Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: Women International Womens Day

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Sunday, March 08, 2015

US Senators Cardin and Mikulski D-MD sponsor International Women's Day resolution

US Senators Cardin and Mikulski D-MD sponsor International Womens Day resolution http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2015/03/us-senators-cardin-and-mikulski-d-md.html

March 8, 2015

Labels: #TDIH, History This Day in History, History This Day in History 0308, History women, Women, Women International Womens Day - See more at: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2015/03/us-senators-cardin-and-mikulski-d-md.html

Resolution recognizes March 8 as International Women’s Day, reinvigorates U.S. commitment to supporting global gender equality

March 8, 1932 Soviet International Womens Day poster

According to some old notes, the source of which has long been lost: “The 1932 Soviet poster dedicated to the 8th of March holiday. The red text reads: ‘8th of March is the day of the rebellion of the working women against the kitchen slavery’ and the grey text in lower right reads: ‘Down with the oppression and narrow-mindedness of the household work!’

“Originally in the USSR the holiday had a clear political character, emphasizing the role of the Soviet state in liberation of women from the second-class citizens' position.”

And again, according to another unsourced note in my files, “International Women's Day is sponsored worldwide by the United Nations. The roots of this celebration goes back to the late 1800's to early 1900s. It grew from women's socialist movements and early women's trade union groups."

“The first International Women's Day was held March 19, 1911. Women socialists and trade unions held an earlier Women's Day on the last Sunday in February, 1908. The event grew from there and has been celebrated annually since. The focus is upon women workers, and advancing women's rights in the workforce, politics and society.”

According to a media release from March 6, 2015, U.S. Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) together with Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and a bipartisan coalition of Senators today announced that they have introduced a resolution to recognize March 8, 2015 as International Women’s Day (IWD) and commemorate the achievements of women around the world.

“‘International Women's Day reminds us to celebrate the contributions women make around the world and here at home,” Senator Mikulski said. “Every day, women fight to build stronger economies, improve conditions for families and communities, and inspire the next generation of young girls. That's why I fight every day to make sure that women are at the table and empowered to make a difference.’

“‘Empowering women is one of the most critical tools in our tool box to fight poverty and injustice. All of us – women and men alike – can help by supporting women’s efforts to claim their legal rights, to be free from violence, earn a decent income, get an education, grow food for their families, and make their voices heard in their communities and beyond,’ said Senator Cardin.

“‘Twenty years since Beijing, we’ve made progress integrating the unique needs of women into our domestic and international policies, but there is much more work to be done.’

“The International Women’s Day resolution celebrates the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future while also recognizing the obstacles women continue to face in the struggle for equal rights and opportunities. International Women’s Day takes place annually on March 8.

“In support of the goals of IWD, the resolution also affirms the advancement of women as a foreign policy priority for the United States. It notes that the ability of women to realize their full potential through education and economic empowerment is critical to a nation’s ability to achieve strong and lasting economic growth, as well as political and social stability. Specifically, the bipartisan resolution highlights the underrepresentation of women in all aspects of public life, the denial of basic human rights for women in select countries, as well as the threat of violence and abuse too many women around the world continue to face.

“In addition to Senators Mikulski, Cardin and Shaheen, the bipartisan resolution is cosponsored by Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)”

US Senators Cardin and Mikulski D-MD sponsor International Womens Day resolution

Find the resolution here: http://www.shaheen.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/International%20Women%27s%20Day%202015.pdf

In January 1997, the United Nations Department of Public Information published some additional information and history of International Womens Day

International Women's Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.

International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.

The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies. Following is a brief chronology of the most important events:

1909

In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that month through 1913.

1910

The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women's Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women's rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance.

1911

As a result of the decision taken at Copenhagen the previous year, International Women's Day was marked for the first time (19 March) in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job.

Less than a week later, on 25 March, the tragic Triangle Fire in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working girls, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This event had a significant impact on labour legislation in the United States, and the working conditions leading up to the disaster were invoked during subsequent observances of International Women's Day.

1913-1914

As part of the peace movement brewing on the eve of World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with their sisters.

1917

With 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women again chose the last Sunday in February to strike for "bread and peace". Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went on anyway. The rest is history: Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere.

Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point for coordinated efforts to demand women's rights and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly, International Women's Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women's rights.

The Role of the United Nations

Few causes promoted by the United Nations have generated more intense and widespread support than the campaign to promote and protect the equal rights of women. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in San Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. Since then, the Organization has helped create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.

Over the years, United Nations action for the advancement of women has taken four clear directions: promotion of legal measures; mobilization of public opinion and international action; training and research, including the compilation of gender desegregated statistics; and direct assistance to disadvantaged groups. Today a central organizing principle of the work of the United Nations is that no enduring solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world's women.

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