Showing posts with label women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women. Show all posts

March 8 - International Women's Day

Posted on March 8, 2021


This is an update of my post published on March 8, 2010:




This date is commemorated at the United Nations and is a national holiday in many countries. It is a day to honor women in our lives, to honor women who have struggled in the past for equality and peace, and to rededicate to those causes.



In Russia and many other countries, this is a day when men give flowers, chocolates, and other small gifts to the women in their family. In Italy women are traditionally given yellow mimosas. In Montevideo a group of female drummers perform in the streets each year.

International Women's Day celebrations in Cameroon (above)
and India (below).


The holiday began in 1909 in the U.S. and came to be associated with honoring victims of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. After a while interest in (and even knowledge of) IWD dwindled in America, but it became more commonly celebrated in former Soviet countries. This is because striking women on this date in 1917 ended up being one key to the February Revolution that overthrew Czar Nicholas II, and feminist Alexandra Kollontai persuaded Lenin to make it an official holiday in the Soviet Union.

Did that give you pause? An event in early March led to a February Revolution?

At the time, Russia was still using the Julian calendar, so March 8, 1917, in most of the world was February 23, 1917, in Russia.




Even though International Women's Day celebrations aren't super common in the U.S., the entire month of March became known as Women's History Month here.



Women in World History.com has biographies of female heroes and rulers from around the world. For example, do you know about the Trung sisters from Vietnam, Eleanor of Aquitaine (France), or Nzinga Mbande (aka Ann Zingha) from Angola?



My heroes tend to be scientists, and a website called “4000 Years of Women in Science” has a large selection of biographies of women scientists.







Create a paper Solidarity “Quilt.”



Learn about some tools that were important for many women, all over the world, for much of history.One thing that has been touted as helping women achieve rights and a decent standard of living is the practice of microloans. This means making very small loans to people in third world countries to enable them to become entrepreneurs and—with hard work—lift themselves out of poverty. Go to Kiva to learn more about this and maybe to participate!


(Monday of the first full week of March)







Commonwealth Day in Tuvalu
(Second Monday in March)







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September 23 - Happy Birthday, Mary Church Terrell

Posted on September 23, 2018

Today's amazing, strong black woman has a lot in common with other women I've been writing about recently. Born in Tennessee on this date in 1863, Mary Church Terrell worked to not only get an education for herself, but also to help other black people (including girls) get educations. She was one of the first African American women to earn a college degree (she earned two, a bachelor's and a master's), she studied in Europe (and mastered French and German and Italian!), she served as a teacher and a principal, and she was first black woman in the U.S. to be appointed to a school board of a major city.

Terrell worked not only to achieve herself, but also organized to help other black people achieve. She was a founding member of NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and the National Association of Colored Women and the Colored Women's League of Washington.

As if there was a need for more - there's more!

Terrell was a journalist. She was published in both "the white press" and "the black press." (She used a pen name, Euphemia Kirk.)

She was a speaker. Guess what? She was the only black woman at the 1904 International Congress of Women in Berlin, Germany - and she was an invited speaker! She gave her speech first in German (to huge applause), then in French, and finally in English.

She worked to help servicemen during World War I.

She worked for women's suffrage (the right to vote).


She worked to integrate dining places in Washington, D.C.

She picketed and protested segregation.

She lived 90 years, and she died just a few months before I was born. 

What a grand legacy you have, Mary Church Terrell!!



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June 1 - Madaraka Day in Kenya

Posted on June 1, 2018

Back in 2011, I wrote about Madaraka Day, a patriotic holiday in Kenya. Over the years, I've written about bunches of patriotic days in bunches of nations all over the world. 

But I would like to cycle back and do another take on each of these world holidays and their nations, and I would like to emphasize, this time around, women.

Women are, of course, enormously important in every society. As the saying goes, "Women hold up half the sky." Women do a lot of work that needs doing, including in my own society everything from surgery and dentistry to educating children, from designing houses to building computers, from making art to making music, from caring for children to running farms, from cleaning toilets to making scientific breakthroughs, from becoming an elected official to becoming a corporate bigwig. Some of this work is done without pay, although sometimes unpaid work is the most important of all.

Unfortunately, most societies do not give women equal respect, equal access to education, equal anything. By researching women, writing about women, reading about women, and learning about women, we can make a small contribution to fighting sexism.

Madaraka Day

Madaraka is the Swahili word for "power," and this is the day that commemorates June 1, 1963: the date when Kenya attained self-rule (although not yet complete independence from Britain).
Women in Kenya

Women's position in post-colonial Kenya leaves a lot to be desired, although there have been some advances of late. As of a few years ago, only 20% of parliament positions were filled by women, and only 25% of all women over 25 years old had a high school education.

There's a rating and a ranking put out by the Human Development Report that speaks to sexism in societies. According to the HDR, Kenya's Gender Inequality Index of 0.548, which puts that nation as one of the worst in the world: 122nd out of 152 (at least as of 2013). 

(For comparison purposes, in 2012 the Netherlands was #1 - least gender inequality, also known as most gender equality - with 0.045. The U.S. was ranked #20 in 2014, in a similar rating/ranking.)

My drawing of a Kenyan woman was inspired by the Kenyan flag, the sorts of figures painted by (male) Kenyan artist Shake Makelele, and the kinds of repeated geometric patterns painted by Kenyan artist Sukuro Etale. 






Artwork by Shake Makelele

Artwork by Sukuro Etale

Here are a few stand-outs among Kenyan women:

Muthoni, the Drummer Queen - This woman is a star in the Kenyan music scene!

As a kid, Muthoni joined the school's drumming corps to get relief from the school uniforms and dress-code hairstyles, from tests and grades.

Her parents hoped she would become a professional - and she did! a professional musician! She is now CEO (and founder) of a very successful performance venue. But she also performs on her own stage, drumming in traditional styles, also rapping, also singing.

Mekatilili wa Menza - The Giriama people had been sent to fight for their British colonial government to fight in World War I. And a widow was astonished and appalled at the idea of her people being sent by Europeans to fight other Europeans. She realized that most aspects of colonialism were bad for her people, and so, even though women didn't have political power in her society, Mekatilili wa Menza decided to express her disgust for British rule - through dance!  Mekatilili did the sort of "ecstatic dance" used in funerals - but she attracted attention, crowds, and followers. And eventually the Giriama people were given a measure of self-government again. Mekatilili is now given credit for being a woman who led her people in a rebellion against the British.

Eunice Sum - This Kenyan woman was a champion runner. In 2013 she was the world champion of the 800 meter run.
Juliana Rotich - This IT (information technology) wizard developed tools for crowdsourcing information during big storms or other crises. She also creates web tools to help people dealing with the environment.

Miriam Syowia Kyambi - This multi-media artist studied in Chicago (U.S.A.) and has done work for nations around the world. "Multi-media" means using a variety of materials to create art:

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