The youth of today have so many powerful women to look up to such as US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, US First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey. The current chancellor of Germany and the presidents of Chile, Argentina, Liberia, Finland, Philippines and Ireland are all women. Many women hold positions in top management of global corporations like Pepsi, Kraft, Avon, AIG, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Johnson & Johnson. The women of today are educated, vocal and strong.
As we all know, women did not always enjoy the liberties that they do nowadays. In fact, many women are still being oppressed and treated like second-class citizens in some parts of the world.
It is a popular notion that when women’s liberation is mentioned, images of hippy women participating in bra burning ceremonies come to mind. This is a myth. What really happened was that feminists were outraged at the objectifying of women at the 1968 Miss America beauty pageant. As a sign of protest they dumped girdles, high-heeled shoes, cosmetics and bras in a pile while news reporters took pictures. One photo where bras were being thrown into the trash can became the popular image at the time, even though a fire was never lit.
The benefits that modern women can nowadays take advantage of are the result of women fighting for their rights since the early 1900’s. Since 1910, the International Women’s Day is celebrated and has even become a national holiday in many countries around the world. There was no fixed date for International Women’s Day in the first several years, but all that changed in 1917.
On 23 February 1917 in Russia, a strike for “bread and peace” was initiated by women in response to the deaths of over 2 million Russian soldiers in war. Political leaders ignored these protests until four days later, when the Czar was forced to give in. Women were then granted the right to vote by the provisional government.
The date when the strike began was based on the Julian calendar, which is what Russia was using at the time. To the rest of the world that use the Gregorian calendar, that date was 8 March 1917. Since then, International Women’s Day is celebrated every year on 8 March.
International Women’s Day is primarily a Socialist society movement. This is particularly still the case in countries that are in the Soviet Bloc and Russia, where the day is considered a non-working holiday. In many countries around the world, this day is used to reinforce the programs that advocate women’s rights.
In some places it has completely lost its political flavor and is celebrated as a commemoration of women in general, a bit like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day mixed together. It is customary on this day for men to give small tokens of appreciation such as flowers and gifts to the women in their lives. Women in Italy, on the other hand, receive yellow mimosas from men. In Romania and Portugal, women hold exclusive parties and dinners on this date and men are not allowed to participate.
Visit International Women’s Day website for more information and happenings. We are not affiliated with the organization, but just happy to spread the words in celebration of the Women’s Day.
