“Bread and Roses”
Please join us for an entertaining and informative morning to celebrate Women’s movements around the world. Four cultures spanning Africa, Chile-South America, Iran and India will be featured.
Saturday March 7th, 2015, 9:30 am -12 pm
Shadow Hills Cabana Club, 1001 El Capitan, Danville CA
Light Refreshments provided, RSVP: Asha Bajaj
Speakers:
Africa – Alicia Jones & Bev Nidick
Chile – Luisa Hansen
Iran – Fari Falaki
India – Asha Bajaj
Asha Bajaj & Caroline Sanchez, International Relations Co-Chairs
International Women’s Day will be celebrated worldwide in honor of working women and women’s struggles everywhere. It should be a real source of pride and inspiration to American women that this special day originated in honor of two all-women strikes in the U.S.
We will celebrate International Women’s day on March 7th by showcasing four cultures and recent grassroots movements in India, Chile, Africa and the Middle East. Please join us for an informative and entertaining morning. Light refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP to Asha Bajaj by February 28.
Some background on International Women’s Day:
In 1909, the first National Woman’s Day was observed in the United States on February 28 in honor of the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions. Soon after, in 1910, the Socialist International organization met in Copenhagen to establish an international Women’s Day to honor the women’s rights movement and to build support for universal suffrage for women.
In 1911, International Women’s Day was celebrated on March 19 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. More than one million women and men attended rallies. They demanded women’s right to vote and to hold public office, plus women’s right s to work, vocational training and an end to discrimination on the job. During 1913 and 1914, many used International Women’s Day as a platform to protest World War I.
In 1917, against the backdrop of war, women in Russia again chose to protest and strike for ‘Bread and Peace’ on the last Sunday in February (March 8 on the Gregorian calendar). Four days later, the Czar abdicated and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote.
The Charter of the United Nations, signed in 1945, was the first international agreement to affirm the principle of equality between women and men. Since then, the UN has created a legacy of internationally agreed-upon strategies, standards, programs and goals to advance the status of women worldwide. Over the years, the UN and its agencies have promoted the participation of women as equal partners with men in achieving sustainable development, peace, security, and full respect for human rights. The empowerment of women continues to be a central feature of the UN’s efforts to address social, economic and political challenges across the globe.