International Women’s Day was celebrated on March 8th as it is every year. People made speeches. Groups held marches. Awareness was raised. But that is only a small part of the process to bring equality for women to the forefront.
This isn’t a new celebration – it has been around since the early 1900s. From the official website;
“Great unrest and critical debate was occurring amongst women. Women’s oppression and inequality was spurring women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Then in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights”
A year later, on February 28, National Women’s Day (NWD)?was celebrated. It was continued on the last day of February every year until 1913.?Events in the United States were organized by the Socialist Party of America, who made the formal declaration celebrating NWD across the U.S.
Meanwhile, ladies overseas were also organizing.
“In 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named a Clara Zetkin (Leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day – a Women’s Day – to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women’s clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin’s suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women’s Day was the result.”
The movement spread quickly;
“International Women’s Day (IWD) was honoured the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. However less than a week later on 25 March, the tragic ‘Triangle Fire’ in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labour legislation in the United States that became a focus of subsequent International Women’s Day events. 1911 also saw women’s ‘Bread and Roses’ campaign.”
?Celebrating continues to this day, but what does it mean in the modern world?
“IWD is now an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother’s Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.”
In the U.S. it seems like just another day. Designated for celebrating, but ignored by most citizens. We do Mother’s Day, but that doesn’t celebrate all women – it only honors those who have raised children. It might be time to wonder why, as a prominent leader of the free world, the U.S. is so far behind the times in celebrating?over half of our population (women comprised 50.8% of U.S. population in 2013).
There is an organization involved in increasing awareness of the need for equality and fair treatment of women world-wide. Centered in the U.S., the Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND) organization has a simple mission;
“To empower women to act politically to reduce violence and militarism and redirect excessive Pentagon spending toward unmet human and environmental needs.”
WAND works in the political arena to help empower women running for office. They participate as advocates for women all over the world to empower them to stand on their own. They work with young women through their sister organization, Students Taking Action for New Directions (STAND).
One of their current projects is to assist the women of Afghanistan and Iraq. On February 6, 2014, Iraq launched a National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security, the first program of its kind in the Middle East. Afghanistan has plans to launch their own also. You can sign a petition to support their efforts here. WAND’s petition serves to
” . . . urge Secretary of State John Kerry and the Obama Administration to support the efforts of Iraq and Afghanistan to promote the advancement of women in order to build a path to sustainable peace.”
Please consider adding your voice.
