“I am Mee. It means ‘beautiful’ but I don’t feel beautiful now. For four years I’ve been working in this place, sewing trainers for someone our bosses call NIKE. Fifty of us, all women - young and not so young - work from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and sometimes longer if they’re not satisfied with what we produce. The work is hard. My eyes hurt and my head aches because the light is bad and the air is stale. My neck is stiff from bending over the work bench and my fingers are rough and sore from the needle. The pay is little, barely enough to feed my son and me.
We live with my mother who tries to get some money washing for the people in the big houses. Yesterday she said the women who live there were excited about something they call ‘international women’s day’. But we are always too tired to think of anything and my son is always sad.
Maybe I should have gone with Lien. She begged me to go with her. She was so happy to be going to Europe with that woman who became her friend. She said she would work in a hotel and earn a lot of money to help her family and educate her two children. I could not go and leave my son. That was four years ago. We have not heard from Lien since. How could she forget her children?”
*****
“I am Irma. I am an educated European woman. I have a successful and fulfilling career. I work on an equal footing with male and female colleagues. I am grateful to my feminist foremothers whose tenacity, courage, creativity and resourcefulness have made it possible for me to do this. On International Women’s Day I celebrate the achievements of women worldwide.
But, I remind myself, it is not enough that women in the west have gained some concessions from the system. There is scarcely a country, not even in the so-called North or West, where women’s rights are fully acknowledged in any sphere of life, and most glaringly in the Church. So, I must not let myself be complacent. The struggle is not over.”
*****
“I am a Holy Family vowed woman. On International Women’s Day I can rejoice in the countless everyday heroines who, with quiet courage, are making progress in all aspects of social, political, economic and church life around the globe, most often against great odds.
But, having recently read the shocking statistic that a woman worker in China making trainers for NIKE would have to work 15 hours per day, 7 days a week for 7 centuries to earn what the CEO of NIKE earns in one year, I can’t help asking whether this day is more a time for deep sadness and grave concern than one for celebration and rejoicing.
So the day is a reminder of the urgent need for global collective action in asserting women’s rights and working to achieve gender equality. My inspiration to action comes from our 2008 Chapter commitment to ‘Choose Life’. I am committed to seeking ‘with courage and determination conditions of life that will ensure dignity for all’ - for exploited Mee, trafficked Lien and liberated Irma.
Síle McGowan
