When I was an office clerk I would have nothing to do with March 8, International Women’s Day, finding it false and ridiculous. That day in all the workplaces the men would act like clowns wanting to seem nice and friendly. The same ones who, on the other 364 days of the year, would push past you in the line for the bus so they could board first. The same ones who would undress you with a look, considering it their right to besiege you with compliments, some of them quite racy, making you feel uncomfortable. Fortunately not all of them were like that, but those were the exception.
But on this day they would approach to offer you a flower and prepare (I don’t know if they still do it) a surprise party, arranged by the union, which afterward they would mark “complete” in the activities plan.
This time International Women’s Day has another sense. In the United States, the State Department paid tribute to ten brave women from different countries, whose daily work for freedom, gender equality, and their struggle for a better world made them worthy of such a distinction. To our great pride, Yoani Sanchez was among those selected. I felt happy for her and very flattered to be able to follow the emotional awards event, through Radio Marti on the shortwave. They aired a telephone interview with her, because she was prevented from traveling, having not been granted the required travel permit without which it is impossible to leave our beloved planet.
March 11 2011
