Celebrating Women

Hi everyone! Sunday March 8th was International Women's Day. This year's theme is "Women and men united to end violence against women and girls". The pictures above show an IWD rally, women in Guinea, and an IWD celebration in Iran. A brief background:

• 
  On 19 September 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the right to vote.
  
  
• In 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named Clara Zetkin (Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women's Day.
  
  
• The very first International Women's Day was launched the following year by Clara Zetkin on 19 March (not 8 March). The date was chosen because on 19 March in the year of the 1848 revolution, the Prussian king recognized for the first time the strength of the armed people and gave way before the threat of a proletarian uprising. Among the many promise he made, which he later failed to keep, was the introduction of votes for women.

• Success of the first International Women's Day in 1911 exceeded all expectation.
  Meetings were organized everywhere in small towns and even the villages halls were packed so full that male workers were asked to give up their places for women.
  Men stayed at home with their children for a change, and their wives, the captive housewives, went to meetings.

For more information on IWD, please visit http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

The acknowledgement and celebration of women surpasses one day. The role of women in society can not be underestimated. There is also of much concern how women are affected by infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS. More information about this is available from the UN Commission on the status of women. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/53sess.htm where equality of responsibility and gender perspectives are discussed in relation to HIV/AIDS.

There is also a free event sponsored by Multicultural AIDS Coalition this Saturday March 14th at 11am-6pm focusing on African girls and women and all are welcomed to come and celebrate with food, music, and film. The flier is shown above.

Thank you all! We hope to celebrate both women and men all year long!