“What do we want? Equality! When do we want it? Now!”
Boulder, Colorado joined in International Women’s Day Actions by gathering at the Boulder’s Glen Huntington Bandshell in Central Park and marching through downtown Boulder. About 200 children, men, and women held signs that read such as, “Champion Women’s Equality,” “WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINISTS,” “SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE SILENCE OF VIOLENCE,” and “MORE WOMEN CEOs.”
The International Woman’s March is remembered as sparking the Russian Revolution.
A National Woman’s Day was marked in New York City on February 28, 1909 as a Socialist Party call to honor working women and working for women’s right to vote. In France in 1911, women marched, as did women in Austria, Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland, and one million throughout the globe. The day continued strong outside of the US and few US residents have recognized the day or have even been aware of the women’s labor strike. In 1914 in Germany, the International Woman’s Day focused on voting rights for women which were not won until 1918. In 2010 The Nation Report covered International Women’s Day events from Ukraine, where the day is highly recognized by giving women a day off of work including in the home.
Annika Jacobson (photo: The Nation Report)
In Boulder eight-year old Annika Jacobson held a sign that read, “Women Are The Battery Of This World.” She said, “The world cannot function without us women.” When asked what she thinks of what is happening in the world today she responded, “I think it’s just wrong. The people voted for this terrible president and now we have to show everyone that we have meaning.” Her mother Jeanne Buccci said she wholeheartedly agreed, “I try to teach her that the women’s strike was trying to show the world the value of women’s work, how much work is done by women, and that we have economic power and that our voice matters. We’re showing solidarity with all women work and labor. It resonated with her and she made those signs on her own.”
Observances are big in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, and Nepal where the day is an official national holiday.
In Honduras though, the marches demonstrated a country undergoing the traumatic effect of violence in a country that has seen the assassination of 66 women only in the first two months of this year.
The FMLN Women’s Secretariat (photo: CISPES)
In San Salvador, El Salvador, observance of the day is big. Labor unions, youth and student organizations, LGBTQ groups and other social justice organizations take to the streets. One banner read, “Solidarity is our weapon.” One solidarity group, Communities in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) located in Washington, DC issued a statement, “We join together in struggle to demand: the decriminalization of abortion, an end to feminicides, the eradication of violence against women, and to live without social violence.”
In Boulder, marchers concluded at The Shine, a woman-owned restaurant where organizers were asked to solicit on IWD. Before arriving to The Shine, “Bethany” also marched with her daughter who said she was marching for “more women’s rights.” Bethany’s side simply read “Love” which she said embraces all, “Love to embrace all, all women around the globe, to touch their lives and everything that they do. That’s an equalizing force, love.” When asked what she is seeing in the world that she does not like she responded, “Violence and hatred.”
International observances (all photos: Time):
Boulder observance (all photos: The Nation Report):
