International Women’s Day celebrations in Williams Lake this year will include a dinner with entertainment, as well as a business fair for local women who either own or manage home-based or store front businesses, says Margaret Tucker, the Women’s Contact Society’s legal advocate.Entertainment celebrating this 100th anniversary year of International Women’s Day will include five different women singing five different genres of music as well as a story reading the book Gumption and Grit which the Women’s Contact Centre commissioned.The event happens at Beeotcheese Bistro and Bakery on Tuesday, March 8. The business fair starts at 5 p.m. and the dinner starts at 6 p.m. followed by the entertainment.Advanced tickets are required and available at the Women’s Contact Society for $25 each. Limited seating is available.Tucker also provides a history of International Women’s Day .International Women’s Day has been observed since in the early 1900s, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.1908: great unrest and critical debate was occurring among women. Women’s oppression and inequality was spurring women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Then in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.1909: in accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman’s Day (NWD) was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate NWD on the last Sunday of February until 1913.1910: at a Socialist International meeting in Copenhagen, an International Women’s Day of no fixed date was proposed to honour the women’s rights movement and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. More than 100 women from 17 countries unanimously agreed the proposal. Three of these women were later elected the first women to the Finnish parliament.1911: following the decision agreed at Copenhagen in 1911, International Women’s Day (IWD) was honoured the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. However less than a week later on 25 March, the tragic ‘Triangle Fire’ in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants.This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labour legislation in the United States that became a focus of subsequent International Women’s Day events. This year also saw the creation of the Bread and Roses campaign more about which is available at www.internationalwomensday.com/bread&roses.asp.
1913-1914: On the eve of the First World War campaigning for peace, Russian women observed their first International Women’s Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. In 1914 further women across Europe held rallies to campaign against the war and to express women’s solidarity.1917: On the last Sunday of February, Russian women began a strike for “bread and peace” in response to the death of more than two million Russian soldiers in war. Opposed by political leaders the women continued to strike until four days later when the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional government granted women the right to vote. The date the women’s strike commenced was Sunday, Feb. 23 on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia. This day on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere was March 8.1918-1999: Since its birth in the socialist movement, International Women’s Day has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across developed and developing countries alike. For decades, IWD has grown from strength to strength annually. For many years the United Nations has held an annual IWD conference to co-ordinate international efforts for women’s rights and participation in social, political and economic processes. 1975 was designated as “International Women’s Year’” by the United Nations. Women’s organizations and governments around the world have also observed IWD annually on March 8 by holding large-scale events that honour women’s advancement and while diligently reminding of the continued vigilance and action required to ensure that women’s equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life.2000-2007: IWD is now an official holiday in Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc. with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother’s Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitude shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that “all the battles have been won for women” while many feminists from the 1970s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women’s visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men. However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.Annually on March 8, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. While there are many large-scale initiatives, a rich and diverse fabric of local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women’s craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more. Many global corporations have also started to more actively support IWD by running their own internal events and through supporting external ones. For example, on March 8 search engine and media giant Google even changes its logo on its global search pages. Corporations like HSBC host the UK’s largest and longest running IWD event delivered by women’s company Aurora. Last year Nortel sponsored IWD activities in over 20 countries and thousands of women participated. Accenture supports more than 2,000 of its employees to participate in its International Women’s Day activities that include leadership development sessions, career workshops and corporate citizenship events held across six. The United States even designates the whole month of March as Women’s History Month.So make a difference, think globally and act locally. Make every day International Women’s Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.
