Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Celebrating Women Today and Everyday

Today, March 8th, is International Women's Day. It’s the 100th anniversary no less!  Observed since the early 1900's, this celebration is recognized worldwide.  Tradition has it that men honor their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts (not the reason for this post, by the way). In some countries IWD has a status much like Mother's Day where children give small presents to the women in their lives.

Now some of you may be saying to yourselves, “I thought I heard something about March being Women’s History Month, but this International Women’s Day thing is news to me.”  On the whole, our nation has been a bit slow to celebrate the accomplishments of women.  Taking a step forward 1978, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women initiated a “Women’s History Week,” scheduled the week of March 8 to coincide with International Women’s Day.  The celebration was mirrored around the country and soon Congress was encouraged to declare a national Women’s History Week. This became official in 1981 thanks to Rep. Barbara Mikulski and Sen. Orrin Hatch. In 1987, the National Women’s History Project petitioned Congress to expand the celebration to the entire month of March, a resolution that has been approved every year with bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.

Some of you may also be saying to yourselves, “Do we really still need a whole month dedicated to women?”  Recent years have seen a shift in society's (and even women’s) perception of equality. Younger generations have seen women reaching new heights in business, equality in legislative rights, and visibility. It is too easy to forget the people who blazed the hard-won path that got us to this point and to recognize that there is still pioneering to be done.

The theme of this year’s Women’s History Month: Our History is Our Strength.  “Our shared history unites families, communities, and nations.  Although women’s history is intertwined with the history shared with men, several factors - social, religious, economic, and biological - have worked to create a unique sphere of women's history.” (National Women’s History Project)  The narratives of the individuals who have fought so hard and their achievements are the foundation of today’s successes. 

However heartening that message is, the unfortunate truth 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.

There is good news to be had in the small business world.  There are now more than 10 million women owned businesses in the US today.  Even more encouraging is the fact that women owned businesses are growing at the twice the rate of all other new businesses.  (Thanks to the SBA Office of Advocacy for those fun facts)  The wedding industry creates great opportunity for such ventures.  We’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with so many strong and determined ladies who are making a name for themselves out there.

So on this, the 8th of March, our small women owned business wishes all of those ladies out there a wonderful International Women’s Day!  Take a moment to recognize the women in your life and community and support their efforts, whatever they may be.

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To learn more about Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, check out these sources:

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