Every year dozens of countries celebrate the first holiday of the spring – International Women’s Day on the 8th of March. Shops and city malls are full of flowers, perfume, jewels and pink/red stuff. Men run all around to find presents for their beloved wives, daughters and mothers. People wish to young girls to be pretty, always smile and find their “female happiness”. We forget about the real aim of this day, which originally was not in gifts and wishes. I made a small research on this holiday and I am going to tell you a little about it.
On the 8th of March 1908, thousands of NYC’s women went out and marched for the first time. Their demand was in gender equality in the labour sphere. That time women worked for 14 hours and earned less money than men did for 10 working hours. At the same moment slogans about gaining of suffrage started wide spreading.
A year later, on the 28th of February, America’s social party declared National Women’s Day, which was celebrated on the last Sunday of every February. In 1910, Clara Zetkin and Rozalia Luxemburg suggested a Women’s Day to be held annually, it happened in the International Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Clara Zetkin and Rose Luxemburg, 1910. Picture was taken from Google with free licenze.
On 23 of February (old style) 1917, textile workers started a protest, local Bolsheviks joined them, they were protesting against harsh working conditions. In 1921, by the decision of the II Communist Women’s Conference, it was decided to celebrate Women’s Day precisely on March 8 in memory of the participation of women in the revolutionary movements.
After some time, enthusiasm decreased. Day, when women had to participate in a marsh, turned into the day, when beauty and tenderness are carolled. Only in 1966, Leonid Brezhnev signed a document, which says that 8 of March is an official holiday.
I typed “8 march” and these are results from Google. Flowers, pink background and nothing more.
Since 1975 the UN supports this day and declared it as International Women’s Day. There is a subject or issue, which is discussed every year. In 2019, the topic was ‘Think equal, build smart, innovate for change’.
Hi, dear reader! It is 10th of March and we offer you to read the most interesting news stories of the week! On 8th of March the whole planet celebrated International Women Day, so we made a digest of articles related to women and their rights! On behalf of the entire editorial board, we wish you to be strong, independent and confident in yourself and your strength! Let’s read!
This digest was made while listening to Sixpence None The Richer – Kiss me
Hillary Clinton, Democratic Party’s nominee for President in US in the 2016 election and the first woman nominated by a major-party, said on 4th of March that she is not running for president again in 2020, even though it was clear long time ago without an official statement.
“I’m not running, but I’m going to keep on working and speaking and standing up for what I believe.”
Hillary Clinton told News12, NYC television station
In the interview, Clinton assured everyone that she will still be present in politics.
“I want to be sure that people understand I’m going to keep speaking out, I’m not going anywhere.”
Hillary Clinton on October 9, 2016 in St Louis, Missouri. Photo by Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images
Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore, freelance journalist in TheGuardian.com, made a material, where she talked to some famous female photojournalists. They told her about difficulties, gender prejudices and advantages of being woman in this industry.
Cybele Malinowski, 37, is a photojournalist, based in Sydney. Malinowski faced discrimination while doing her work. Sometimes clients thought that she was makeup artist or stylist on set, sometimes people thought her male assistant was a real photographer.
“We want to show future female photographers: yes, of course, you can do it. If you’re hungry, you’re talented, you’re driven, you can definitely get there.”
Cybele Malinowski in interview for Sebag-Montefiore
Malinowski decided to fight with sexism with all her strength. In 2018 she co-founded Agender with entrepreneur Angela Liang, a platform for female photographers with the purpose of exchanging ideas, thoughts and etc. Balance For Better is their second exhibition, it will open on 9 March to celebrate International Women’s Day. 50% of profit will be donated to Sydney Women’s Fund.
All 28 members of the world champion United States women’s national team filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation on Friday. The exacerbation of a long-running fight over pay equity and working conditions that comes only months before the championate begin defense of its Women’s World Cup title.
Superstars such as Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan sued the United States Soccer Federation over pay and workplace issues. The civil complaint was launched in federal court in Los Angeles, marking another major step in an ongoing fight between players and the federation over pay and workplace issues.
US team during She Believes Cup in March 2019. Photograph: Douglas DeFelice/USA Today Sports
On March 8, women and even men gathered near the center of Bishkek to hold a women’s march. Women complain that people are used to seeing this holiday in the form of gifts and flowers. The march became a reminder of what the holiday is really about: women’s equality and emancipation. The day before the event, the nationalist movement “Kyrk Choro” threatened to thwart the “unconventional”, in their opinion, event, but, fortunately, there were no clashes.
The police were obviously nervous and even drove the paddy wagon to the place of the rally. But there were no attacks on the protesters. About 150 people took part in the march. People went to the streets with slogans about women’s rights, violence and sexism. Purple flags became the symbol of the march. As the participant of the march explained “purple is the color of feminism”. Also, many people wrote their slogans about LGBT rights, corruption, and other issues that concern them. The march in honor of the International Day of Women’s Solidarity and the struggle for equal rights takes place annually.
A rally for International Women’s Day in Bishkek. Photo by Aisha Jabbarova.
Education Department approved a proposal by a Dream center, Christian non-profit organization to buy a chain of colleges with troubles. Some people predicted that this idea is going to fail, but no one expected it would be so fast. About a year after the deal, major part of DC campuses are out of money and are planned to be closed until Friday, 8th March. Other colleges were sold, hopefully they will survive.
Argosy University, South University and the Art Institutes are the ones, which have problems. They have about 26,000 students in medicine, psychology and law programs.
The problems started almost immediately after Dream Center bought the schools in 2017. They were accompanied by efforts of government to regulate for-profit colleges industry. The Dream Center’s began it’s charity 25 years ago. It has a network all over the country and it’s purpose is to solve problems like homelessness and domestic violence.
Dream Center’s logo.
ADD-ons.
Photo of the week
Bogota, Colombia. Women participate in a rally during International Women’s Day celebrations. Photograph: Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters
Every living person dreamed about his own utopia at least once in a life. For sure, everything will be much better and easier, if dreams come true. I am a realist. I don’t believe in divine miracles and super abilities, or heroes that can save the world. But I believe that my own utopia would be a safe place and if we will try, we can create it together.
As a grown girl and a young woman (that sounds so weird), I see how some of my female relatives and girlfriends go through hardships related to their gender. I see men who are impudent enough to act themselves as savage human beings. They think they are allowed to touch or talk dirty to girls, whom they do and don’t know. The situation has different measures of an issue in countries where a woman is perceived as a second-rate creature, for example in Near East Asia, where radical religious movement dictate the rules. Iraqi woman Nadia Murad was a victim of sexual slavery and who was very lucky to survive through wild conditions. She was sold to the Isis as a sex slave and was raped and beaten many times until Nadia was able to escape after her captor left the house unlocked. After the escape, Nadia became First Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking of the United Nations.
Nadia Murad’s speech in UN office
In October 2017, hashtag #MeToo started wide spreading among social media. #MeToo is a movement against sexual harassment and assault, especially in the workplace. Some actresses made allegations against Harvey Weinstein, former film producer. Alyssa Milano inspired victims to speak out to “give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem”. This phenomenon showed us that we can’t stay quiet when it comes to our freedom, body and soul. Gender issues are still taking place in the 21st century. How can we live in calm when girls all around the world are abused?
My utopia can come to reality. Humanity should start appreciating every person’s rights and needs without encroaching other one’s life.
erverta 