International Women's Day. March 8
The following was copied from www.cluw.org, the website of the Coalition of Labor Union Women:
The reason I quote this history, and why I'm commenting today, is my dismay at the dilution of the importance of this holiday, at least as I see it here in Albuquerque. I do know that in the Soviet Union, International Women's Day (IWD) became nothing more than a holiday akin to Mother's Day in the U.S., where children gave their mothers gifts like flowers and candy. However, since the holiday was revitalized by the Women's Liberation Movement in the late 60's, it had a more important political significance, especially in regard to working women. Nevertheless, today in Albuquerque, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, which has an annual Women and Creativity celebration every year in March, used IWD as a marketing opportunity, and promoted "Girls' Day Out." They suggested bringing a friend to have lunch in the La Fonda cafe, with a special menu prepared by the chef, and going shopping in the gift shop with a 15% discount for the day. There was, however, a celebration of women's art with an exhibit by Rainbow Artists: A Women's Collective and another Latin Diva concert in the evening.
The other event that I attended was the one annually sponsored by Local 1199 of the hospital workers' union. I have attended this event in past years, and so was disappointed to see what was on the program this year. It turned out to be a very small audience, smaller than in the past, so the program wasn't especially interesting to the union members, either. After showing "One Fine Day," a film which runs through the history of women's suffrage and women's liberation with a montage of historical figures, there was a Chautauqua performance of McNeal's Medicine Show, a profile of Violet McNeal aka Princess Lotus Blossom. It was based on the research that the performer, Diana Enright-Sherwood , has done on women who performed through out the country in medicine shows as magicians and hucksters, not the bimbo assistants of magicians that is the image often presented. The show was based on the career one woman in this historical time, at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. The performance included magic tricks and an explanation of the so-called medicine that was sold. Afterward, tea and cake was served.
Although the scholarship was done by a woman, and it was an attempt to illuminate a particular segment of herstory, I didn't think it was the appropriate kind of program for IWD. In other words, it missed the point of the holiday. It was more like a presentation of bread and circuses, which was characteristic of the Roman Empire in its last days, and sadly too common during the present time in the United States.
In 1975, The United Nations proclaimed March 8 to be the day on which women around the world should commemorate their struggles and celebrate their achievements.
But its history actually goes back more than a century before that day. In 1857, women garment workers in New York staged a massive street protest about the 12-hour work days, poverty wages and sexual harassment that were common in their jobs. Fifty-one years later, they held the same massive demonstration in New York, adding the problems of the lack of women's suffrage and continuing child labor to list of women's burdens.
In 1910, women in 17 countries, attending the Conference of Socialist Women in Denmark, vote to establish an International Women's Day March.
Continuing outrage at the plight of women, fueled by the tragic loss of young women in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 and the Textile Workers strike in 1912 that inspired the song "Bread and Roses" (bread symbolizing wages, and roses, quality of life) helped to create a common bond across countries and industries for women workers.
March 8 became known as the day that marks women's efforts to attain justice and equality for themselves and their children.
The reason I quote this history, and why I'm commenting today, is my dismay at the dilution of the importance of this holiday, at least as I see it here in Albuquerque. I do know that in the Soviet Union, International Women's Day (IWD) became nothing more than a holiday akin to Mother's Day in the U.S., where children gave their mothers gifts like flowers and candy. However, since the holiday was revitalized by the Women's Liberation Movement in the late 60's, it had a more important political significance, especially in regard to working women. Nevertheless, today in Albuquerque, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, which has an annual Women and Creativity celebration every year in March, used IWD as a marketing opportunity, and promoted "Girls' Day Out." They suggested bringing a friend to have lunch in the La Fonda cafe, with a special menu prepared by the chef, and going shopping in the gift shop with a 15% discount for the day. There was, however, a celebration of women's art with an exhibit by Rainbow Artists: A Women's Collective and another Latin Diva concert in the evening.
The other event that I attended was the one annually sponsored by Local 1199 of the hospital workers' union. I have attended this event in past years, and so was disappointed to see what was on the program this year. It turned out to be a very small audience, smaller than in the past, so the program wasn't especially interesting to the union members, either. After showing "One Fine Day," a film which runs through the history of women's suffrage and women's liberation with a montage of historical figures, there was a Chautauqua performance of McNeal's Medicine Show, a profile of Violet McNeal aka Princess Lotus Blossom. It was based on the research that the performer, Diana Enright-Sherwood , has done on women who performed through out the country in medicine shows as magicians and hucksters, not the bimbo assistants of magicians that is the image often presented. The show was based on the career one woman in this historical time, at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. The performance included magic tricks and an explanation of the so-called medicine that was sold. Afterward, tea and cake was served.
Although the scholarship was done by a woman, and it was an attempt to illuminate a particular segment of herstory, I didn't think it was the appropriate kind of program for IWD. In other words, it missed the point of the holiday. It was more like a presentation of bread and circuses, which was characteristic of the Roman Empire in its last days, and sadly too common during the present time in the United States.
Labels: Chautauqua, herstory, International Women's Day, labor unions, women's history
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