International Womens Day: March 8, 2018

In 1909,  in New York City,Womens Day was celebrated on February 28, marking the anniversary of the garment workers' strike against poor working conditions. The date was changed to March 8 in 1975, and it became International Womens Day at the decree of the United Nations in 1977.

This year's International Womens Day will include worldwide activities having to do with rights for women who still do not have them, progress for women to reach their full potential, and to encourage girls to achieve whatever they wish.

 

The 2018 International Womens Day will use the hashtag #Pressforprogress on social media.

 

Today, in the United States, a woman has the right to do everything a man does: She can vote, hold office, own property, drive a car (and buy her own car), earn money and spend it the way she wants, speak freely in public, get as much education as she wishes, has control of her body and can choose whether or not to have children, and can hold any job she wishes. These seem like basic rights, but in some countries these are still out of reach. In Saudi Arabia, women can vote... but they still can't drive a car, go anywhere without a male chaperone, participate in sports, wear makeup, or wear any clothes they choose. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, there are harsh punishments (by men) visited on women who violate any kind of 'code' or 'law' based on their gender.

Did you know?
As late as the 1970s in otherwise 'progressive' countries...

 

• Women were just gaining 'permission' to wear slacks to work. It was expected they would wear a standard suit with a floppy-tied blouse, in a dark or neutral color.
• This often applied to school as well. Girls wore dresses. If it was cold, they could wear slacks under a skirt and then take them off once they got in the building. It's worth mentioning that neither boys nor girls wore jeans, and no athletic shoes, either.
• Women were long considered 'property' of their husbands. They were expected to defer to what their husbands wanted, including who to vote for.
• Property such as a house or a car was usually in the husband's name only
• Get pregnant? You were expected to quit your job and stay home with your child. In some cases, employers would also want you to stop working as soon as you 'showed.' Paid maternity leave was a luxury few employers provided.
• Many women went from their father's houses to their husband's houses. Living alone, for a woman, was practically unheard of. Married women were expected to ask their husband's permission when spending money or to make a final decision about their money, supposedly because he was usually the one who earned more money.
• The excuse was often made, if a woman protested making less than a man for the same job: Well, he has a family to support and you don't.
• In the 1930s, often women weren't even encouraged to go on to high school: "You're just going to get married and be home with your kids, what's the point?"

                                        How do you suppose this ad (from about 1968 or so) would go over today?? Poor Jean.                                


In the 1970s, women revived the push for the Equal Rights Amendment, guaranteeing equal rights regardless of gender. But, as of today, only 36 states have ratified it, short of the 38 needed to add it to the Constitution. It's still an important amendment. One wonders why the rest of the states haven't agreed to support it..? http://equalrightsamendment.org/

On the plus side of equality for women....

• The first Womens Rights convention took place in 1916
• Women 'won' the right to vote in 1920. Susan B. Anthony was at the forefront of demanding this basic right for women citizens.

                       Women voters visited the grave of Susan B Anthony and put their "I Voted" stickers on the marker, in 2016.

• Currently, of about 303,824,640 people living in the U.S., with 207,613,574 eligible to vote, 150 million are registered and 137 million actually voted in the last election. Of this number, 53% were women.
• Sexual harassment of women has been going on for years, and it finally got some attention in 2017 with the #metoo movement: women are tired of being objectified and saying nothing, and they've banded together to say they've had more than enough of this intimidation, bullying, and assault (see Triogenius 10-16-2017 for info about sexual harrassment)

• The first birth control clinic opened in 1933; up until then, using a contraceptive was illegal and by some considered immoral, even though women were experiencing multiple unwanted pregnancies, thereby endangering the lives of them and their children. In the early 1900s, 600 women died in childbirth per 100,000 births. Today, that rate is 15 (still too high, but better).
• The Birth Control Pill became available in 1960, making contraceptive easy for many women
• It was 1981 before the first woman was elected to the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor. Currently, three women (and six men) are serving as Supreme Court Justices. The women are: Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan.
• Currently, here are the numbers of women serving in the United States Congress:
• 22 in the Senate and 84 in the House for a total of 106
• 6 state governors are women
• In state senates, 1,871 women are currently serving
• There are 286 women mayors of smaller cities, and 20 women mayors of larger cities
• 33.76 of people completing college degrees in 2016 were women. By contrast, in 1996 24% of college grads were women. See a graph starting in 1946 here: https://www.statista.com/statistics/184272/educational-attainment-of-college-diploma-or-higher-by-gender/
• Worldwide, women generally have a longer life expectancy. Currently, in the United States, the life expectancy for women is 80.1 years of age. It's interesting to note that in 1950, the worldwide life expectancy was 48, factoring in all diseases and conditions that shortened lives, and as late as 2015, it had risen to 71.5.

As we see, most countries throughout the world have higher life expectancies for women (light pink is higher than males, to dark pink where it's much higher than males), except in African countries where there is still a high death rate from AIDS.


Women now work in a wider variety of positions. In the 1960s-70s, the traditional careers for females were teacher, nurse, or secretary. Now, women explore a much wider variety of careers.

Quality of life for women has to do with education, health, opportunities, rights, and standard of living. Reproductive rights are high on the list as well, since only women can get pregnant and bear children.


There is still a gap between men's and women's salaries, however; this is an area that needs to be corrected.

In other words, if a man teacher gets paid $30,000 a year, a woman doing the same job would only be paid 78.6% of that, or $23,580.

 More about International Womens Day:  http://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/history.shtml

Ways in which women are still oppressed around the world: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/