March 8 is International Women’s Day. It’s a global day to recognize and celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women and girls. It’s also a time to raise awareness of the progress made towards achieving gender equality and the work remaining to be done.
The beginnings of International Women’s Day can be traced back to the early twentieth century. It emerged from the activities of labour movements in North America and Europe and reflected a growing call for women’s equal participation in society. International Women’s Day first took place on March 19, 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. That day, over a million women and men attended public events to show their support. Other countries began to observe and celebrate this day in the years that followed. The United Nations recognized 1975 as International Women’s Year and began celebrating March 8 as International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day is a day of unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy, and action and is celebrated in many countries worldwide.
Many groups and agencies have organized celebrations over the years to mark the day, and in the past, there have been events serving breakfast or lunch with a speaker, and big parties at one of the larger venues in either Oakville or Burlington with a guest speaker and many dignitaries from Halton Region.
However, along came the pandemic, and things had to change. I would like to highlight two of International Women’s Day events that took place in 2021 virtually and are being repeated this year in the same format. Where there is a will there is a way!
Oakville Public Library hosted Paddy Torsney’s 26th Annual International Women’s Day Breakfast event on Friday March 4 virtually. Registrants were encouraged to make a donation to Food4Kids because the event was free. The speaker for this “get your own breakfast” event was former Burlington resident, Pat Kelly. She is a perfect example of someone with incredible resilience and perseverance, and a whole lot of humour and action!
The next event is the “un” Dinner Party being hosted by Women of Halton Action Movement (WHAM) on March 8. This event is raising money for the Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Services (SAVIS), which serves all of Halton, and Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan). The theme this year is “Feminism: Past, Present & Future.” There is still time to donate or purchase a ticket by clicking on this link: https://www.thedinnerpartyiwd.ca/event2022.
