Why partake in March 8?

March 8 is the International Women’s day. A day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

The achievements of women for women.

That is the spirit of what initiated this disheartening, miserable, bitter, vital, awe inspiring, amazing, powerful celebration.

Clara Zetkin,

a German Marxist theorist and women’s right advocate, first tabled the idea that each country should hold a special day to press for the demands of women in 1910. During the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Zetkin presented her idea for an International Women’s Day. A day where each country would listen, and respond to the issues faced by its women. The conference with just over 100 women from over 17 countries, approved Zetkin’s proposal.

The very next year on March 19 1911, Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland honoured the very first International Women’s Day.

Throughout discussions, March 8 became widely recognized as the official International Women’s Day.

In The Art of being Women, we want to remind everyone why March 8 is a day to hold near. Throughout the “festivities” take a good long moment to reflect on the history and the men and women that have brought us to where we are today.

As more people, more women in threatening situations, join the movement; more companies and influential individuals blur the actual mission of this day with cute purple merchandise, hashtags and inspiring phrases.

Although this might seem harmless and even favorable for the movement, it has caused men and women to join a cause if not for the wrong reasons then not even knowing the reasons. There is a bubble between the movement, where we have forgotten the achievements we are celebrating.

Achievements

No one can move forward without knowing where they have been before; for this reason in The Art of Being Women we believe that for most women the best way to celebrate March 8 is taking a moment of reflection on the achievements of women throughout history and the issues still facing us.

1885, UK raises age of consent to 16. By 1920 most states in the US had raised the age of consent to 18. 1945, France raises the age of consent to 15. 2015, Spain raises the age of consent to 16.
1891, UK removes the right to use corporal punishment on wives.
1897 – The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies is formed in the UK, later to be led by Millicent Fawcett.
1894 – The UK permits single women to vote in local elections, a key stage in the eventual granting of equal suffrage rights in 1928.
1911, First International Women’s Day.
1920 – The US amends its constitution to allow women to vote across the country, after Utah set the ball rolling in 1896 for individual states to enact their own laws.
1960’s contraceptive pills have become widely available. In some countries only used for gynecological problems.
1986 – Switzerland permits women to vote in nationwide polls.
1990’s – 2000’s Most countries criminalize marital rape.
2015, New Zealand grants domestic abuse victims paid leave.
2015 – Saudi Arabian women vote for the first time, in local elections.

These are only 11 of the thousands of achievements earned by hard working men and women throughout history, and the rest is yet to come.

Today take part in this special occasion not only by wearing a purple shirt and posting pictures with your favourites hashtags, but by supporting the issues that women still face to this day in so many countries.

What you can do

In the spirit of this year’s theme if the IWD: Choose to Challenge, in The Art of Being Women we challenge you to:

Donate to your favourite women’s rights organization.
Call out sexism and harassment.
To get involved in your local politics. Get informed and vote to effect a change.
Demand equal work culture.
And most importantly, respect others choices.

Happy International Women’s Day.

To get more ideas on how you can effect a positive change, visit UN Women. UN Women

To learn more about IWD 2021. IWD 2021