History of International Women's Day

"The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights" Gloria Steinem

All About International Women’s Day

International Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900's, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.

1908
Great unrest and critical debate was occurring amongst women. Women's oppression and inequality was spurring women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Then in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day (NWD) was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate NWD on the last Sunday of February until 1913.

1910
In 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named a Clara Zetkin (Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women's Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day - a Women's Day - to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women's clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin's suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women's Day was the result.

1911
Following the decision agreed at Copenhagen in 1911, International Women's Day (IWD) was honoured the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. However less than a week later on 25 March, the tragic 'Triangle Fire' in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labour legislation in the United States that became a focus of subsequent International Women's Day events. 1911 also saw women's 'Bread and Roses' campaign.

1913-1914
On the eve of World War I campaigning for peace, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. In 1913 following discussions, International Women's Day was transferred to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for International Wommen's Day ever since. In 1914 further women across Europe held rallies to campaign against the war and to express women's solidarity.

1917
On the last Sunday of February, Russian women began a strike for "bread and peace" in response to the death over 2 million Russian soldiers in war. Opposed by political leaders the women continued to strike until four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. The date the women's strike commenced was Sunday 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia. This day on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere was 8 March.

1918 - 1999
Since its birth in the socialist movement, International Women's Day has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across developed and developing countries alike. For decades, IWD has grown from strength to strength annually. For many years the United Nations has held an annual IWD conference to coordinate international efforts for women's rights and participation in social, political and economic processes. 1975 was designated as 'International Women's Year' by the United Nations. Women's organisations and governments around the world have also observed IWD annually on 8 March by holding large-scale events that honour women's advancement and while diligently reminding of the continued vigilance and action required to ensure that women's equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life.

2000 and beyond
IWD is now an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother's Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.

The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that 'all the battles have been won for women' while many feminists from the 1970's know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.

However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.

Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women's craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.

Many global corporations have also started to more actively support IWD by running their own internal events and through supporting external ones. For example, on 8 March search engine and media giant Google some years even changes its logo on its global search pages. Year on year IWD is certainly increasing in status. The United States even designates the whole month of March as 'Women's History Month'.

So make a difference, think globally and act locally!! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/about.asp

Women's Empowerment Leadership Training

Peace Corps Morocco Volunteer, Kathleen Howell-Burke, has extended her service in order to provide leadership trainings for women throughout Morocco.  She has an upcoming three day Women’s Empowerment Leadership Training, Training of the Trainers (TOT), being held in Rabat in May 2013. Current Peace Corp Volunteers may nominate up to two women to attend this TOT. A total of 25 women are welcome to attend this event. The Rabat TOT will be the second in the series of leadership trainings. Her first TOT will be occurring in Ouarzazate with 25 women participating from the Souss-Massa-Draa Region from February 8th-10th, 2013.

The purpose of this leadership training is help build the capacity of women who are invested in their community.  Ms. Howell-Burke is collaborating with the Association Democratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM).  As she stated, one of the missions of the association is that “no matter what a woman’s position or status, they have the ability to be a leader and make a difference within their community” ADFM is known as the largest NGO in Morocco and has been instrumental in the women’s rights movement in Morocco. If you would like more information on their mission and activities check out their website. All attendees will be reimbursed for transportation, accommodation and meals. If you are a PCV and are interested in nominating women for this event, then you must fill-out the questionnaire and send it to Zagora.PCV@gmail.com.

Aladdin and the Girls

Health volunteer Jonathan Pleban has figured out an innovative way of transforming a timeless children’s story into an opportunity to teach youngsters in his community about gender equality. With audiences ranging from ages 4 through 14, Jonathan has been able to excite and keep children actively participated in discussions regarding the similarities and differences between boys and girls, men and women. Moreover, he has bridged the age-gap, and through a form of peer education, has enlisted the assistance of mature community members to lead the dialogue.  

How has he accomplished this? First he breaks-the-ice, and has his audience watch the animated version of Aladdin. The enchantment and action of the story does nothing less than invigorate and enthuse the children. Once the movie is over, Jonathan uses an unconventional tool for targeting kids; a PowerPoint presentation.  However, by using the images seen in the cartoon as the backdrop, Jonathan is able to keep the interest of his young crowd when addressing gender issues.

Jonathan’s second step is to get older participants involved. He will usually facilitate a session, as the discussion is led by an older member of the village. The educator clarifies information for the children, and answers questions as necessary, becoming inherently familiar with the subject. As the chief audience is fairly young, Jonathan repeats the same presentation once again, after a week or two, either as the main speaker, or using a different peer educator.

Jonathan’s work has shown that gender awareness can be broached at any age, by involving varying age groups!

This is a great opportunity for PCVs to encourage their students to become peer educators themselves, and to improve on their presentation skills.

Find Jonathan’s PowerPoint here to use with your youth group today!

Craft Corner - GingerBread Houses - Cultural, Festive, Crafty, and Fun!

Itching to bring a little bit of the holidays to your Dar Chebab but can’t figure out how? Get together with your girls’ club, cooking club, or women at your neddi for a cookie party: baking, building, and decorating. Collect fun candies and sprinkles at your hanut and use the ground coconut for snow.

You can use this as a cultural lesson, an English lesson (parts of a house, colors,  baking/building/decorating verbs) or just an excuse to fill your kids with sugar and send them home with way too much energy.

Spicy Gingerbread Cookies

• 6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks or 1/2 pound) unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cup date syrup

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt in a large bowl and set aside. Beat butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl until fluffy. Mix in eggs and date syrup. Add flour mixture, mixing on low until just combined. Divide dough into thirds and wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold and firm, about one hour or up to two days (or months in the freezer).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (low for gas ovens, like fat raindrops). Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4-inch thick. Cut into shapes of your choice (if you are making houses, you want to use a stencil so that the dimensions are the same for each side of the house, use cardboard, and cookie cutters to cut windows and doors out of each stencil - more recommendations below). Spread two inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper (it is at Marjane, but you can also just butter and flour the pans well). Bake cookies until crisp but not dark, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on clean dry towels.

Royal Icing

• 3 egg whites
• 4 cups sugar ‘glacee'
• (if you have it, ½ teaspoon cream of tartar, but not necessary)
• (also optional)  zest of one lemon

Royal icing needs to be kept covered, because it will dry quickly and become lumpy if exposed to the air.  The easiest way to store the icing for long periods of time is in a plastic zip-top bag.

In a large bowl, whip the egg whites (with the cream of tartar, if you have it) until foamy. Sprinkle in the sugar gradually, whipping all the while. The more you whip the icing, the stiffer it’ll be and the faster it will harden up. If you want to “paint” with the icing, you can use food coloring to create different colors and thin the icing with a few drops of water so it will flow.

Building tips

1. Use cardboard to make a stencil for each wall of the house.  Moroccan houses are easy because you can leave them roof-less and then they are a simple rectangle.  If you want to add the Kasbah tops that are on the corners of houses, cut a separate stencil and ‘glue’ them on later with icing.

2.  When constructing use cups and boxes to hold up the structure as it dries.  The royal icing is very strong once it dries, but it needs to stay still.

3. Construct houses on cardboard scraps (like a flap from a box) and ‘glue’ them down with icing.  This makes transportation easier and provides a base to catch the decoration bits.

4. Younger children have a hard time with sprinkles, so be sure to get more candies and nuts than sprinkles.

5. Consider your group, it may make more sense for each person to decorate one wall of a house and then to construct the house after all walls are decorated (but some decorations may have to be re-attached after).

6. Have a good clean-up plan, or better yet, decorate on tables over a big tarp!

Food for Thought

With Halloween behind us, this month marks the beginning of the holiday season back at home. Thanksgiving is usually the kick-off, and where some Americans begin gaining the “holiday weight.” Turkey, stuffing, peppermint mochas, ham, etc. it’s the season to cook and indulge! In Morocco, Peace Corps Volunteers are using cooking as a way to empower females.

Krista Jorstad, Youth Development Volunteer in Berkane, provides in-class cooking tutorials at a women’s center. Jorstad explained that she was having trouble finding enough work at the Dar Chebab, so at the end of the summer she approached a women's center offering to volunteer her time.

She explained, “I had made a list of my hobbies that I could share with other women, including yoga and American cooking. I have experience working in restaurant and bakery kitchens in the US and already write a food blog that shares American recipes that can easily be made in Morocco. Women's health is an incredibly important issue in Morocco, and I saw the cooking club as an opportunity to talk about nutrition and food-related illnesses; expand taste palates beyond traditional Moroccan tastes and inspire creativity in the kitchen; offer a chance for cultural exchange; cultivate a community of strong women who can educate their peers on nutrition and women's health; provide further education for women who are normally cloistered within the home; and possibly expand their familiarity with computer technology by using the cooking blog as a learning tool. I started the second week of October and hold meetings once a week.”

Jorstad stated that she purchases the ingredients and brings it to class. The women’s center has a fully-equipped kitchen, which includes an oven, small buta gas, and a couple utensils. She typically has twelve girls between the ages of sixteen to twenty-five in attendance. Last class, Jorstad “lectured for a bit on American holidays and Halloween, and then we made apple pie, peanut brittle, caramel apples, and chocolate-dipped ‘eyeballs.’ We ended by sharing recipes from Aid lKabir and I gave three American recipes using lamb.”

Annie Bond, Youth Development Volunteer in Kerrandou, currently has a girls club that focuses on cooking. The club was created after a group of girls attended a leadership conference in Errachidia. The girls meet three times a week and decide what they want to cook. During Ramadan, the girls cooked Chabaka and a batch of cookies and sold it to people throughout the community. They are using those proceeds to buy ingredients for future dishes.

The girls meet at the Dar Chabab and use a portable buta gas stove. They also use an oven that was donated to them. Bond stated that prior to this, there were no girls who attended the Dar Chabab, but with this cooking club, girls are the only ones that attend it. When explaining her role, Bond stated, “I try to make sure that they don’t light themselves on fire.” Bond stated that she loves being fed, and enjoys being the taste tester! Bond stated that the girls have taken ownership of it, and have a leadership team that facilitates the meetings. Bond stated that, “this club created a space where girls can hang out, and talk amongst themselves.”

October Updates and Ideas

Happy October, GADsters!


The sweltering days of summer are behind us, and with the change of the seasons and the start of school come lots and lots of opportunities to implement GAD programs in your site!

We've heard from several PCVs who have used existing resources for GAD programs in camps over the summer: the sexual harassment toolkit and grant application, the GAD Camp Toolkit, or the "You Can Dream" video. Here are a few more ideas for GAD activities that you could consider doing in the fall:

- Start a girls' (or boys') activity at your Dar Chabab/Nedi/CSSP: GLOW Clubs, girls' basketball or soccer teams, running groups, dance nights - the possibilities are endless! The GLOW Manuals have lots of ideas for leadership programs that you can do with girls, not just in a big camp setting.

- Work with your local hospital/clinic to bring in a female medical professional to do programs about women's health. PCV Liz Chon put together an awesome women's health booklet in English, Arabic, and French that a female doctor/nurse could use as a basis for a program.

- Consider incorporating GAD into the English classroom. The Baccalaureate book that students use has an entire chapter on women and could be used as a springboard for great activities. Students could make posters or give presentations about famous women, or for more advanced English students, have a discussion together about gender roles.

- For a longer-term project, consider working with other PCVs to plan a GLOW camp or women's leadership workshop. Lots of great resources can be found here and here.

Whatever ideas you've got, the GAD Committee is here to support you and help in any way we can. So if you have ideas, questions, or resources that you'd like to see, please email us and let us know. We'll be meeting as a committee in mid-October to talk about plans over the coming months, so we'd love to hear from you!

Join the Movement

The Gender and Development committee encourages all PCVs to open up the conversation on sexual harassment! Harassment is different in every city and village, but it is often more than just an annoyance. This yearlong theme is intended to give voice to Moroccans who feel affected by harassment; girls who are harassed, boys who want to help stop the harassment, and everyone in between. We believe that awareness and open dialogue can be the beginning of the end of sexual harassment. Join Us!

To assist you, we developed three small projects that can be done consecutively or individually. The toolkit is now available and includes these small projects on harassment:

1) Talk About It, a focus-group discussion on sexual harassment
2) STOP!* a collective-art movement advocating the end of sexual harassment
3) Hear Us Now, an interview activity publicizing the effect of sexual harassment on individuals

To ensure you and your counterpart are on the same page about this complicated topic we have also provided an introduction to sexual harassment and the yearlong theme along with useful Darija translations:

1) Overall theme description and sexual harassment definition
2) Discussion questions for Talk About It

Don’t limit yourself to our suggestions.  We would love to hear about your ideas for projects as well! Please, don’t be shy, Peace Corps Staff is excited about this yearlong theme and welcomes all grant applications for other project ideas based on this theme as well. We wish you success and please drop us a line about how the conversation on harassment is going in your site!

*STOP!  the collective-art project, has a corresponding grant-template so that you can more easily apply for a small grant to purchase necessary art materials.