, Jane Austen, Barbara McClintock, sally Ride, Florence Nightingale, Rosalind Franklin, Angela Markel and Gloria Steinem I can go on and on.
Much as women’s day and Mother’s Day are synonymous with the female gender but they are slightly different, that’s why even the United Nations particularly gave special attention to IWD as an opportunity to recognize phenomenal women advancing equality and equity.
The International women’s day ideal was first introduced by Clara Zetkin a communist activist in 1909 as the National Women’s Day with an objective of raising civic rights awareness while Anna Jarvis started Mother’s Day on religious grounds to celebrate maternal bonding, family and motherhood’s impact in society.
Our mothers are equally very important and that’s why we celebrate them on Mother’s Day, birthdays, graduations, weddings and funerals;
However, the international women’s day is for all outstanding and excelling female individuals in different sectors and fields of life beyond biological offspring’s, family and clans.
Lest we forget, Clara Zetkin exhibited courage when she led garment workers to demonstrate in New York in 1910, that was extra ordinary action.
Clara Zetkin civil awakening actions inspired Russian women to stage a ‘Bread and peace strike’ that shaped the Russian revolution in 1917.
Since then many phenomenal women have played a critical role in civil rights movements, liberation struggles, social sector development, education and constitutional reforms, science and innovation, music and entertainment among other noble causes.
Some phenomenal women have been recognised by the noble peace price awards committee, among them is Maria Curie a polish physicist whose discovered radium and polonium elements in radioactivity thus becoming a double winner in 1903 and 1911 respectively.
Even thou Maria curie was a mother but she was a phenomenal woman whose impact in the world of science still lives on as a legacy for more than 90 years even after her death.
Wangari Maathai a Kenyan 2004 Nobel peace winner led rural women and girls to plant 30 million trees as part of her afforestation efforts to restore the environment.
Among other several women who stood out for their humanitarian and dignified work is South Africa freedom fighter Winnie Mandela who contributed immensely in fight against apartheid.
To date women like Maria Machado in Venezuela, Masih Ainejad of Iran, Agathar Atuhaire in Uganda, Hanifa Adan Farsafi in Kenya continue to emulate the early phenomenal women like Rosa Park, Harriet Hubman, Clara Zetkin, Winnie Mandela among others.
As a result of misunderstood concepts or ignorance about IWD; gender-based violence, misogyny, female genital mutilation, rape and defilement, sexual assault at work places, cyber harassment, healthcare disparities and inequalities still exist to date in many parts of the World, 50 years after the United Nations declared the awareness campaign and decades of action for gender equality.
Fortunately, the contrasting gap serves as a vivid reminder to United Nations, civil societies, governments, development partners and media to consistently repackage and rebrand the awareness messaging according to generations in order to leave no one behind.
Leveraging on music, artificial Intelligence and sports can improve strategic communication in order to build effective critical awareness masses that will accelerate progress of gender equality, meaningful women empowerment and achieve SDG 5 indicator Targets by 2030.
The writer is a sustainable development analyst.
