What, if anything, does IWD mean to you, now that it’s a century since it was first proposed by Clara Zetkin at the 1910 International Conference of Working Women?
What one thing would you like to see different for women by next year’s IWD, which will be the centenary of the first IWD celebration?
I’m not entirely sure what the point is meant to be of this Reuter’s slideshow of “women living extraordinary lives”, other than showcasing various photographs in their archives that just happen to have women in them. Despite including some undeniably powerful and/or appealing images, others just seem trite: there appears to be no theme or vision. Have I missed something, or is it just as much of a hodgepodge as I think it is?
Any other thoughts on IWD?
Categories: gender & feminism
The 109th Down Under Feminists Carnival is up! 
Abortion will remain in the NSW Crimes Act 
Wonder Woman movie marketing machine tied up in knots 
Hoyden About Town 
Birth must be a feminist issue. That’s all.
It.Just.Must.
In 100 years time I want my descendants giving birth wherever they choose with whomever they choose in attendance.
Maybe. The title on that slideshow is “Women living in extraordinary times”. The times are extraordinary, not the women, according to Reuters. Reminds me of that snarky (Chinese?) phrase – “May you live in interesting times”.
Any QLD hoydens participating in the International Women’s Day Week of Action to legalise abortion? If not, details here:
http://www.prochoiceactionqld.org/?page_id=5
Happy Women’s Day!
How to put Louis Nowra firmly back in his box with style and flair? Over to you Ms Greer.
That slideshow is a hot mess. The tech is broken (in Firefox, at least) – each slide only shows for one second before dimming while the next one loads (which takes quite a while).
I agree with you about the images. Maybe captioning would have helped for some, but for the rest – women in wedding dresses smoking? Women getting their hair done? A closeup on nail art (why?)? Disembodied boots/lower legs? The political aspect was there but limited both in content and by the lack of captioning, and the whole thing put together reminded me of the brand of fauxminism that hyperfocuses on a defensive “Hey, we might believe in equality, but we’re still PRETTY!!!”
I dunno how I feel. Well. I feel discouraged and depressed and sad but I don’t know if that’s just me feeling discouraged and depressed and sad in general or there is something specific here. Does it include women like me? For, y’know, given values of ‘like me.’
A quick look at the IWD website turns up… one result for ‘trans’ in internationalwomensday.com. It’s “Trans-European Networks.” ‘Disabled’ has two results. Yeah, I’m officially feeling real shitty about it.
.-= kaninchenzero´s last blog ..Re: Trust Me =-.
k0: wow, that site is… wow. There’s an enthusiastic news article about Polanski’s latest work on its front page right now. The “Health” section drives an ad for a pharmaceutical company. The “Science” section is currently headed by an article on weight loss by cutting carbs. The Business & Finance news features an article cheerleading Colgate- Palmolive and P&G for making pots of cash. The HTML is broken all over.
The woman’s revolution will be televised after all? /falselyinnocent
.-= kaninchenzero´s last blog ..Re: Trust Me =-.
I’m more puzzled by Microsoft’s reasoning behind offering “women in business” free three-minute massages in an almost purple but with a hint of of pink (magenta???) tent in Sydney’s CBD to mark International Women’s Day.
I feel patronised.
But also curious to know if they checked you actually were “in business” beforehand.
Germaine Greer on the occasion of IWD
Oops – Mindy had been there all ready! (Note to self, read comments thoroughly prior to posting). Well Germaine’s worth pointing to twice.
I’ll just go back to lurking for a while again I think.
Attempting again with less prickly: Knowing that every time Greer says “women” in that column she means only “some women”, and that her definition excludes women who blog and comment right here in this space, could we please ease up on the valorising?
I just had a little fit of excitement when I read Clara Zetkin’s name, as it evokes so many childhood memories.
My dad has this picture of Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg as a poster at home, it’s been there for as long as I remember, and when I was little he always told me about those two women and how important they were. As a kid, I’ve also spent many weekends at the Clara Zetkin Haus, a worker’s recreational center that she founded.
Sorry if this is all a bit off-topic, I should probably blog about her instead of filling up too much space here.
.-= Kowalski´s last blog ..Disablism 101: Armchair Diagnosing =-.
Oh and on the slideshow, picture No. 22 and the caption made me want to scream with rage.
I’m not seen as a woman, or a human being even, I’m just a disease that needs to be wiped out from this planet.
.-= Kowalski´s last blog ..Sunday Spoons: Sunday Fluffy Sunday =-.
To comment, then read the others (so not to be influenced):
On the Reuters slide show: No wheelchair users, or women with visible disabilities, happy to see protesters (one was women with AIDS wearing masks, the women who hung underwear across a road in protest, and a group that I like – although they need to be more disability aware, CodePink). The photo of sex workers had a girl, center (notice how often news pics have someone beautiful in center?) who was disturbingly young in appearance. Only 2 very old women. One older (slightly older than me) artist, Yoko Ono. A women’s military brigade: oy.
What does International Women’s Day mean to me? A reminder that women all over the world have a lot in common, each of us, no matter our differences. When I was a breast feeding mom, I felt “in sync” with women all over the world. It also reminds me that as a woman, I could not imagine killing another woman’s child in war.
What would I like to see next year? More awareness on the part of women’s groups of women with disabilities, all kinds and wheelchair access to all events.
Sincere apologies to the women I othered when posting the link to Germaine’s writings. Thank you Lauredhel for the timely and polite reminder.
Apologies from me too, especially so as my carelessness doubled the valourising. (I was feeling kindly towards Germaine after all the Monthly debacle and forgetting that there are very serious critiques of her work that need to be bourne in mind). Like Mindy I apologise to those who were othered by my unthinking endorsement of Greer’s column.
A lovely collection of old images of women from the Commons collections of major museums and libraries at indycommons.
Tigtog, the images are wonderful indeed. The first is my 7 0 birthday link to another’s of the past. Great pics. Maybe folks can find more. Also, there’s a website of Life Magazine photos, by decade.
Better late than never.
Found this at Melinda Tankard Reist’s blog:
http://melindatankardreist.com.au/2010/03/a-special-iwd-treat-from-the-australian-archives-the-case-against-female-trade-commissioners/
The question might be … have things changed, or does “policy” like this just stay off the record these days?