#BeBoldForChange – International Women’s Day

March 8, 2017 JanF Editors' Choice, Feminism and Womanism 19

March 8th is International Women’s Day

How will you be #BoldForChange? Take the challenge …

Which area will you take bold action in? Click the down arrows to be inspired by examples of bold actions.

I’ll challenge bias and inequality
I’ll campaign against violence
I’ll forge women’s advancement
I’ll celebrate women’s achievement
I’ll champion women’s education

(Go to the IWD web site to make the pledge)

Education has the power to change women’s lives. #TheRaceIsOn #IWD2017 #ChainofBetters

(More videos here)

From the Women’s March: A Day Without A Woman

On International Women’s Day, March 8th, women and our allies will act together for equity, justice and the human rights of women and all gender-oppressed people, through a one-day demonstration of economic solidarity.

In the same spirit of love and liberation that inspired the Women’s March, we join together in making March 8th A Day Without a Woman, recognizing the enormous value that women of all backgrounds add to our socio-economic system–while receiving lower wages and experiencing greater inequities, vulnerability to discrimination, sexual harassment, and job insecurity. We recognize that trans and gender nonconforming people face heightened levels of discrimination, social oppression and political targeting. We believe in gender justice.

Anyone, anywhere, can join by making March 8th A Day Without a Woman, in one or all of the following ways:

– Women take the day off, from paid and unpaid labor

– Avoid shopping for one day (with exceptions for small, women- and minority-owned businesses).

– Wear RED in solidarity with A Day Without A Woman

Red avatar for social media:

19 Comments

  2. From the BBC: International Women’s Day 2017: History, strikes and celebrations

    For more than a century people around the world have been marking this day, and this year women’s strikes are planned in more than 30 countries. Read on to find out why.

    When did it all start?

    International Women’s Day grew out of the labour movement to become a UN-recognised annual event.

    The seeds of it were planted in 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. It was the Socialist Party of America who declared the first National Woman’s Day, a year later.

    The idea to make the day international came from a woman called Clara Zetkin. She suggested the idea in 1910 at an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. There were 100 women there, from 17 countries, and they agreed unanimously.

    It was first celebrated in 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The centenary was celebrated in 2011, so this year we’re technically celebrating the 106th International Women’s Day.

    Things were made official in 1975 when the United Nations (UN) started celebrating the day and setting an annual theme. The first one (in 1996) was “Celebrating the past, Planning for the Future”. This year’s focuses on “Women in the Changing World of Work” – UN figures show that only half of working age women are represented in the labour force globally.

    International Women’s Day has become a date to celebrate how far women have come in society, in politics and in economics, while the political roots of the day mean strikes and protests are organised to raise awareness of continued inequality.

  6. Thanks, Jan, I enjoyed this! Will wear red if I can find my t-shirt. Problem is, red has never been my color so I don’t own anything except that one red t-shirt for the Fourth of July.

    I will not buy anything today and will not do any work. Dearly will have to cook the dinner, which will be a no-brainer anyway.

    I do have to work out, though! :)

  7. Excellent Women’s Day roundup, JanF. Thank you.

    Like Diana in Nova I had to scrounge to find a red something to wear this morning.

  10. Thanks, Jan – pulled a red shirt out of the dirty laundry to wear today (wore it Monday – fortunately I don’t really get things dirty). Celebrate the past, plan for the future is our focus every year. Or at least it should be. We’ve come so far. We have so far to go. On our “cross-country trip from Atlanta to San Francisco” we’re out of Georgia but I’m not sure we’ve made Little Rock yet and we sure haven’t gotten into OK. sigh. But we are out of Georgia.

  15. Day Without A Woman brought demonstrators to Washington DC:

    Chanting “Donald Trump has got to go,” hundreds of protesters marched past the White House on Wednesday, making for a raucous International Women’s Day.

    Supported by dozens of organizations, including the Feminist Majority Foundation, the demonstration took aim at the president’s global gag rule that restricts foreign aid to overseas organizations that support abortion. But attendees said they showed up to express concerns about a range of issues, from healthcare to sexual assault in the military.

    Holding a sign that said “Stop the War on Women,” Bethesda resident Gabriella Belli said she doesn’t have just one concern about the Trump administration — she has many.

    “I think what is going on in the country right now is absolutely abhorrent,” Belli said. “We are setting all our people, but women in particular, back 100 years.” […]

    Organizers of the Women’s March on Washington also called for a national women’s strike Wednesday. They asked women to take off work if possible, wear red and avoid shopping, except at women- and minority-owned businesses. Numerous protesters said they hoped to raise awareness of women’s contributions to the workforce.

  16. Books! 30 books by women of color to read on International Women’s Day

    Wednesday marks the 106th annual International Women’s Day, commemorating the movement for women’s rights.

    This Women’s Day, don’t just pick up any book. Pick up a book by a woman of color.

    Food! On Italy’s Feminist Holiday, Women Have Their Cake And Eat It, Too


    Today, for American women who are participating in A Day Without A Woman protest, the idea of taking a day off to celebrate their womanhood may be a new experience, despite the fact that International Women’s Day has been observed worldwide for over a century. Leave it to Italian feminists, however, to take a holiday that is steeped in the struggle for women’s rights and turn it into a day, the Festa della Donna, where women of all ages leave the menfolk behind to celebrate each other with flowers, wine and, above all, cake.

    The torta mimosa is not just any cake. It’s an airy confection designed to resemble the tiny, bright yellow mimosa flowers that dot the Italian landscape in early March, typically the first flowers to bloom each spring. Bouquets of the flowers are sold on nearly every street corner across Italy on March 8th, to be clutched in the hands of small boys who give them to their teachers, as well as sons to mothers, brothers to sisters, and husbands to wives. (Of course, women can and do buy bouquets for each other, too.)

Comments are closed.