Someone once said that when you are abroad, you carry the responsibility for how your country and its people are perceived by the foreigners you encounter. I take my diplomatic mission very seriously, and whenever there’s a chance to enlighten outsiders, I embrace it. Mostly, my mission involves traumatising Western European men with the behavioural standards expected by Slavic women. Once, I left a guy from Belgium speechless by explaining the importance of giving flowers on a regular basis – while at the same time talking him out of dating an Eastern European woman, I’m afraid. As 8 March drew near, which is International Women’s Day, I wondered how many boyfriends in international couples had let down their girlfriends from countries where the celebration of International Women’s Day is as important as celebrating your significant other’s birthday or Mother’s Day.
The streets of Maastricht looked particularly ordinary that day. Bouquets were nowhere to be found. Chocolates on supermarket shelves hadn’t sold out. Did the appreciation of women have a deadline on Valentine’s Day?
In Poland, it’s a big deal. You receive good wishes from relatives, fellow students and work colleagues. Flower sales double compared to a regular day. If you’re close to a girl, you are expected to deliver on this day. Why? Because Polish boys are raised with this belief – at school, they buy at least one tulip for every female classmate. In Russia, it’s even a national holiday, a day off for everyone. And even though Women’s Day may carry communist connotations for history buffs, as it was heavily used by the Soviet Union as a propaganda tool to promote the regime as a paternalistic caretaker of the “gentle sex”, this tradition of dedicating a day to celebrating women is something Western European feminists should appreciate. Unfortunately, in France and Germany, they’ve chosen to forgo this pleasure in favour of street rallies and demonstrations. But I suppose, now that we have freedom of choice, this is what it looks like in practice.
Rita Wiśniewska, a third-year European Law student