March is Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day takes place on March 8 every year to celebrate women’s rights and the strides we are making for gender equality.  This year March 8 falls on a Sunday, pretty fitting because Sunday is the first day of the week, and our respect and love for both genders should be a primary concern for all of us.  The first International Women’s Day was on February 28, 1909, when the Socialist Party of America organized demonstrations to honor the garment workers who had protested the inhumane treatment inflicted upon workers the previous year.  The following year, Women’s Day was recognized in Copenhagen to commemorate the people working for women’s rights and universal suffrage.  Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland celebrated the international Women’s Day on March 19, 1911.  Over time, more countries continued to join in the celebration, and on March 8, 1975, it was  recognized around the world as a way to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions made by women throughout history.  Since that day, it has been declared an official holiday by the United Nations.

The International Women’s Day theme for 2020 is #EachforEqual, which, hopefully, will remind us all to work for a gender-equal world.

UN Women also issued a 2020 theme: “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights.”

According to the World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap report, gender parity won’t happen for more than 200 years, so the global campaign has set its sights on lowering that number by focusing on calls to action.

If you would like to do something to help move us in that direction, you could consider making a micro-loan to Kiva and directing it toward a woman entrepreneur, or donating books about strong women and girls who have made a difference to a local school or library.

Focusing on equality for all will result in a better life for us all.

Thanks for stopping by,

Cindy

“A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.”                                                                                          Eleanor Roosevelt