Sunday, March 8, was International Women’s Day, helping to kick off Women’s History Month in March. Women’s Day has been celebrated in America since 1909 and in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland since 1911. In 1975, the United Nations finally declared it an international holiday.
Companies and organizations around the world and the web are celebrating women, and here are a few of the sites I thought you’d enjoy.
Biographile, Random House’s nod to literary biographies, celebrates with “quotes from 9 literary ladies.”
Maya Angelou, Charlotte Bronte, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, and Margaret Atwood, Biographile.com
Microsoft reminds us that girls like science, too, with their latest commercial:
The initiative, a collaboration between the Clinton Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, posted this celebrity-, fun- (and fact-) filled video:
What will you do to celebrate Women’s History Month?
I did not know that March was Women’s History Month both internationally and here at home. How did I miss this? These short video clips capture a few real and persistent issues that girls and women still face today. While we have made great strides in the past 100 years, much work is left to do. I remember from my teen years all of the issues that the last video, Dear Me, talked about. Teenage angst and insecurities can cripple a person for life. That constant telling oneself that you are not good enough or smart enough ends ups making you believe that is the truth and retreating from the fight. In my mind, it underscores the value of good teachers, great organizations like Girl Scouts, summer camps, and opportunities to experience new things and a safe environment to test your skills and reach for bigger goals. Plus as parents, we have such a huge impact on our children’s lives that it is scary to think about. Raising my two girls was such a blur in my life of work, home, and family that sometimes I wish I could go back and redo parts of it. Since that won’t happen, I am reminded how I can pay it forward to someone else and try and lift another young girl up with encouragement and help. Oh my but there is a lot of work to do out there!
You couldn’t give me 5 million dollars to be 13 again! But that was the year I discovered Chemistry in a big way due to a fabulous teacher with the unfortunate name of Donald Rudolph Eckelhoffer. He instilled in me my love of science. But that also was the year I wanted to try out for the school play. I asked his advice and he said stick with chemistry. But I bowed to my peers and never had that ” spark” again for chemistry. I was afraid of being labelled a science snerd. Such is life and the wanting to ” fit in” that we all have at that age.
I want to mentor young women to get into gardening or better yet farming. I have done so in the past through a teaching program at the museum I volunteered with, and also the master gardener program. But alas the ability to get young people away from their i-phones and such is almost unsurmountable. I lost my pupils by age 12 to the l lure of video games and the internet ( and not the good kind of learning internet, but the stupid stuff they are bombarded with- fashion, mindless entertainment etc ) I haven’t been able to find anyone young even willing to get their feet muddy much less dig in the dirt, and I live in a rural area. I do visit with my favorite old order ( horse and buggy) Mennonite family and I give the children my heirloom seeds and suggest ways they can make their market gardens.
I wish I could do more.
These videos are just inspiring, thanks, MaryJane. As a mother of three daughters and soon to be 6 grandchildren, so far, three are granddaughters, I like to inspire each of them (grandsons, too) to go for whatever they believe they can do. My oldest daughter, now a mom of 4, graduated college with a degree in environmental science and also one in research/genetic science. She worked with Walter Reed research Institute in her early years after graduation..and, new to research, she discovered a missing link to a vaccine that had been worked on for over ten years by other scientists…oh, my…as parent I was so proud..she was honored for her discovery..and, did much more research in other areas, and now, a stay at home mom, she will return to work one day, but inspires her four children to do whatever they believe they can..because, she was inspired…my other daughters also work in fields of science…the other day I was at my doctors office and she (yes, SHE) told me she was the first doctor in her family..her husband is my cardiac surgeon, and she has two daughters that are both in college to become…yes, doctors…how inspiring is that? I think as women we all need to support each other in whatever field we choose..to do what makes us happy…what is calling our name…we are all different and we should support each other in our beliefs and what makes us happy and what we are striving to do…I think jealousy kicks in…I think we need to care more…about each other….
Wow, after reading these comments I think there are some pretty remarkable women right here!!