National Women's Day - A Celebration and Reflection
Ashley Sutherland / 2024-4-1
National Women's Day took place on Friday, March 8th, 2024. A day to celebrate women, their creations, their incredible talents and their progress through the years, it was created by the Socialist Party of America, in honor of the 1857 garment workers' strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions. Thousands of women flooded the streets, asking for money and recognition.
They did not get enough but refused to back down. In 1908, again on March 8th, almost 15,000 women protested once more, this time under the slogan “Bread and Roses” (money and good conditions). That May, National Women's Day was made official and celebrated every day since then.
The fight against sexism and equality has been long and fiery. The earliest signs of feminism can be found in ancient Rome, during the 3rd century BCE. A group of women blocked off the “Forum” to force the consul Marcus Porcius Cato to take down laws that limited women's consumption of expensive products. This situation is small in comparison to today's protests, but a milestone in history we look back on today with pride.
Many philosophers and authors expressed feminist viewpoints over the years, most notably Mary Wollstonecraft (A Vindication of the Rights of Woman), Olympe de Gouges (Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne), Virginia Woolf ( A Room of One's Own) and many more. Literature and writing have always been an excellent way to spread opinions in an entertaining and informative way.
Modern examples of feminist literature include The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood, a terrifying illustration of a dystopian patriarchal society. Set in New England shortly, it follows Offred, a girl belonging to the class of Handmaids, a fertile woman forced to bear children for barren couples. It has won several awards, including the Governor General's Award for English Fiction. In the end, National Women's Day is an important and necessary way to mark the achievements we have made throughout history, as well as understand we still have a long way to go.
Today, many annual protests are held, respecting the fight women have endured to get to where they are as well as demanding a brighter future. In Canada, as of 2021, women still make less than men, 89 cents to every dollar. On top of that, statistics from Sexual Assault Canada show that 1 in 4 North American women will experience a form of sexual assault in their lifetime. So how can we continue to change these foreboding numbers?
Here are a list of charities you can support that are making real change for women around the globe:
HER International
https://herinternational.org/
AMREF Health Africa
https://amrefcanada.org/
Canadian Women's Foundation
https://canadianwomen.org/
Cornerstone Housing For Women
https://cornerstonewomen.ca/