Celebrating International Women's Day in the Middle East is not too common. Anything that is done for International Women's Day is by individuals, not governments or institutions.
For me, the first and only International Women’s Day event was two years ago, when I was in the second year of university. My classmates and I went on a field trip to a private investment company which helped women who had not finished their undergraduate education and needed to work. The aim of the company was completely new. It involved women who found themselves at a loss, and it took their ideas and put them to work.
I saw women practice their work. Although it was only an initial attempt to explore their talent, such as learning new languages, improving their writing skills, time management, sewing, cooking, and how to deal with children, it was successful. I was proud to see a place which employed feminist thoughts and cared about them. I talked with many of the women who worked there. I asked them about their hours out of this company. It was quite important for me to know a little bit about what their home life was like before starting work in that place. They mentioned the poverty, the need, the feeling of uselessness, and the self-neglect.
That's how I celebrated our day in a different style, a style which is far away from global examples who have achieved fame, money, and popularity. This style was closer to the lives that we live every day as women.
We always forget to say thank you, women, for your vital participation in our hard days, for your carrying the burden of life without any celebration of your achievements and for facilitating all the obstacles in our paths.
Thank you, mom, for your continuous encouragement, for teaching me, cooking, washing, for muting the whole world to give me a quiet space and for sure for staying awake with me when I was studying or when I was sick. Since I was a child, you have suffered days and years, in the war and bad conditions of immigration without a word.
To my mom and mothers all over the world, you are our heroines and thank you for your being in our lives.
By Noor Mahmod
Noor Mahmod is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Damascus. She volunteers at the YWCA of Hamilton. She is currently a student in the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada program at Mohawk College. She plans to study in the Paralegal program at Mohawk in the future. Her long-term goal is to do a master’s degree in international law.
