Is March 8 a womens’ day or a time for buying loincloth on March 8.
The loincloth is getting a new colour on Women’s Rights Day in Pointe-Noire, the economic capital of the Republic of Congo. On March 8, the trend is to wear the loincloth. It makes you wonder whether March 8 is loincloth day or women’s rights day.
“We wear the loincloth on March 8th to value women. Because when we see a woman, we link her to the loincloth. The loincloth is also a way to show our femininity on a national level,” Mrs. Safou Florence, a Pointe-Noire resident.
“We wear the loincloth because it is our day, the women’s day, a way to rejoice and celebrate it, because March 8th is our day,” Otsara Sissi, a resident of Pointe-Noire.
March 8 is an important day for us because many people around the world have given their lives and time to claim women’s rights. And it would be a shame if we who live in societies where rights are not respected spent all our time feasting. It’s not even a day to say “Happy Birthday.
Opinions shared by some, but rejected by others, who see March 8 as a period for reflection and believe that this celebration is an opportunity to demand real equality.
“In fact, it’s Women’s Day. Every March 8, I always buy the loincloth and I stay home with the kids, do all the housework, take care of the kids, give her the money to go out and have fun, that’s all,” Loubela Claudin, a vendor at the central market in Pointe-Noire.
However, Congolese writer Huguette Nganga Massanga thinks just the opposite.” March 8 is an important day for us because many people around the world have given their lives and time to claim women’s rights. And it would be a shame if we who live in societies where rights are not respected spent all our time feasting. It’s not even a day to say “Happy Birthday”, no, it’s an international women’s rights day, there are no flowers, no loincloth, no gifts, we just say “we want our rights to be respected.”
The theme for the 43rd International Women’s Rights Day is “I am from Generation Equality: Stand Up for Women’s Rights,” a slogan in line with UN Women’s Generation Equality campaign to achieve human rights for all women, regardless of age or origin.
