Women in Alabama and across the world will demand equal pay, reproductive rights, education, justice, decision-making jobs and other essential needs during demonstrations marking International Women’s Day on Friday, March 8.
This global day celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality.
The observance has occurred for well over a century, with the first International Women’s Day gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people, according to InternationalWomensDay.com. The celebration is not country, group or organization specific.
Officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977, International Women’s Day is commemorated in different ways and to varying degrees in places around the world, including here in the Yellowhammer State. It is an official holiday in more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ukraine, Russia and Cuba, the only one in the Americas.
Like in other aspects of life, social media plays an important role during International Women’s Day, particularly by amplifying attention to demonstrations held in countries with repressive governments toward women and dissent in general. Protests are often political and, at times, violent, rooted in women’s efforts to improve their rights as workers. Demonstrations are planned from Tokyo to Mexico City, and this year’s global theme is “Inspire Inclusion.”
In Birmingham, the city is unveiling a new StrongHer art exhibit honoring women for International Women’s Day. In 2019, Mayor Woodfin launched an initiative known as StrongHer to honor the unsung women who live, work, volunteer or attend school in Birmingham and the outstanding work they do in our community.
Each day in March, a StrongHer honoree is highlighted on the city’s website and social media pages, detailing how she is making a difference in the Magic City. More than 150 stories have been written on Birmingham women since the series started. A StrongHer book was released in November 2023 to highlight those stories.
According to a press release from the city of Birmingham, the stories of the next StrongHer class will continue in 2024, along with the unveiling of the art exhibit, which was created by 2024 StrongHer honoree Christina Johnson. Johnson, who is a self-taught artist and the Artist in Residence for Railroad Park, has created 20 pieces for the exhibit. Some of the pieces were inspired by the StrongHer campaign. The exhibit, which will be on display until mid-April.
Meantime, Tuscaloosa's City Hall, Intermodal Facility and Fountain at Alberta Park will be lit purple and orange in honor of International Women's Day. Several events are also being hosted by The University of Alabama's Women and Gender Resource Center throughout the month of March.
Here's more information on the global event why it falls on March 8:
While the idea behind a women's day originated in U.S. with the American Socialist Party in 1909, it was a German feminist who pushed for a global commemoration during an international conference of socialist women held in 1910 in Copenhagen. The following year, events across Europe marked the day, and during World War I, women used it to protest the armed conflict, which lasted from 1914 to 1918.
International Women's Day is observed on March 8 after a massive protest in Russia on Feb. 23, 1917, that led to the country’s eventual withdrawal from the war. At the time, Russia had not adopted the Gregorian calendar — named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in 1582 – and still used the Julian calendar – the brainchild of Julius Caesar and still used by Orthodox churches for religious rites.
“On Feb. 23 in Russia, which was March 8 in Western Europe, women went out on the streets and protested for bread and peace,” Kristen Ghodsee, professor and chair of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania, told the Associated Press.
Demonstrators included widows, wives and mothers of men who died or were injured during the war. “The authorities weren’t able to stop them, and then, once the men saw that the women were out on the streets, all of the workers started coming and joining the women," she said.
The U.N. began commemorating the holiday in 1975, which was International Women’s Year, and its General Assembly officially recognized the day two years later.
Ghodsee said commemorating International Women’s Day is now more important than ever, as women have lost gains made in the last century, chiefly among them the 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a nationwide right to abortion, which ended constitutional protections that had been in place nearly 50 years.
“I think women around the world before (Donald) Trump became president, — when Hillary Clinton was running for president, Sheryl Sandberg was writing “Lean In” and it was all girlboss feminism – we didn’t know how quickly all of that could be taken away,” she said.
The U.S. decision on abortion has reverberated across Europe’s political landscape, forcing the issue back into public debate in some countries at a time when far-right nationalist parties are gaining influence.
France on Monday became the only country to explicitly guarantee abortion as a constitutional right, a historic move proposed by President Emmanuel Macron and hailed by women's rights activists worldwide.
The vote during a special joint session of France’s parliament drew a long-standing ovation among lawmakers.
“We have a moral debt to women,” French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told lawmakers in the lead-up to the vote Monday.
Learn more about the history of International Women's Day along with and celebrations and demonstrations happening around the globe here.
