March 7th, 2008
Shaping Progress: International Women’s Day (March 8, 2008)
It began on March 8, 1908 in New York City. 15,000 women took to the streets and marched to ask for better pay and shorter hours. And for the right to cast their vote. In 1911, Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women’s Office for Social Democratic Party in Germany launched the first International Women’s Day.
Those of us in the Western world are seeing not only women voting, but a Woman running for President of the United States. The UK had Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister for many years. In other countries, though, women are still considered….property. There is gender violence in so many countries. I feel so fortunate to live where I am, but I also see discrimination regularly based on gender.
In the year 2008, one-hundred years since the first march in New York City…..and 97 years since the first declaration….we still celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th. It is a global day of celebration….currently, there are 600 events listed in 52 different countries.
We have come a long way, baby….but as we each know….there is still a long way to go for women to be considered as having the same rights and privileges as men.
I’ve challenged the other Editors and Contributors here at All Things Girl to share their thoughts on International Women’s Day… What about you? Who do you look up to? Who has made strides for women? What challenges do you face? What victories are you celebrating?
