Refugees International: Articles: International Women’s Day 2005

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International Women’s Day 2005

Bangladesh 2004: Woman in Red
Photo Credit: Thatcher Hullerman Cook
03/07/2005

Related Pages:
2005: RI’s Work on Women and Gender Issues
How to Get Involved

As Refugees International (RI) celebrates the 95th International Women’s Day, we take this day to reflect on the ways that armed conflict impacts women and to join with others in the international community to focus attention on the rights of women and gender issues around the world.

Life for all displaced people is too often reduced to a minute-by-minute struggle for survival. Displaced women face additional threats and problems. Humanitarian organizations, governments, and the public must be aware of the way that conflict impacts women differently. Despite the increased hardships that women face in times of conflict, women are also the glue that holds post-conflict societies together. Women are courageous and effective leaders in civil society and in movements to end conflict. RI celebrates the diverse roles of women in conflict areas and their struggle for peace, a tradition of at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.

Refugees International has written extensively on issues facing internally displaced and refugee women. From the problems that women face trying to access food in Liberia to the trafficking of women on the North Korea-China border, issues that impact displaced women have been a long-term priority for RI. Over the past year, RI advocates have successfully expanded resources, opportunities and protection for women displaced and hurt by war. RI's advocacy includes providing resource pages for those interested and involved in gender equity, protection, and other women-related issues. With awareness, involvement, and effective solutions, RI feels these issues can be resolved, helping improve the lives of millions of people worldwide. In honor of Women’s Day, RI invites you to take a look at the compelling stories of displaced women that RI teams have met with in their global travels in the past year.

The Purpose of International Women's Day

International Women's Day is intended to recognize the role of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war. In 1917, with two million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women chose the last Sunday in February to strike for “bread and peace.” Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went on anyway. Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional government granted women the right to vote. More recently, in 2000, sick and tired of the failure of peace efforts in Sierra Leone, women’s groups mobilized the people of Sierra Leone to rebel against Foday Sankoh, the brutal leader of the Revolutionary United Front, leading to the eventual peace agreements in 2002. In October of 2004, women from seven countries in the Eastern Africa and the Great Lake regions (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia) met in Kigali and resolved to create a women's network as their instrument for conflict resolution.

These courageous women are the motivation for our unceasing commitment to generate lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people around the world, and to work to end the conditions that create displacement.