WORD celebrates International Women’s Day
with events and actions!
See details of events taking place this Saturday, March 14
Originating more than 100 years ago, International Women’s Day or Working Women’s Day celebrates the political, economic and social gains of women won through struggle.
On March 8, 1857, New York women took to the streets to protest dangerous working conditions for women textile workers. Exactly 51 years later, 15,000 women marched through New York demanding shorter hours, the right to vote and an end to child labor.
Although International Women’s Day has its origins in the United States, it was not recognized as a day of international significance until 1913. Then, in 1917 in Russia, International Women’s Day demonstrations demanding “bread and peace” in response to the 2 million deaths of Russian soldiers in World War I merged with another strike, sparking the revolution to remove the Czar. Subsequently, the provisional government granted women the right to vote. To this day, International Women’s Day serves as a reminder that our place is in the streets and that our work is not done.
In the United States and around the world, women have not yet achieved full social, political or economic equality. We continue fighting to keep the gains we have made and mobilizing to demand full equality. This is the way we honor International Women’s Day: as a celebration of struggle and a day to look ahead towards continuing to build the struggle for women's equality.
On International Women’s Day and throughout the month, WORD (Women Organized to Resist and Defend) will be organizing and supporting rallies, marches, speak-outs, forums, workshops and panels to celebrate the gains demanding “Say no to the status quo—full equality for all women!” Join us in cities across the country Saturday, March 7 - Saturday, March 14, 2015.
2016 has been a year of both victory and sorrow for women and LGBTQ people. There was the relief of the reproductive health ruling in Texas, and just prior to that the horrific systemic protection of the Stanford rapist. There was a historic ruling in Oregon, formally recognizing non-binary people’s identities, but there was also HB2 in North Carolina - the so called “bathroom bill,” which aims to discriminate against trans and gender non-conforming people. Federal guidelines for trans student safety and an extension of federal healthcare provider nondiscrimination clauses to protect intersex people arrived on the coattails of trans student activism demanding basic rights and protections at their schools. At the same time, trans and queer communities nationwide are reeling from the pain and horror of the Orlando massacre. Trans visibility has increased, but so have murders of trans women - particularly trans women of color. And the same politicians who launch attacks on gender equality, protections for women, and reproductive healthcare are simultaneously launching attacks against basic human rights for LGBTQ people.
