The TL;DR – today (March 8th) is International Women’s Day. Celebrated for over 100 years, it’s a day we recognize how far women have advanced in society, but also acknowledge how far we have to go. This year’s theme is to #PledgeForParity, which you can do by making a pledge, attending this event, sharing this post to your own networks, or donating here (all donations up to $500 will be personally matched by Hitha On The Go).
For a lot of the world, today is a holiday.
However, in these United States, it’s just another day.
It’s International Women’s Day. A day to celebrate the achievements (social, economic, cultural, and political of women). Also, a day to recognize just how far we have to go.
This day is over a century old, and is a truly collective day of celebration and call for parity. There is no official sponsor (NGO or state). There’s no fancy campaign. Instead, it’s a call to action for all of us to come together to acknowledge how far women have come as leaders in society, while recognizing that we still have a ways to go.
The origins and history of this day can be found here (and is worth the read). This year, the theme of the day is #PledgeforParity.
We all know gender parity (equal rights for genders) is not a reality, whether you live in the developed world or a poverty-stricken country. The situation is more dire than you’d think. According to the WEF, it won’t be until 2133Â until global gender parity is achieved (based on the growth recorded from 2015).
2133. Thats 117 years from now.
We may have flying cars and be colonizing Mars by then, but women won’t have reached full global equality.
#whoruntheworld? Not girls. Not by a long shot.
That’s why International Women’s Day is so important. It’s so much more than a day merely acknowledge that the global situation for girls and women is grossly unequal. It’s a day to take action.
Here’s how to do it:
- Make a pledge, in one of 5 areas that affect women most.
- Attend this event tonight (if you happen to live in New York City)
- Donate to one of these very worthy causes to bridge the education and employment gap for girls and women worldwide.
- Share this post (with one of these handy images below) with your social networks. The more you know…
Change won’t happen if we just sit around. Change will only happen if we act.
So get off your ass and do something. Beyoncé would want you to.
[Tweet “Who run the world? Not girls. #PledgeforParity #IWD2016Â #InternationalWomensDay”]
Per my pledge, I’ll be matching all donations up to $500 made through this link. We donated over $100 to Sundara last month – let’s see if we can double that this month, shall we?
globe image via, female symbol via. graphics created by hitha on the go. thumbnail via
