Women’s Day is a celebration, call to action; beware the flowers & candy

Regina Garcia Cano

Mexico City, AP: Women across the world will demand equal pay, reproductive rights, education, justice, decisionmaking jobs and other essential needs during demonstrations marking International Women’s Day on Friday. Are flowers and chocolates welcome?

It depends on the time and place. Women in Eastern Europe have long received flowers on March 8 — and sometimes even gotten the day off from work.

But chocolates and candy can come across as a belittling gestures, showing a lack of understanding of the struggles driving women to protest, particularly in regions where protests have been combative.

In Turkey, women last year braved an official ban on an International Women’s Day march in Istanbul, and protested for about two hours before police used tear gas to disperse the crowd and detain dozens of people.

And in Mexico City dozens of people were injured during a March 8 demonstration in 2021, after protesters battled police in the main square with rocks, bottles, metal poles, spray paint and streams of flame from lit aerosol cans.

Online retailers, meanwhile, have long used International Women’s Day to sell sweatshirts, greeting cards, sticker packs, cloth totes, jeopardy games, cupcake toppers and myriad other March-8- themed, purpleheavy items for the event.

The internet also offers plenty of guides for businesses to tap into the occasion, from cupcakes and appreciation emails for employees to product bundles.