By Lília
“International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrated annually on March 8, honors the achievements of women across all aspects of life—social, economic, cultural, and political—while also advocating for gender equality.”
International Women’s Day (IWD), declared as a holiday by Russian leader Vladimir Lenin in 1922, has been celebrated in one form or another since the beginning of the 20th century, with clear links to the socialist parties of the times.
Women’s History Month display at our Leidschendam store
IWD is a focal point in the women’s rights movement, and it focuses on many issues where women still face discrimination or aggression. It fights for gender equality and equal pay (men earn some 20% to 50% more than women doing exactly the same jobs), reproductive rights so women are the ones making decisions about their bodies and violence and abuse against women of all colors and ages.
Despite rallies and protests around the globe, women’s rights have been dwindling drastically in recent decades, and violence against women is still seen as acceptable in many countries, where married women have fewer rights than men and young women have no say in their own futures.
We should not only celebrate this day but use it as a means to an end: equal rights, on all fronts. We should keep asking ourselves the questions those women more than a century ago put forward: Why don’t we earn the same as men doing the same jobs? Why can’t we vote and decide for our futures as well? Why can’t we have dominion over our bodies like men?
This March 8th, let’s think about these questions, celebrate women’s rights and keep fighting for them. Everywhere.
If you’d like to read more about what being a feminist means, read We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. A short but very insightful book about why it’s so important.
And if you’d like to see more books written by and for women about the history of women, we also have a highlights list on the Women’s History Month.
