Not only are the day's festivities a farce of the expected political subtext, they are, quite frankly, repulsive. Streets are lined with kiosks. Sadly, the day to scream for equality is punctuated only by this sickeningly cavalier chauvinism. Any perceptive observer can tell you the myth of equality, once officially maintained by Soviet authorities, has long since died in reality. Female leaders in business and politics are few and virtually invisible.
Women comprise an increasingly high proportion of the urban poor.
International Women's Day, rather than highlighting these problems, perpetuates the very myth of woman-worship that permits everyone to disregard women's issues, a veneer of reverence that masks the underlying degradation. In Moscow, admittedly, there are the first signs of change. Shelters, legal aid, and family planning centers are slowly emerging, but, mind you, no thanks to International Women's Day. The problems as well as the marks of progress go unnoticed by an oblivious public, more concerned with the courting ritual and general holiday spirit than the politics of gender in an aggressively male culture. Many claim that this conspiracy of silence, like the holiday itself, is Soviet in nature.