On the occasion of March 8 – International Women’s Day, the University of Tetova today organized a solemn Academy in the amphitheater “Sevasti and Parashqevi Qiriazi”. In this ceremony, which was mainly attended by University employees from the academic and administrative staff, collaborators as well as the leaders of the University, was appreciated the all-round and continuous contribution of women in all areas of life.
In this solemn Academy, to the participants with welcoming speech addressed the Vice-Rector for Finance, Prof. Dr. Aida Baftjari-Yzeiri. She stated that the idea of celebrating International Women’s Day was born for the first time at the beginning of the 20th century, in the period of rapid industrialization and economic expansion when, due to the harsh working conditions, protests were often organized. “On March 8, 1857, women employed in the clothing and textile industries publicly demonstrated in New York. Textile workers were protesting because of the harsh working conditions and low wages. The demonstrations were dispersed by the police. Two months later, these same women also founded the Workers’ Union. On March 8, protests were also organized in the following years. The most famous of them is the protest of 1908, when 15,000 women marched in New York demanding shorter working hours, better wages and the right to vote” – said Prof. Dr. Aida Baftjari-Yzeiri.
Following her speech, she pointed out that the contemporary woman’s relationship with the family, with society, with the bodies of power and other governmental and non-governmental institutions is not simply a matter of wishes, but it is an elementary issue of freedom and individual and collective rights, an essential issue of the emancipation and development of our society.
International Women’s Day is celebrated today by many organizations around the world. Some of them demand that this day should be a national holiday in all countries.
