Opinion | I don't celebrate Women’s Day

March 8th is International Women’s Day, and for a lot of people it is a day when they celebrate the women in their lives and all that has been accomplished for women’s rights. But my experience with this day is different. Back in Mexico, this is not a day of celebration, but a day of mourning and fight. Photos courtesy of Emilia Cuevas Diaz

Emilia Cuevas Diaz, opinions editor

I don’t celebrate International Women’s Day. I don’t watch a fun movie about women empowerment or play games with my friends. I don’t decorate or give gifts. I don’t do a self care day.

For me, Women’s Day is not a day of celebration, but a day of remembrance. It’s a day of remembrance and a day of fight.

Four years ago, I participated in the nationwide women’s strike that was organized to draw attention to the violence women experience in Mexico. The idea of this strike was to show what would happen if all women were gone, which feels like a real possibility when ten women are killed daily in the country. The day before that there was a protest, so everyone would be aware of what the strike was about.

Since that day in 2020, every time International Women’s Day comes around I do everything I can to help the cause of the feminists who go out and protest the lack of justice and action to improve the lives of women in Mexico.

Year after year we keep talking about this problem we’re facing. Year after year women take to the streets and yell out the names of their sisters, mothers and daughters who were killed. Year after year we express our fears and demand action.

This is a fight worth fighting. This is a fight that will not end until something changes. 

I am tired of being scared. I am tired of hearing the statistics of death and violence. Above all, I am tired of feeling powerless to do anything about it. And I’m not the only one.

I don’t celebrate International Women’s Day. I commemorate and mourn the victims of violence. I remember that this is a fight worth fighting.

This year for the fourth year in a row thousands of women in Mexico gathered to protest the violence against women and the epidemic of femicides that plagues the country while the president downplays the issue. 

Sometimes though, it’s easy to feel hopeless when I’m faced with the lack of response or the fact that despite this being the fourth year in a row that the protest has happened nothing seems to have changed. It’s easy to believe that nothing will change. But I think that’s why Women’s Day is so important to me. 

In this daily fight, sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are others right beside you who want the same things you do. But every year, when I see how many women gather and protest this violence, I feel empowered because I see that there are a lot of people who are helping me in this.

I don’t celebrate International Women’s Day. I commemorate and mourn the victims of violence. I remember that this is a fight worth fighting. I raise my voice and do everything I can to make things better.