Chris White Online

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.

Each year on March 8th, people across the globe come together to honor women and to work for their safety and equality.

www.internationalwomensday.com.

Happy International Women’s Day 2010!

On International Women’s Day, this official minute from the Australian National Archives (dated 1963) is well worth reading.

It’s entitled “Women should not be trade commissioners” and is an official Minute to the Director of the Australian Trade Commissioner Service. It can be found at:

http://vrroom.naa.gov.au/records/?ID=19442

Stand with the Women of Sudan

As part of the Save Darfur Coalition’s ongoing advocacy efforts to combat the sexual violence in Sudan and provide comprehensive services to survivors, we invite you to take this opportunity to spread the word about the incredible women of Sudan and to advocate for their protection and rights.

International Women’s Day celebrations and events Monday, March 8, 2010 (or surrounding days) Local communities around the world, including yours!

Write a letter your elected officials where you can ask them to urge Secretary of State Clinton to prioritize the restoration of Gender-Based Violence and other “life-saving” sectors like protection and food security in Darfur

Learn more about sexual violence, political participation and protection issues in Sudan by consulting our resources page.

For information on International Women’s Day celebrations around the world, visit www.internationalwomensday.com.

The Victorian Trades Hall Council is celebrating IWD on Friday 12 March at the VTHC with the launch of the Anna Stewart Memorial Project for Women Unionists DVD.

From Socialist project International Women’s Day March 8, 2010 –

This year marks the celebrating of the 100th anniversary of International
Women’s Day (IWD). International Women’s Day was proclaimed at the meeting
of the Second International of socialist parties in Copenhagen in 1910,
following on years of campaigning by women in the labour and socialist
movements for equality.

It grew in prominence across the 20th century, and
eventually in 1977 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution
stating that this day “recognized the role of women in peace efforts and
development and urged an end to discrimination and an increase of support
for women’s full and equal participation.”

It hardly needs stating that a great number of challenges remain for women
in Canada and around the world. These include inequalities in pay and work
conditions, lack of adequate access to childcare facilities, the conditions
of poverty faced by many single mothers, the deterioration of social
programmes, sexual and domestic violence, amongst others. The economic
crisis and the turn by governments to even ‘harder’ policies of
neoliberalism can only make these challenges for women more difficult. The
struggles for gender equality within campaigns against neoliberal policies
and efforts to renew the socialist movement have particular importance and
urgency.

This year IWD internationally is making a special note of the disaster in
Haiti. The Ontario Public Services Employees Union Provinicial Women’s
Committee, for example, notes “we are being asked to honour the lives of
feminist Haitian leaders who died in the massive earthquake on January
12th. An activity in Haiti’s Catherine Flon plaza will be held to share
what they learned from three fallen feminist leaders: Myriam Merlet, Magali
Marcelin, and Anne Marie Coriolan. All three leaders had a long history of
feminist activism. They reformed a judiciary that never took rape
seriously, created organizations and houses to protect girls and women
against domestic violence and trafficking, published a feminist newspaper,
expanded a documentary center and an historical archive, and struggled for
the protection of sexual and reproductive rights.”

The Bullet reprints here an early article by the socialist-feminst and
revolutionary, Alexandra Kollontai, on the linkage between international
women’s day and the unity of the international workers’ movement.

Click here to continue reading:
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/321.php#continue