International Women's Day

Today March 8th, is International Women's Day.  The day was started in 1909 in the United States.  It was associated with the socialist movement.  In 1910, at the first international women's conference Clara Zetkin proposed that the day be made an international holiday.  The holiday was celebrated across Europe for a time, but lost favor during the cold war because it came to be associated with the Soviet Union.

The UN began sponsoring IWD in 1975 in honor of the remaining work that needs to be done to protect and promote the equal rights of women.

So, here's a mini treasury as a reminder of all that our foremothers did for equality

 

Suffragette Doll     Art Yarn      Suffragette Hair

Green Cloche       Two Votes   Suffrage for Sale

As a crafter, I am indebted to the women of this era.  First, they used their creativity and smarts to develop the crafts that I love today.  Also, they made crafting a choice, as opposed to a necessity.  Now I have the opportunity to choose what I want to do, and I choose to craft, and vote!

The choices that we have now are still not complete, however.  As long as the wage gap persists, and traditionally "female" jobs are devalued, we still have a lot to fight for.

Another inequality I am recognizing in the way I deal with the world is violence against women.  Especially on a college campus, I am all too aware of that problem.  1/4 women will be sexually assaulted in college.  The violence on college campuses means that while I think about my surroundings, how much I've had to drink, and the necessity of walking with someone else, my male counterparts are oblivious of all of this.

These are the ways that gender inequality effects my thinking, and my life.  There are many more problems that span the world.  Today we should recognize all of those problems, but also appreciate how far we've come!

* The etsy front page is honoring IWD today too!  Cool yo!