By Tenzin Lekdhen
DHARAMSHALA, Feb. 19: On February 5, the Kashag sent an internal notice to all the CTA’s departments announcing the retraction of 12th March as the Tibetan Women’s Day and to commemorate the day as the Tibetan Women’s Uprising Day, as it previously has been. The move was celebrated by women bodies as a victory for democracy and a rightful reinstatement of the day in its proper historical context.
Five years ago, at the first Tibetan Women’s Empowerment Conference in Dharamshala, organised by the CTA, the then Sikyong Lobsang Sangey announced the recognition of 12th March as Tibetan Women’s Day. The act has since received backlash and criticisms of sugar-coating a tragic day of historical and political significance into a day of amnesiac celebration.
Rinchen Khando Choegyal, the founding president of Tibetan Women’s Association, after the announcement, likened the marking of Tibetan Women’s Day on Tibetan Women’s Uprising Day to the dilution of milk by pouring water in it. “Tibetan Women’s Uprising Day has always been a source of inspiration for me. It is not just about women’s rights, it is about the larger cause of Tibet, and we certainly cannot just make it about women’s rights,” Rinchen said, according to an opinion piece by Tenzin Sangmo in Phayul.
Since then, the Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA), to no avail, sent several letters to Kashag over the period of four years asking to revert its decision to mark 12th March as Tibetan Women’s Day. “But with the change in Kashag, we recieved a different result,” Tenzin Dolma, TWA’s current President, told Phayul.
TWA asked the Kashag to retract Tibetan Women’s Day and the shadow it casts over the commemoration of a historical day of resistance and sacrifice against China’s heinous crackdown that left many women dead and imprisoned.
On 5th February, the current Kashag led by President Penpa Tsering, in an internal notice, announced that the Tibetan Women’s Uprising Day will be reinstated on the 12th of March acknowledging the day’s historical significance.
Tenzin Pelyoun, a co-founder of Drokmo, told Phayul that “this reversion is a positive step in acknowledgement of the contribution of the Tibetan women in our freedom struggle.” She added that “I hope, with this move, they also give this day as much importance as the 10th March protest.”
