Today is International Womenโs Day.
Today also marks the show of solidarity for womenโs rights by way of a strike: A Day Without A Woman. Women around the world are refusing to take part in both paid and unpaid labor in the name of justice for all gender-oppressed people of all ethnicities, religions, and sexualities. In doing so, they join the ranks of women who have led protests, strikes, and movements throughout history.
Letโs celebrate a few of those women:
Dorothy Height (March 24, 1912โApril 20, 2010)
Dorothy Height, former President of the National Council of Negro Women, was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington. She stood near Martin Luther King Jr. during his โI Have a Dreamโ speech, but did not publicly speak that day. In fact, no woman publicly spoke. โEven on the morning of the march there had been appeals to include a woman speaker,โ wrote Height in her memoir.ย โThey were happy to include women in the human family, but there was no question as to who headed the household!โ In 1971, she helped found the National Womenโs Political Caucus with other notable feminists like Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and Shirley Chisholm.
Marsha P. Johnson (August 24, 1945โJuly 6, 1992)
Marsha P. Johnson spent her entire adult life fighting for the rights of LGBTQ people. Sheโs credited for being one of the first to fight back in the Stonewall Riots. She started the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries with her friend Sylvia Rivera. Together they provided food, shelter, and care to young drag queens, trans women, and homeless children in need in the Lower East Side of NYC. She fought for what was right, and knew how to live life with exuberance and humor. When asked by a judge what what the โPโ stood for, she replied โPay It No Mind.โ
Alice Paul (January 11, 1885โJuly 9, 1977)
Alice Paul was one of the leading forces behind the Nineteenth Amendment, which affirmed and enshrined a womanโs right to vote. She rallied 8,000 people to march in the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession in Washingtonโno small task in a world before the internetโwith an estimated half million people watching the historic moment from the sidelines.
And some good activist blogs to follow:
Emilyโs List (@emilys-list) slogan isย โignite change.โ They aim to do so by backing pro-choice candidates for US office in key races across the country.
Women of Color in Solidarity (@wocinsolidarity) focuses on being a hub for the the WOC experience in the US. Original posts, incredibly informative reblogsโฆthis place is wonderful.
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