Flowers for solidarity

Flowers - the word itself brings joy to all of us. It stirs our imaginations and creates a vivid visualisation of bright beautiful flowers swaying in the breeze. You can almost smell their fragrance.

For centuries, flowers have been a powerful medium of communication, overflowing with hidden meanings and emotional symbolism. The tradition of employing flowers as symbols has its roots in ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian cultures. Egyptians used floral symbolism in their art and religion, the Greeks and Romans associated flowers with their gods and goddesses.

The captivating power and timeless appeal of floral symbolism have also been skillfully interwoven as a literary device in literature for a long time. Authors from different periods and genres have enriched their stories using the exquisite beauty and varied meanings of flowers. The charm of flowers in Shakespeare's romantic sonnets; the soulful verses of Emily Dickinson and the euphoric description of Wordsworth have breezed through time and continue to inspire both readers and writers. Even now, Floral symbolism plays a significant role in literature, art and personal and public celebrations.

The art of giving specific meanings to flowers, known as floriography, is fascinating. This fascinating language allows meaningful interpretation through different flowers and their colours; the number of flowers and floral arrangements.

For example, the rose is the universal symbol of love and represents Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Depending on the colours, they have different meanings. Red roses symbolise passionate love and respect and yellow roses convey friendship and joy. Two roses symbolise mutual affection and love, six roses express infatuation.

While the practice of floriography may not be as widespread today as it was during the Victorian age, the language of flowers continues to captivate us and inspire creativity.

A flower’s appeal is in its contradictions — so delicate in form yet strong in fragrance, so small in size yet big in beauty, so short in life yet long on effect.

Terri Guillemets

Flowers and women complement each other in a similar way: delicate yet strong.

A traditional way to celebrate International Women’s Day is by sending flowers to the women in your life to express your support.

What flowers should we send?

Before we delve into this, let’s talk about International Women's Day. It’s a global event held on March 8th each year to celebrate women's social, economic, cultural and political achievements; to honour women and their contributions to the family, society and the world; create awareness and take actions to dissolve gender disparity; focus on women's rights where education, reproductive rights and violence and abuse against women are addressed.

International Women's Day, also known as IWD, had its seed in the labour movement in the US in 1908. About 15,000 women walked through the streets in New York City demanding shorter working hours, better wages and their right to vote. Later women in Soviet Russia brought out processions demanding their right to vote and this demand was accepted in 1917. It was later recognised as an annual event on Mar 8, 1975, by the United Nations.

Each year, the UN observes the day with a particular issue and campaign theme for women's rights.

This year, 2024, the theme is 'Invest in women: Accelerate progress’.

According to the UN, since the 2020 COVID pandemic, conflicts have left millions of people in severe poverty. Conflicts and rising prices may lead 75 percent of countries to cut public spending by 2025, negatively affecting women and their essential services. If immediate action isn’t taken 342 million women and girls might be the victims of poverty by 2030.

Gender equality is the greatest human rights challenge and can only be addressed by empowering women. To bring in change and accelerate the transition towards a healthier, safer, and more equal world, investment in women's sectors must become a top priority.

According to the UN website data

• An additional $360 billion is needed per year to achieve gender equality.

• Closing gender gaps in employment could boost GDP per capita by 20 per cent.

• 300 million jobs created by 2030 by investing in care services

• Closing gaps in care and expanding services with decent jobs could spark almost 300 million jobs by 2035.

Thus, governments must prioritise gender-responsive financing and increase public spending on essential services and social protection for women; develop and implement fair and transparent policies to protect women’s rights and ensure that women’s voices are heard in decision-making.

We must also remember that Women’s rights are human rights. Women, in all their diversities, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, gender, age, sexual orientation, skin colour, health status, occupation, income and religion need to be celebrated.

Inclusion is not a matter of political correctness. It is the key to growth.

Jesse Jackson

Investing in women and championing gender equality will pave the way to a future where everyone in society will have countless possibilities, flourish and become empowered.

The campaign theme of IWD, 2024 ‘Inspire Inclusion’ emphasises the crucial role of inclusion in achieving gender equality; encourages everyone to recognise contributions of women from all walks of life; calls for action to break down barriers and bias; helps their voices to be heard and creates environments where all women are valued and respected.

IWD: we inspire others to understand and value women's inclusion, we forge a better world. And when women themselves are inspired to be included, there's a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment.

Women can be empowered to overcome obstacles and achieve their full potential through education, awareness and advocacy campaigns and by providing them with equitable resources.

IWD is a day to show solidarity with all the women in the world and has a logo. But in some parts of the world, it also has a floral symbol, the Mimosa.

Though IWD was observed since the early 1900s in America and Europe, it wasn’t until March 8, 1946, that flowers began to be closely associated with this day.

It originated in Italy. Though the first Women's Day in Italy was celebrated in 1922, it took on a particular meaning in 1945, when the Women's Union in Italy regained rights to vote lost under Mussolini’s Fascist regime. Three members of the Unione Donne Italiane (a women’s rights organisation) nominated the Mimosa flower as a symbol to represent IWD. Despite having delicate flowers, it grows even in the harshest conditions just like women. It was picked as a symbol of strength, sensitivity, and sensibility.

Since then, the tradition of giving flowers on this day to express solidarity and honour women has continued. Although the mimosa flower has a special significance, there are many other flowers to choose from.

Gifting roses on any occasion is always a great idea. It’s estimated that flower shops sell more than 150,000 roses on this day in shops across Russia alone. Roses, generally, spread the message of love and romance. But different colours of roses have their specific meanings.

Since, the colour theme for the day is associated with purple signifying justice and dignity, giving purple roses and pink roses are an excellent choice to express admiration to the women in your life.

Carnations are a great alternative. These flowers signify respect and friendship. White carnations represent luck, and pink carnations represent admiration and gratitude. Red carnations are also a popular pick.

The lotus symbolises creation, rebirth, and the sun. The blue lotus signifies spiritual enlightenment and the white lotus symbolises purity.

Lilies signify purity, beauty, passion and devotion. Also, according to the Greek myth lilies are associated with fertility, motherhood, and rebirth.

Chrysanthemums or Tulips can be wonderful options. Chrysanthemums not only represent good fortune and happiness but also symbolises honour and compassion. Tulips symbolise love, rebirth, charity and respect.

A combination of purple, green and white colour symbolises the equality of women which originated from the Women's Social and Political Union in the UK in 1908. Green symbolises hope and white purity. There's a new introduction of the yellow colour representing a 'new dawn'. It's commonly used to signify a second wave of feminism. Thus purple with green represents traditional feminism, purple with yellow represents progressive contemporary feminism. Pink, purple, green white, and green are the colours that are connected to the IWD celebration theme every year.

To express your solidarity, a gift with the combination of flowers of these colours to the women you admire, can work as a driving force for them. Our collective efforts to take women forward will help them break the glass ceiling.

As we celebrate International Women's Day 2024, let us reaffirm our commitment to creating a more equitable and inclusive society for women around the globe.

Let's celebrate women's achievements; take action for equality, invest in their welfare and inspire inclusion.

It starts from our households first, then the society, educational institutions, our workplaces and the world around us.

Be the one to champion women's rights.

Show your support by sending flowers to the special women in your life.

[Tasneem Hossain is a multilingual poet, columnist, op-ed and fiction writer, translator, educator and training consultant. She is the Director of Continuing Education Centre, Bangladesh. The views expressed here are of her own.]

References:

• UN Women, International Women’s Day

• International Women’s Day, Let’s Inspire Inclusion

• Oprah Winfrey, Darcey Flowers, The Story Behind the International Women’s Day Flowers