Somewhere online, a simple question started a surprisingly serious conversation:
Would you rather meet a bear in the forest… or a man?
When women were asked:
the bear.
But something even more striking happened when men were asked a slightly different question:
Would you rather your daughter, sister, wife, or mother meet a bear in the forest… or a man?
The bear.
But the reasoning behind this answer says something deeper about how many women experience the world.
A bear is honest.
A bear does not pretend to be safe.
A bear does not build trust first.
A bear does not say, “You misunderstood me.”
A bear attack, if it happens, is immediate. Clear. One moment.
A bear does not drug you, manipulate you, control you, or slowly destroy your confidence.
A bear does not recruit friends to protect its reputation.
A bear does not gaslight you.
A bear does not deny what happened.
No one asks a bear for its side of the story.
No one worries about “ruining the bear’s life” by believing the victim.
No one forms quiet networks to protect the bear.
This isn’t really about animals.
It’s about patterns.
It’s about the difference between a clear danger and a danger that hides behind politeness, power, or social protection.
And this is one of the reasons why International Women’s Day is essential.
Because despite more than a hundred years of activism, the world still isn’t equal.
In the Netherlands, women still earn on average about 10.5% less per hour than men, and the country recently slipped in global gender-equality rankings.
In Japan, women hold only about 22% of parliamentary seats, meaning most political power is still held by men.
In the United Kingdom, only about 10% of CEO positions are held by women.
In Switzerland, women receive significantly lower pensions, on average about 31% less than men, largely because of wage gaps, part-time work, and unpaid care responsibilities.
Different countries. Different systems.
But the patterns look strangely familiar.
This list could go on for pages.
And in many parts of the world, women are not only fighting for equality — they are still fighting for basic safety.
In some places, laws around domestic violence have been weakened or removed entirely. In others, women are still punished for speaking about abuse.
So when people ask why International Women’s Day still matters, the answer is simple.
Because the work is not finished.
Women are often described as the “weaker sex.”
But a group that has been pushing for basic dignity, safety, and equality for more than a century is not weak.
It’s persistent.
And maybe that persistence is exactly what keeps slowly dismantling the structures that made this struggle necessary in the first place.
The Imperfect Week 
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