Happy International Women's Day!

Happy International Women’s Day! This a day you must CELEBRATE!!!! So, what is International Women’s Day? Where did it come from, and why is it necessary? The following information from the article titled: International Women’s Day, explained- from Vox.com will answer these questions. The day actually has fairly radical origins, involving the Socialist Party of America. Over the past few years, however, it has become a corporate-backed, global rallying day for women’s issues with a key goal: to finally bring about gender parity around the world. In short, it’s a day to work toward gender parity.

The Socialist Party of America organized the first National Women’s Day in New York in 1909 to commemorate the 1908 strike of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. (Women garment workers in early-20th-century America had plenty of reasons to walk off the job, as the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire would tragically prove.)

A year later, National Women’s Day became International Women’s Day at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, where more than 100 women from 17 countries decided to establish a worldwide day of celebration to press for working women’s demands.

In fact, the Russian Revolution has International Women’s Day to thank. The 1917 demonstrations by women demanding “bread and peace” sparked other strikes and protests, which led to the abdication of Czar Nicholas II four days later and granted women the right to vote.

International Women’s Day became a more popularized holiday after 1977, when the United Nations invited member states to celebrate it on March 8. Since 2001, the holiday has had a sponsored website and an annual theme. This year’s theme, #BeBoldForChange, encourages individuals and organizations to sign a pledge to commit to campaigning or otherwise championing equality in the workplace and other settings. The website notes, “[T]he World Economic Forum predicts the gender gap won't close entirely until 2186. This is too long to wait. Around the world, IWD can be an important catalyst and vehicle for driving greater change for women and moving closer to gender parity.”

This year, International Women’s Day will come together with the “Day Without a Woman” strike. The International Women’s Day campaigns and celebrations will be one of two major pro-women events happening on Wednesday. The other will be the “Day Without a Woman” strike, organized by the activists who put together the Women’s March for the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.The strike will follow some basic guidelines for “anyone, anywhere” who wants to participate in A Day Without a Woman:

1. Women take the day off, from paid and unpaid labor

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

3. Wear RED in solidarity with A Day Without A Woman #BeBoldForChange