Happy day ladies

[belgian]

Happy day to all women around the world especially Ukranian ladies

"International Women's Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development."


"When you sit with a nice lady for two hours, you think it's only a minute. But when you sit on a hot stove for a minute, you think it's two hours. That's relativity."
A Einstein

[Irinka]

Thank you!!!!!!!

[angelwithwings]

Thank you! we dont really have anything like that in the UK (bloody English! ) Love the quote by Einstein too and how very true!

[belgian]

Thousands of women demonstrated in Indian cities Friday to protest against harassment and exploitation in this male-dominated nation, where one woman is killed every 93 minutes and a rape occurs every 34 minutes. Woman are still condemned to death by stoning by Islamic courts for the "crime" of adultery. When I read those horrible news, I'm sincerely ashamed to be a man.


Here is the brief history of woman's day:

On March 8, 1857, garment workers in New York City marched and picketed, demanding improved working conditions, a ten hour day, and equal rights for women. Their ranks were broken up by the police. Fifty-one years later, March 8, 1908, their sisters in the needle trades in New York marched again, honoring the 1857 march, demanding the vote, and an end to sweatshops and child labor. The police were present on this occasion too.
In 1910 at the Second International, a world wide socialist party congress, German socialist Clara Zetkin proposed that March 8th be proclaimed International Women's Day, to commemorate the US demonstrations and honor working women the wor ld over. Zetkin, a renowned revolutionary theoretician who argued with Lenin on women's rights, was considered a grave threat to the European governments of her time; the Kaiser called her ⌠the most dangerous sorceress in the empire.Women were fined for virtually anything - talking, laughing, singing, machine oil stains on the fabric, stitches too large or too small. Overtime was constant and required, but pay for it was not. With the support of the National Women's Trade Union League, founded in 1903 - a combination of working women and middle-class, often professional women who supported the working women's struggle - the shirtwaist makers launched a series of strikes against Leiserson and Company and Triangle Waist Company, two of the most notorious shops in New York. Called the "Uprising of the 20,000", these actions culminated in the first long-term general strike by women, putting to death tne tiresome arguments that they were unable to organize and carry out a long hard struggle.
The courts were biased in favor of the sweatshop owners; one magistrate charged a striker, "You are on strike against God and Nature, whose prime law it is that man shall earn his bread in the sweat of his brow. You are on strike against God." The strike was ultimately broken, as settlements were made shop by shop, but the talent and endurance of the women made it impossible for people to go on claiming that labor organizing was for men only. One year after the strike was broken the infamous Triangle fire occurred. Trapping women on the upper floors (the fire doors had been bolted from the outside to prevent walkouts by the workers) the fire took l46 lives, most of the women between the ages of 13 and 25, most of them recent emigrants to the U.S.

[Yorky999]

Hey have a nice day tomorrow - in our house it's not just for Mother!!

Maybe it should be a universal celebration??

[Irinka]

Yorky, March 8th is an official United Nations Holiday, it has been celebrated in Europe for many years. I have no clue as to why this day, which began in North America, isn't celebrated here...

Irina

[belgian]

We live unfortunately live in a male dominated world where in the best cases woman are allowed to vote for male candidates. Can we talk of democracy if half of the population is excluded from political life? Involving women as well as men in decision-making processes should be a sine qua non of any democratic framework.
There is probably only one exception in the world: Compared with parliaments in other countries, the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) has the highest proportion in the world of female members with its 43 per cent. The reasons usually given for the breakthrough for women in Swedish political life include the system of proportional representation and the existence of powerful and assertive women▓s organizations, both party-political and independent. I▓m dreaming about the dissemination of the Swedish model to other EU countries and US first and to other countries after. All citizens of the world may than, regardless of gender, enjoy freedom to prosper in the pursuit of happiness.


"The most interesting aspect of the Swedish Parliament is not that we have 45 per cent representation of women, but that a majority of women and men bring relevant social experience to the business of parliament. This is what makes the difference. Women bring with them experience of real life issues, of raising children, of running a home. They have broad perspectives and greater understanding. And women are allowed to be what we are, and to act according to our own unique personality. Neither men nor women have to conform to a traditional role. Women do not have to behave like men to have power; men do not have to behave like women to be allowed to care for their children. When this pattern becomes the norm then we will see real change."
Birgitta Dahl, Speaker of Parliament, Sweden

"It▓s very difficult for women to talk, to argue, to press for their concerns. How can we encourage women to talk and to express themselves? Maybe the woman in the hut has a lot to say, but we have to encourage her to talk √ not about politics, but about her problems, her life, issues that concern her. The answer is education. Education has led many women in my society to join political parties or participate in political activities. Education is the most important channel for encouraging women to speak out." Rawya Shawa, MP Palestine