Flower for the ladies

Women's Day is treated by many as a relic of the times of the Polish People's Republic – a "communist holiday", during which the ladies were ritually handed out to the carnations and the academy was held in their honour in the workplace. These memories in any are aversion, a grin of pity, and yet in others nostalgia for times of youth. It should be stressed, however, that despite changes and changes over the last fewer decades – the tradition of giving women flowers on 8 March or giving them tiny gifts has not disappeared.

There is no uncertainty that for those with national views or conservative roots and traditions of Women’s Day are surely rather distant. This festival was established by the Socialist organization of America and was to commemorate the women's strike at the cotton mill by shortening the working day, with it initially celebrated on 28 February. The feast was then adopted by the Second Socialist global at its gathering in Copenhagen in 1910. The date of 8 March as global Women's Day spread over the events of 8 March 1917, erstwhile women's manifestations and protests under the slogan "Crab and Peace" took place, 1 of the impulses of the February Revolution.

Does Women's Day have anything to do with Polish tradition? It surely does not have anything to do with her, like a pseudo-holy like Halloween or Valentine's Day. However, unlike Women's Day, both Valentine's Day and Halloween are widely promoted in mass culture and disseminated in liberal media transmission. In a time of widespread consumerism and Americanization of culture, this is completely understandable.

Even if the genesis and tradition of Women's Day raises our doubts, the very thought of symbolic honouring women and emphasizing their importance in society is most worthy of support. Unfortunately, present the right fight for women's rights is sometimes presented in caricature shapes and brought to absurdity by feminists (e.g. parity postulates, baseless accusations of sexism, introduction of feminists). For this reason, any right-wing and conservative circles frequently adopt skeptical attitudes towards expanding the participation of women in public life, which in utmost cases leads to misogynistic attitudes.

However, we must realise that limiting women's rights, whether or not undermining their social function is fundamentally detrimental and contrary to the welfare of the national community. The issue of sex should be of no importance in terms of professional improvement opportunities or the exercise of public functions. The basic criterion should have individual capacities and qualifications in this respect. It besides seems that due to the natural predispositions to mitigate disputes and the ability to solve problems in substance – the presence of women in public life, including policy, is most desirable.

Michał Radzikowski