Defending the Day: the Importance of International Women’s Day

Advertisement

March 8 of this year will mark the 47th International Women’s Day. Technically, the day has been around in varying forms since the 1900s, but it became a global movement with official UN recognition in 1975. Since that time, huge improvements have been made to the lives of women and girls around the world. In fact, there have been such giant steps towards gender equity that each year I inevitably hear the question “Do we really still need a Women’s Day?” Let’s unpack that.

Here are the facts

The 2021 Global Gender Gap Report commissioned by the World Economic Forum stated it will take 135.6 years to close the gender gap. Women are still paid less than men and are more likely to be dismissed from needed jobs in an economic downturn than their male counterparts.

Education

According to UNICEF, 129 million girls are out of school and less than half the countries of the world have achieved gender parity in education.

Banking

According to the Global Gender Gap Report, at least 72 countries limit or outright ban a woman from opening a bank account.

In the workplace

The Institute for Women’s Leadership reports that in the US women make up 45 percent of the S&P 500 workforce but represent only 4 percent of CEOs in listed companies. And while US women are primary financial providers for 40 percent of families and more women receive advanced degrees than men, they still occupy only 21 percent of senior leadership positions, three percent lower than the global average, and are paid 79 cents on the dollar of their male counterparts.

Violence, Poverty, Healthcare

There are differing statistics on violence, poverty, and health care for women and girls, as well as representation of women in media. All are disturbing, and disparities are even more dramatic for minority women and women residing in developing nations.

But the real reason I think we still need a women’s day is simpler than that. A fellow educator last year gave her fifth grade students a simple worksheet. She listed several different jobs and asked them to list one famous person from each category. The students could list a famous composer, famous scientist, famous businessperson, famous athlete, etc. This fellow educator told me that out of all of the answers she received from the entire class, only one was female: Famous Author — J. K. Rowling.

The gender gap and all of its financial and social inequities stem from one very simple truth: When we ask for examples of excellence, when we look for heroes and paragons to reward, our default is still a male image. Let me be clear. I am not anti-man or trying to tear down anyone. There are so many men in my life who I respect, admire, and learn from. But if we are limiting ourselves to only half of the talent pool, if we are by default telling half of our young population, “You can be good, but not great,” what are we robbing our world of? What inventions or medical breakthroughs never happen? What companies never get built, what movements never begin? What social changes and laws never come to pass?

By limiting our ideas of who is worthy of accolades we rob both our daughters and sons of the best possible world. So, in honor of International Women’s Day, here are my (all-female) responses to a few of those worksheet questions. This is not intended to lock men out or diminish the accomplishments of anyone. Rather, I hope to draw attention to a few deserving but often overlooked members of our global society, and hopefully encourage all of us to consider the entire population when we look for heroes.

Scientist

Let’s talk about Chien-Shiung Wu. This Chinese-American experimental physicist was a pivotal member of the Manhattan Project, helping to develop the process that separated uranium into two of its isotopes by gaseous diffusion with the goal of producing enriched uranium. She developed the experiment that allowed two male colleagues to prove their hypothesis that the hypothetical “law of conservation of parity” was invalid. For their theoretical work the two male colleagues would win the 1957 Nobel Prize for Physics. While Wu was lauded and received acknowledgement from peers for her work, she was not recognized by the Nobel committee for her contributions to the breakthrough, and it would be more than 20 years before she was publicly honored for her contributions to the Nobel Prize-winning discovery. Other areas of Wu’s research would lead to medical breakthroughs that helped treat sickle cell anemia. She was also directly responsible for the first scientific presidential advisory board, and would spend the end of her life advocating for STEM education in both China and the United States for all children, regardless of gender, race, or economic standing.

Businesswoman

Madam C. J. Walker is widely acknowledged as the first female African American millionaire, but the truth is she was the first female millionaire of any race in America. She made her fortune from a line of innovative hair care and beauty products, but her accomplishments were not limited to running a successful business. She was a firm supporter of women, and opened schools, provided jobs, and promoted thousands of female employees, helping to raise up whole communities. She was a vocal and consistent financial supporter of the NAACP and provided scholarships to the Tuskegee Institute. Her Manhattan home would become a salon for members of the Harlem Renaissance community, incubating some of the most profound art to ever come out of America and giving a voice to a portion of the population whose stories may never have been told otherwise.

Humanitarian

Marie Curie is probably one of the most well-known physicists in the world, and the winner of two Nobel Prizes. But this Polish-French woman is a personal hero to me because of her humanitarian work. During World War I she used her knowledge of science to set up mobile X-ray units which saved countless soldiers from needless operations, amputations, and death. She was the director of the French Red Cross Radiology Service and she would serve as a founding member of the League of Nations Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, the precursor to UNESCO. She also set up the Curie Institute, which is still operating today and which is one of the world’s leading scientific research centers.

Composer

The Mendelssohn name is famous for the well-known wedding march we still play today, and Felix was an incredibly prolific and successful composer in his time. But not all his works were his. His sister Fanny Mendelssohn was his editor, collaborator, and a brilliant composer in her own right. Woman at the time were not allowed to be published, so her brother (with her permission) published an unknown number of her works under his own name. To this day we are unsure of the true composer of many works in the Mendelssohn catalog.

Artist

María Izquierdo was a Mexican surrealist painter. She was a child bride, and eventually a single mother, who faced a great deal of social scrutiny and pressure for her “feminist” ideology, including being awarded public commissions and then having them withdrawn because of her gender. She would become the first Mexican woman to exhibit in the United States (beating out the famous Frida Kahlo for that historical achievement). She would also be responsible for changing the image of Mexican women throughout the world, and would help set up a foundation to develop and support the female artists of her beloved home country.

Poet

There are so many profoundly talented and inspirational writers across history, but I wanted to focus on one to watch. Amanda Gorman stunned and rejuvenated a nation when she performed her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of US president Joe Biden. At only 23 years old, Gorman has already published three books, graduated with honors from Harvard University, become the first National Youth Poet Laureate, and has been hailed as the voice of her generation. Her visionary prose and thoughts on the future of leadership are part of the conversation shaping our world, and she and other incredible young people of her generation are the future of equity and growth on our planet. There is hope.

These are just six incredible humans who changed or are changing our world and who happen to be women. I encourage all of us to educate ourselves about so many others who are deserving of our attention and remembrance. Just as importantly, we need to encourage that in our kids. Let's give this next generation the gift of a pantheon of inclusive heroes representative of every age, gender, creed, nationality, and orientation.

Please inspire me and everyone else reading this post by adding a comment nominating an unsung, underrepresented historical figure for further research.

Happy International Women’s Day everyone!

Images: Wikipedia, Merkdearte

Daily Poll

How many WeChat groups are you in?

KEEP READING

Advertisement