Sunday, March 8, 2020 was the International Women’s Day and the world deservedly celebrated in glee. Corporate organisations, gender activists and non-governmental organisations took advantage of the event to highlight milestones in the journey towards ensuring balance in the workplace and at many other frontiers of engagement, especially in those areas with perceived tilts against women.

Across the world, there seemed to be an understanding that while a lot might have been achieved in the area of improving the rights of women in workplaces and homes, a lot still needs to be achieved before the world could pump the air in celebration of equality of both genders.

It may perhaps be in realization of these remaining gaps that the theme chosen for the 2020 celebrations was; Each for Equal.

Writing n this year’s theme, internationalwomensday.org said that the day’s event should be made to highlight our “Collective Individualism.”

“The IWD 2020 campaign theme is drawn from a notion of “Collective Individualism.” We are all parts of a whole. Our individual actions, conversations, behaviors and mindsets can have an impact on our larger society. Collectively, we can make change happen. Collectively, we can each help to create a gender equal world,” the IWD wrote on its website.

In the drive to deepen the conversation on this important day, the IWD created a symbolism to be demonstrated by men and women across the world for the #EachForEqual campaign. This symbolism had people place the two arms across the bosom, one above the other to emphasise the individualism in both genders that make up humanity.

Nigeria has fared quite well in enhancing the rights of women. With the exception of some parts of the country where religion still inhibits the journey towards equality, the country has scored high marks in accepting the fact that women should be allowed acres of space to play in the socioeconomic and political fields. As in many countries, there are still gaps, but this does not in any way blight the achievements recorded in various fields of endeavor where women have been found as champions and leaders.

Nigeria started very early. Right from the days of the military head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida when his now late wife, Maryam initiated a programme called Better Life for Rural Women, significant progress has been recorded and ever since then, nearly all the wives of Presidents and Governors have utilized their position as First ladies to take front row seats in national social, economic and political affairs.

This article is however not about history and milestones. As a matter of fact, what I set out to do was examine the symbolism adopted for this year’s event with a view to adding my opinion on its relevance and strategic fit to the conversation about gender equality.

I have followed the growing conversations on gender issues in Nigeria and the impression I get is that in working hard to address some of the imbalances and inequalities between genders, we might be inadvertently be enthroning a new lopsidedness in the relationship between men and women and this may end up negating the objectives the world had set out to achieve.

Critical thinkers have long held the view that if care is not taken, the end game of all the great works towards gender equality might end up destroying the current regime of patriarchy to enthrone a new matriarchal order.

A deep examination of the symbolism for the 2020 International Women’s Day celebration will reveal this.

I am certain that those to designed the symbolism for the 2020 celebrations meant well. For the IWD, this year’s International Women’s Day theme is about challenging stereotypes and broadening perceptions as well as about collaboration and strength in numbers.

Speaking on the subject at the Australian IWD event, Prof Cobie Rudd of Edith Cowan University said that Each for Equal means it’s everybody’s business and that everybody has a role.

“To achieve equality, everyone’s going to have to be involved. It’s actually about everyone working together so that we have much more satisfying workplaces, and productive workplaces, because people are able to be included.”

This sentiment is shared by countless other strong voices; men and women; who spoke during the event all over the world.

But it seems to me that the symbol chosen for the days event negated the very idea of “everyone working together.

Take a look at any of the pictures of the people affirming the event’s theme with those arms stretched across their bodies. Is there something odd about it?

First, the two hands stretching across the body clearly does not suggest collaboration across gender. On the contrary, it gives the impression of two parallel lines, each leading to a different direction. The right hand stretches to the left across the body while the left stretches to the right with that wide gap between them which means one is avoiding the other.

It would have made a bit more sense if there is a point of contact between those stretched arms, but it seems the organisers missed this.

More importantly, the mere placing of one hand above the other suggests that one is higher than the other. Equality should have the world using symbolisms that picture men and women as equals. Placing one hand above the order does not send this message and actually either heightens the regime of patriarchy or suggesting the upending of this old order for a new order of matriarchy.

I think a better symbolism should have had us either lock our two hands across our chests in a way that projects equality and unity (as the picture above suggests) or have the men lock hands with the women to not only suggest equality but also rope the men in as willing partakers of in the journey towards equality.

Gender equality is so important now and every element in its communication must have to be well thought-out to ensure the whole world become willing change agents.

We have made tremendous progress since the movement for gender equality began in 1911. But we just have to be, not only consistent in the kind of messages sent out there but also be very careful, lest we tilt the entire balance with what looks like harmless symbolisms.