Brittany McGee

 “Women are not objects” read all of the posters as I walked into the main plaza with my site mate. My site mate had recently found a women’s group in town and was starting to work with them. They invited her to be a part of their International Women’s Day celebration on the 7th.

As we cut through the clutter of pop-up tiendas and carnival games (our town’s bi-annual “Festival de la Cruz” was coming to an end), we found the stage in the center of the plaza decorated for the celebration. A band was setting up to play music. People were bringing what appeared to be door prizes out front. Rows of chairs were set up in front of the stage and already filled with women and children. People started to gather and stand around the outskirts of the plaza to watch what was happening.

For the next two hours, I celebrated with my fellow Olmanas and listened to the guest speakers as they talked about equality. In between speeches there were games, performances, and raffle prizes.

The next morning, I was caught off guard when airport security told me to enjoy my day, women’s day.  I began noticing that everywhere I went, people acknowledged the females around them to say, “Feliz día de la mujer.”

By the end of the day on March 8^th, I couldn’t help but wonder why I had never heard of International Women’s Day nor ever paid it any attention. How was it that every single person in Peru knew what it was, but I had no clue?

Women’s rights in Peru have only begun to change and increase in the last 15 years or so; and in some parts of Peru, while women have more rights, they don’t necessarily know about them. The ugly truth is that domestic violence is still a problem, as is sexual harassment on the streets. The flipside to that: the increase in organizations promoting awareness and politicians passing laws to protect women, like the recently passed catcalling law.

But those problems aren’t unique to Peru.

While admittedly I receive several catcalls a day here, none of them are as horrifying as an experience I had the fall of 2012. I was helping put out patio furniture in front of one of the downtown restaurants my company owned, when a man in a truck started yelling obscene things at me. Ignoring him, I continued my work as he circled the block several times, calling out something new each time. Finally, I gathered the strength to tell him off (and that I would call the cops), to which he laughed and continued on his way. After finishing a large catering delivery, the reason I was down there in the first place, I went to a friend’s house nearby to shake it all off.

While there have been great strides made in the realm of women’s rights and gender equity as of late, and there are new, powerful voices prompting change, we still have a long way to go—in all parts of the world.  I am excited to be a part of that change, to help empower other women and men and to find my own voice along the way.

And now that I know International Women’s Day is March 8^th, I’ll continue to celebrate it and the women in my life.