Eritrean Women
Marking International Women’s Day in Giessen, Germany women rights groups take to the streets on the first anniversary of the murder of three Kurdish women activists in Paris.
Kurdish community leader Behive Yilfirim informed - together with her colleagues Olga Royak from the Russian Center and Lemlem Kaleb from the Eritrean Women’s Association - the Ethnic Community Advisory Committee about the global situation of women.
“We demonstrate on the 8th of March to remember the three murdered in Paris Kurdish women Sakine , and Leyla Fidan,” Yildirim said. “In Turkey and many other countries women are still being murdered.”
In Eritrea women played a prominent role in the fight for Eritrean independence. Their participation forced the fighters, and later the population at large, to accept them on equal footing with men.
They fought alongside the men, making up 30 percent of the liberation front. During the course of the war, many women married, but when their maternity leave ended, they returned to the battlefield. They held many important posts in the military, some of them reaching the rank of Battalion Commander.
Women transformed Eritrean society by their work as educators, health officers, environmentalists, and political leaders. They actively participated in mobilizing civilians—particularly women—in the liberated areas.
“In Eritrea, women have fought side on side with men against Ethiopian occupation for 30 years, as a result we have women associations worldwide” says Kaleb “Eritrea is ahead in terms of legislation for women but the implementation is lagging a bit behind.”
“In Russia, the 8th March is an official holiday and women get gifts from their husbands.” , said Russian representative Royak from the 220 members strong Russian community center.
Royak Milo is also looking to the future with new hopes women wearing headscarves would be less objected to hate crimes and insults on the streets.
This year’s United Nation’s Women’s Day theme, “Equality for women is progress for all” emphasizes how gender equality, empowerment of women, women’s full enjoyment of human rights and the eradication of poverty are essential to economic and social development. It also stresses the vital role of women as agents of development.
“Countries with more gender equality have better economic growth. Companies with more women leaders perform better. Peace agreements that include women are more durable. Parliaments with more women enact more legislation on key social issues such as health, education, anti-discrimination and child support. The evidence is clear: equality for women means progress for all.”, said Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
With the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) around the corner, International Women’s Day is also an opportunity to review the challenges and achievements in the MDG implementation for women and girls, as the Commission on the Status of Women will be doing from 10 to 21 March 2014.
