international womens day – EcoSalon

Celebrate International Women’s Day With 11 Stories About and Inspired By Women

Anna Brones — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:36:37 +0000

Advocating for women, one story at a time.

Today we’re celebrating International Women’s Day, a day that has been observed since the early 1900s. In Afghanistan, Cambodia and Zambia, and several other countries, it’s an official holiday and around the world thousands of events are held to inspire women and celebrate achievements.

It’s a day for honoring the women around us – our mothers, our grandmothers, our daughters, our sisters, our friends – and those farther from us- the single mother that lives across the street, the school teacher that fights so that her female students learn to read, the girl on the other side of the globe that dreams of being a doctor. Today is a day for celebrating all women, but also remembering that advocating for them is a daily affair.

We devote a lot of our content to highlighting the successes and struggles of women around the globe. Here are our top 11 to get you thinking about what it means to be a woman, what it means to advocate for women and what a future with strong, empowered women around the globe will look like.

8 Women-Run Businesses

These female-led businesses are leaders in their industries and bringing change to the communities around them in a variety of ways.

Female Journalists Report from the Frontlines

Journalism is an industry largely dominated by men. Here are 10 female journalists and their compelling stories from Louisiana to Libya.

The Story of Stuff: A Conversation With Annie Leonard

Annie Leonard is an inspiration to men and women alike, and has dedicated her life to telling the stories that will help us build a clean, green, healthy, safe community for everyone.

Women Learn How to Fail At Work in Grade School

Want to empower women? Start with girls. What they learn at an early age has a significant impact on how they perform and succeed later in life.

Parents Opting for Abortion or Adoption in Light of Economy

Women who are having abortions and placing their children up for adoption aren’t who we think they are. They’re mothers.

5 Stories of Girls Pushing Boundaries and Effecting Change

These five examples prove that change begins with the next generation, and these girls are doing it.

6 Funny and Intelligent Women That Make Us Laugh and Think

Tina Fey, Molly Ivins, Mindy Kaling; this list of female writers is one that inspires us and moves us to speak out more.

Women Investing in Change for Other Women

Women don’t always put their economic power to drive social change. Imagine if they did.

Sexual Assault Victims Speak Out to Empower Themselves

Speaking out about sexual assault lessens the stigma, empowers victims and can encourage more women to come forward.

Sexting and Cyberbullying has Harsher Consequences for Girls

Technology has given us new ways to communicate, and with it exacerbated the messages of mass media.

3 Issues Women Around the World Confront in Common

No matter where we’re born or where we live, as women we all confront confidence, victim-blaming, and strength in some way or another.

Image: mckaysavage

The post Celebrate International Women’s Day With 11 Stories About and Inspired By Women appeared first on EcoSalon.

20 Photos of Female Activists Throughout History

Jessica Marati — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:11:28 +0000

I am woman.

Throughout history, women have had plenty of reasons to be upset. From being denied the right to vote, to being robbed of basic civil liberties, to being told what they can and can’t do with their bodies, female oppression has long existed, and it was only relatively recently that women gained the courage to speak up. We’ve come a long way, but as Rush Limbaugh showed us just last week, we still have a ways to go. In honor of International Women’s Day, we take a look back in photos at the issues that have ignited outrage among women over the past century.

(above) 1909: Girls march against child labor at a labor parade in New York City.

1913: Suffrage parade.

1917: Throngs of women charge New York’s City Hall to protest the soaring cost of food.

1917: Woman’s suffrage protest in Washington, D.C.

1917: Suffragists picket the White House in Washington, D.C.

1938: Hosiery workers protest the Japanese Silk boycott in Washington, D.C.

1938: Spanish-born women protest the arms embargo on Spain in Washington, D.C.

1939: Jewish and-Palestine White Paper demonstrations in Washington D.C.

1956: Rosa Parks sits in the front of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation.

1962: Women strike for peace at the UN building during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

1963: Woman participating in the Civil Rights March on Washington D.C.

1968: Anti-war demonstrators in support of Eartha Kitt.