William Quincy Belle: March 8, 2014: International Women's Day

International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day is marked on March 8 every year. It is a major day of global celebration of women. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements. (Wikipedia)

The first International Women's Day was observed on March 19, 1911 (moved to March 8 in 1913), with gatherings in Germany, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland amounting to more than one million women and men in attendance. Growing industrialisation brought poor working conditions and protests led to the creation of this day about political and human rights. In 1977, the United Nations proclaimed the date as UN Day for Women's Rights and International Peace.

2014 International Women's Day
The UN theme for International Women's Day 2014 is "Equality for Women is Progress for All". (UN Women)

Uploaded on Mar 6, 2014 by Google
International Women's Day Doodle 2014
Women have historically been underrepresented in almost all fields: science, school curricula, business, politics—and, sadly, doodles.

My Opinion
I have ofttimes said when you stand around the water cooler with a bunch of guys and they think nobody is listening, you find out what's actually beneath the thin veneer of our so-called politically correct civilised behaviour. Are we moving away from the traditional patriarchal puritanical double standard society of woman as second class citizens? Yes, but ever so slowly. We have such a long way to go.

From 2012
When radio personality Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a slut on the national airwaves, I was both shocked and outraged. (my blog: Rush Limbaugh: That's spelled with one F and one U) But I was also sad. Our traditions are so ingrained, we don't even know that we're monkey see monkey do. We open our mouths and repeat things with no reflection on their meaning or their effect on other people.

When Todd Akin, U.S. Representative for Missouri's 2nd congressional district and member of the Republican party suggested that a woman's body has the ability to "shut itself down" during rape so a woman doesn't get pregnant, he was merely repeating an idea that has been floating around for centuries. (see my blog: Rape? No problem! Women must have an orgasm to get pregnant.) The things that pass for knowledge. We don't even realise that we have no idea of what we're talking about.

The Delhi rape case was horrific. (my blog: Cruelty knows no bounds) The level of cruelty passes every level of comprehension.

The Steubenville rape case is jaw-droppingly crazy. (my blog: Steubenville Rape Case: It could be your daughter.) One woman pointed out just how crazy our world is by posting the sign, "I need feminism because my university teaches 'How to avoid getting raped' instead of 'Don't rape' at freshmen orientation."

Published on Mar 5, 2014 by KommunalTV
How To Get A Raise In 47 Seconds
Watch this woman get a raise in only 47 seconds. Simply by becoming a man

Find more video here: International Women's Day dot Com

The Guardian - Mar 6/2014
International Women's Day: more than just a cover story by Jane Martinson
Child Bride is one of three spoof magazine covers produced by Catapult, a US-based crowdfunding site, as a way of suggesting that International Women's Day on 8 March is more than just a "cover story".

* 14m girls — some as young as eight years old — will be married against their will in 2014.

* An estimated 1.2m children are trafficked into slavery each year; 80% are girls.

* In New York City, the average age at which a girl first becomes a victim of commercial sexual exploitation is 13.

Final Word
Years ago, somebody joked that while the human race has cable TV and the Internet, it has not progressed philosophically or morally one iota in the past two thousand years. I believe this to be true. The collective we is stupid, myopic, and downright cruel in some cases. We have little regard for our fellow man or our fellow woman.

Now don't get me wrong. The world is filled with examples of great kindness towards other people and it gives me the idea there is still hope for the human race. But there is still a long way to go. The world is filled with hate, cruelty, and sorrow and it has to stop. It won't stop today but it can stop with me today.

References

official web site: International Women's Day
internationalwomensday.com is a global hub for sharing International Women’s Day information, events, news and resources. The website was founded in 2001 as a non-profit philanthropic venture dedicated to keeping International Women’s Day (IWD) alive and growing.

Wikipedia: International Women's Day

Radio Free Europe - March 7/2011
Women's Day Largely Forgotten In West, Where It Got Its Start by Daisy Sindelar

VOA - March 7/2011
Clinton Launches 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day by JulieAnn McKellogg

Google Search: International Women's Day

November 19: International Men's Day
The objectives of celebrating an International Men's Day include focusing on men's and boys' health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, and highlighting positive male role models. It is an occasion to highlight discrimination against men and boys and to celebrate their achievements and contributions, in particular for their contributions to community, family, marriage, and child care.

November 25: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
Women's activists have marked November 25 as a day to fight violence against women since 1981. On December 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (Resolution 54/134). The UN invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designated to raise public awareness of the problem on this day as an international observance. Women around the world are subject to rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence, and the scale and true nature of the issue is often hidden.

This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960 of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930–1961).

Wikipedia: We Can Do It!
"We Can Do It!" is an American wartime propaganda poster produced by J. Howard Miller in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric as an inspirational image to boost worker morale.

from 2011: James Bond supports IWD
Daniel Craig and Judi Dench reprise their roles from James Bond to support this event.

The two-minute short, specially commissioned for International Women's Day, sees 007 star Daniel Craig undergo a dramatic makeover as he puts himself, quite literally, in a woman's shoes.

Directed by acclaimed 'Nowhere Boy' director/conceptual artist Sam Taylor-Wood, scripted by Jane Goldman ('Kick Ass') and featuring the voice of Dame Judi Dench reprising her role as 'M', the film will be screened in cinemas and streamed online in a bid to highlight the levels of inequality that persist between men and women in the UK and worldwide. It is the first film featuring Bond to be directed by a woman.

from my blog: