International Women’s Day
On Saturday 8th March from 6pm til 8pm the ‘Her Place’ Exhibition launched to celebrate International Women’s Day at Inkwell. The exhibition features the contributions of artists from: Australia- Maureen Prichard, Mary Brown, Laura Wills; America- Bridget Riversmith, and Heidi Russell; The Phillipines- Ronna Bara-Les; and The UK- Julia Bickerstaff, Amanda Burton, and Charlotte Brooke.
The ‘Her Place’ exhibition is at Inkwell until the 15th April.
As Emmeline Pankhurst said: “We have to free half of the human race, the women, so that they can help free the other half”
There are various social divisions woven into each of our many human societies, one of which is the division and differentiation between “men” and “women”. These are labels that categorise each of us, and perhaps set the basis for how we interact with each other even before that initial “hello”. For example these might stereotypically tell us what language patterns to use, and equally stereotypically the expected behaviour patterns and abilities of who we’re talking to. In addition, with each of these terms is attached a history so deep that it’s practically infinite. Indeed I must confess that even now I am occasionally likely to sub-consciously forget, or be equally sub-consciously ignorant of, what “women” and “men” as sexes/genders represent in various societies. For example, since this is an International Women’s Day blog, one thing I had forgotten about until writing this blog was how women in Britain were historically instrumental in assisting things such as the war effort. I would therefore agree with published on-line material, that reminding ourselves of women’s importance in society is exactly why we definitely do still need an “International Women’s Day.”
International Women’s Day, Patna, Bihar, India, PRIA Education, http://priaeducation.org
So why have an “International Women’s Day?” Well it seems that the initial spark of an idea for such a day initially came from realisations in 1908 that at that time women had little equal rights to men. Many sources indeed link this to certain rallies that occurred historically, for instance when in 1908 15,000 oppressed women in New York City marched through streets in aide of perhaps the three things that are still fundamental world-wide today: shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. Even now, in some places political rallies are reportedly hosted on International Women’s Day. This ties in with another reported purpose of International Women’s Day, namely that areas and issues requiring improvement concerning women’s lives (such as displacement and violence), are highlighted. Indeed future issues to focus on might be the lack of women in politics for example and women’s education and health which lags behind men’s on a global scale, even though various positive changes have happened such as women’s growing existence in boardrooms, growing choices, and public female role-models. As time ticked on, International Women’s Day changed focus somewhat. In a change that reportedly started in 1918, contemporary International Women’s Day has become more directed at positive recognition and appreciation of women. This is then a change that means International Women’s Day can be inspiring to women, in an age where with the additional help of social media a better future for women can be influenced by anyone. Related to this point it is noteworthy that certain areas of the media support International Women’s day. As an example, it is reported that female DJs will constitute the broadcasting line-up on BBC Radio 1 from 7pm-7am on the 7th and 8th March. Further, in 2013, singers world-wide joined the cause to record We are “One Woman” from as far apart as for example China and Costa Rica. As a closing remark, what I ultimately think is noteworthy as quite frankly wonderful about International Women’s Day is, to broadly paraphrase one poignant reference, the day recognises that a woman is a woman no matter what her ethnicity or political standing etc. and the day makes the point that this is worth celebrating as much as any other social identity.
Demonstration on 8 March in Davao City in the Phillipines, “International Women’s Day 2008”
Having established that the world is a better place with International Women’s Day, I want to briefly discuss its history and how various societies celebrate it. This is important for putting the day into a global context. Indeed few facts about International Women’s Day are universally true, however the first universal fact about the day is that whatever country a woman or feminist lives in, the day is now annually celebrated on 8th March. Secondly, the first manifestations of International Women’s Day were celebrated in Austria, Germany and Denmark in 1911 after the initial idea was spear-headed by Clara Zetkin, then the German Social Democratic Party’s “Women’s Office” leader. Interestingly, “International Working Women’s Day” was actually the day’s original title, perhaps commenting on the value that universal womanhood was rightly given, as far back as 1911. Beyond these, International Women’s Day has societal differences between how cultures treat and celebrate their women on this day. For example in many contemporary societies International Women’s Day has a holiday status, a practice which was voted for in Britain in 2005. In other contemporary societies International Women’s Day has been likened to Mother’s Day in that female relation and friends are given gifts by men. In different places still, achievements (social, political and economic) of women are the basis for the day’s celebrations. .
In conclusion, just over 100 years after the initial idea, International Women’s Day maintains a strong and necessary world-wide presence in early 21st Century. It’s a day supported by politics, with objectives and celebrations that alter over time and across cultures respectively. When Emmeline Pankhurst said the above and similar comments in the 20th Century, could she have known how far contemporary women have come world-wide? However were Emmeline part of today’s women’s movement, I’d tell her there’s room for improvement in whichever society you look. So, with this in mind “long may International Women’s Day” reign.
By Mandi Lynsdale
