Empowering Women From Within
History of the International Women’s Day
There are some myths about the origin of the International Women’s Day. Some say, the beginning was in New York, others settle it in France, also the year dates are varying between 1857, 1907 or even other numbers. Actually there have been events on the national level in Austria in the 19th century, and beginning of the 20th century the first National Women’s Day in the USA. These women were fighting for the right to vote and for this purpose Clara Zetkin established 1910 the first International Women’s Day at the Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen and from the next year it has been held annually in March.
March 8th, 1917 became the key-event for the IWD, in that year the women demanded “Bread and Peace”, because of the calamitousness of the first world war. Later, in the national-socialistic era, this day was forbidden. After world war II, in the postwar-period, Women’s Day was especially celebrated in communist countries, dedicated to the liberation of women.
End of the 60ies and beginning of the 70ies with the start of the new women’s movement, the IWD gained its current relevancy. From then women of all political directions and social classes joined together in solidarity. Many demands from the early times are still prevailing, as right to work, same salary for the same work, equal chances for education, against double exploitation of women, social security for women and peace.
Why is this still necessary? Why are topics like “Gender Equality” still on the agenda of International conferences? At the upcoming UN-conference: “Ending impunity for violence against women and girls” – is it not scandalous that until today it is not for granted to punish violence against women and girls? How to stop this violence? It is well known, that here in “civilized” Central Europe approximately every 4th woman has experienced domestic violence through her partner. The question arises, is there something wrong with the education of boys, who are mostly brought up by women, their mothers?
Let me show You some results of studying the origin of the hostility against women in our western civilisation. Some centuries around the birth of Christ we find an extreme hostile attitude against women. While in the Hebraic language the word for beauty and goodness is the same, in the ancient world the female beauty became demonised as dangerous and ensnaring for men. Greek philosophers claimed that men are completed humans in its fullest sense and women are deficitious, girls are the result of tainted sperm. For Aristotle, women were not human beings, but only the fertile ground to produce children. Later Thomas Aquinus took over this viewpoint and many other Fathers of the Church followed this way of thinking. In that age the discussion arose, that, in order to be saved, women have to resurrect as a man. They even imagined heaven without women, or at least, that the woman is standing beneath the man in the hierarchy.
From the two different interpretations of the creation report, the one of the creation of woman from the rib of the man has become the mainstream. Thus, man were viewed as the origin of women. What is known today as the Apocrypha, contents were taken from Egyptian or Babylonian cults, Greek thoughts, “collections of wisdom” or Gnostics, which were quoted and used very frequently by the early Christians. Often the preachers equated the “Evil” or “sinfulness” with women. For example, Tertullian (second century) accused women being responsible for sin and seduction and because of them mankind became mortal. Women were even made responsible for the death of Jesus Christ.
During the dark centuries of the inquisition, where millions of women in whole Europe were killed, the “Hexenhammer” or “Malleus meleficarum” 1487 degraded woman to an imperfect animal. Sexual desire is identified only with women and whatever happens, women are the scapegoat. Still in the year 1910 a German philosopher published a book where he proofed, that women are not humans. The reason was, that she seduced angels and Adam and several other men in the Bible. Maybe all this is the reason, that still until today women are looked at as inferior beings.
Finally they themselves believed in being inferior or they deserve punishment and still today women want to get their value and dignity from the manly world. Yet, if we carefully study the Bible, we find out that the anthropological idea in Gen.1 indicates that man and woman are equal as God’s image. To dominate another human being is a perversion of the order of creation, man has no right to rule over woman.
Fortunately there have been men in history who defended the rights and dignity of women, like the greatest of them, Jesus, who demonstrated through his lifestyle, that women are equal to men. One outstanding fighter has been Friedrich von Spee in the mediaeval times and at the change of the last century, among others August Bebel in Germany. Nowadays, Father Moon is the one, who underpins ideologically and philosophically, that women have the same value as men.
Confidence in our own value and dignity
Yet, it is much more powerful if we as women do not wait to be rescued by certain men, instead find our own value within ourselves. For sure, we possess the same spirituality, the same intellect, the same human and even divine quality as men. We need to think over our unique and precious personality, no matter how the various religions or ideologies have considered women. Now is the time to learn to cherish ourselves, to realise that we possess special values, capabilities and talents which our society so desperately needs.
The world today is seeking for feminine values and this is shown even in politics, where more and more women are elected or appointed to represent their people.
Feminine qualities, as we already described at various occasions, are among many others:
Ø the deep emotional desire to satisfy other people’s needs, to see other people happy,
Ø to love one’s neighbour and even one’s enemy,
Ø compassion, empathy, endurance,
Ø treating others as we would like ourselves to be treated,
Ø care for the weaker ones,
Ø the ability to be creative in all aspects of life,
Ø a connection with the origin of all beings,
Ø patience, forgiveness,
Ø an understanding of growth processes
Ø to find common ground and to unite on that basis
Ø to discover what binds us together in all ideologies and philosophies
Ø readiness to sacrifice for the sake of others,
Ø courage, independence and tenacity
Ø a capacity to love independently of external measures of value
Ø the ability to place themselves in the position of others to understand other perspectives,
Ø panoramic view,
Ø keeping the overall living situation of a person in mind,
Ø a view which always includes all senses,
Ø avoidance of power clashes,
Ø a desire to achieve more efficient co-operation,
Ø harmony, equalising,
Ø achieving positions which are based on consensus.
Becoming aware of our specific feminine qualities will strengthen our self-respect and understanding, that without us women, respectively feminine qualities also in men, there can be no peace and no further development in the society and the world.
As soon as we deeply engraft these wonderful abilities in our consciousness, we will find our dignity. Pico della Mirandola saw the dignity of people in self-determination and free development of their character. All other creatures grow according to laws and it is only human beings, who have the option, in other words, the divine commission, to help create themselves. Therefore, it is our task to discover ourselves, take time to cultivate ourselves by nourishing our spirituality.
Of course, there are many women who are filled with bitterness and injured and we know, there is always a reason behind. Also we see, that women can be very scheming and jealous and they can give each other hard times. This has nothing to do with dignity – especially not for the one, who does it. For sure, there may be many causations for revenge or to punish each other, but this never brings any positive result. The only way is to find our own value, which we possess from the beginning of our existence, then we will be able to even give each other dignity.
Avoid stepping on others – as we not step on ourselves
Just as we learn in the Bible, to love others as we love ourselves, it is the same with the appreciation of others and ourselves. As mothers, how often we ignore our natural needs and in following (or misunderstanding) the ideal of living for the sake of others, we just step on ourselves. In order not to get burned out, sick or depressed, we need to draw a borderline. There is MY responsibility and there is the other’s responsibility. Of course, it is good to discipline ourselves for the sake of health or somebody else or a higher purpose. However, if we constantly do this, maybe we become ruthless not only to ourselves, but also towards others. There are certain needs we have and others have and needs are aspects of our heart which are given by God. And don’t forget – every growth needs time, we cannot force ourselves or others.
Never allow others to violate our dignity
No matter, how others treat us, we must not feel being a victim. Our universal, God-given dignity is much stronger than any evaluation that somebody else gives us. In general, women have the tendency to be dependant on the compliment from others. Often we observe that women or girls let themselves misuse by men, hoping to get love in return. They forgive their drunken husbands again and again, being smitten and humiliated, hoping for betterment. It is also helping men, if we strongly insist in our dignity and seek help from outside, not just enduring. We don’t need to be ashamed, it is our right to be appreciated as a woman. We can learn to become independent of the judgement of others, by constantly affirming ourselves that we are created as God’s image with eternal value. To lose control of emotions or accusing or judging others bereaves us of our sense of dignity.
Find our own inner self
From the spiritual viewpoint, there is an immeasurable treasure within ourselves. Mystics from the christian sphere as well as from other cultures and religions have discovered since thousands of years, that the throne of God lies within our heart. We just need to become silent and
listen inside ourselves. There we find everything, what we need – power, inspiration, comfort, joy, peace, wisdom and limitless love. In fact, we are one with the source of the universe and everybody is able to experience that.
To find ourselves is the key to value others
It is amazing, how much our attitude towards others can change, as soon as we are aware of our own value. Automatically we become able to respect others. Cherishing ourselves as valuable, we can see everybody with the same value, even though we may not have the same opinion. But there is a certain sense of connectivity and a kind of patience and understanding. As already said before, we don’t need to seek praise or recognition from men, once we realise our strength and qualities, we are adequate. If we appreciate ourselves, we take a heavy burden from the shoulders of our husbands, co-workers and superiors. And maybe our relationships with the men surrounding us will improve.
The Goal of the WFWP
The foundation of peace is real sisterhood among women, from the heart, beyond race, culture, social status. Transcending all differences as sisters of the same human family, we can utilise all the potential of womanhood. Together we can find solutions and take action, while men still try to tell each other what to do. We want to work concentrated, focused on the spiritual and physical health of women, knowing, if they are happy, they can generate all the power which is needed for their families, neighbourhood, societies and the world. There are still countless issues to study, researching the inheritance of history in order to become skilled for the building of a peaceful world.
We want to find out what went wrong with the education of boys, that they became men who step on women.
In building a peaceful world, all kinds of slavery has to come to an end.
The woman as wife waits to be liberated to be a servant or helper for the husband, mutual respect and appreciation would be the standard.
Nevertheless, the most important goal is, to cooperate with men, since both have special gifts to contribute, and both together will be able to fulfil the dream of mankind.
The time is now ripe for us to understand that no single person alone can be a full personality since it is only when man and woman are together that they are whole. Seen philosophically, the man embodies all positive elements and the woman the negative elements of the cosmos and when both have reached maturity of the heart then the oneness they embody, has cosmic significance. In Unification Thought we read: “The unity of man and woman in every person means that the universe can radiate out True Love and True Passion through each of one us...“
Christine Sato
last edited: 4th March 2007