Talk:International Women's Day/Archive 1

Correct 2012 theme

The article claims this year's UN theme is "Empower Women – End Hunger and Poverty", but the actual theme is "Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty". I know it's just a word, but it changes the idea a lot. The citation put after the wrong theme confirms this. I therefore ask an administrator to correct this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.236.77.222 (talk) 06:00, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

Improper Citations

Two citations (5,6) look not completely proper. They refer to two newspaper articles in italian, which content (italian politicians comments on the IWD, and UN/EU institutions statistical data) might be either not relevant, or directly cited.

Dates mismatch

The article says that Women's Day ... commemorates the Triangle Factory Fire (New York, 1911), where over 140 women lost their lives, but the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire says that the fire occured on March 25 1911. How come? --romanm (talk) 20:54, 6

Klara Tsetkin

I was talking to a friend of mine from a former Soviet satellite state who mentioned the name of this women in reference to International Woman's Day. From what little I can gather on the internet, the story seems to go that she was responsible for choosing the date of this holiday in the Eastern Bloc. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Does it have some truth, or is it just Soviet propaganda? --jrs 12:37, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

According to the German article, Clara Tsetkin suggested the creation of an international women's day on 1910-08-27 the Second International Women's Conference in Copenhagen, but named no specific date. It was first celebrated on March 18 and 19 of the following year in Denmark, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. On 1917-03-08 (Gregorian Calendar) there was a strike of women in Sankt Petersburg that led to the Februar Revolution, and the Second International Conference of Communist Women in Moscow 1921 moved the IWD to this date.

So, according to this article, the story is true, and the IWD was a thoroughly Communist thing in the beginning. -- 213.47.127.75 13:50, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Stories about a stand up in New York as the beginning of this holiday are untrue and once were capitalistic propaganda because of the Cold War. I think it's strange that this myth is still established as I see. Sadly it is another proof for the sustainability with which US propaganda brainwashed the people of the US in the times of the Cold War and still does in our times...

Oh, the name of that lady is Clara Zetkin and not Klara Tsetkin...she was a German woman and so you have to spell her name Z-E-T-K-I-N correctly. When I first saw this ridiculous spelling I had to speculate who the hell that Tsetkin girl was.94.218.210.133 (talk) 16:35, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Where is IWD an official holiday?

Is Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and Macedonia a full list of countries where this day is an official holiday? Russian Wikipedia mentions also Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Is it true?--213.247.213.207 20:21, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

Both of the countries' articles mention it as a public holiday in enwiki. (I wonder if that means that people don't have to work that day :-) Alensha 23:08, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Yes, this does mean people do not have to work that day. It is true at least for Ukraine, and since all these (except Macedonia) were republics of the USSR (which held it this way) I think it is also true for the other mentioned countries. 193.111.251.242 10:28, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

In India, IWD holds a lot of significance. one can easily see a lot of celebrations going on on this day. This portrays the power of women in the modern era and how vital her role is in the society. One of the local malls in pune is even organising a cultural event on the occasion of IWD, and they plan to give away designer shoes that fit any women trying them on. way to go...

Well the list has grown quite large ove the years, but there's not a single source to support it. Therefore, I'm hanging a fact tag to every country mentioned, so that, hopefully, the gaps will be filled eventually. --Illythr (talk) 15:28, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Eh, this way the list looks scary... improvement suggestions? --Illythr (talk) 15:34, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure how valid any of these sources are, but I'd like to throw them out for discussion anyways. - I'm not sure that Zambia belongs here. Their embassy's site does not mention it in its list of official holidays. See - http://www.zambiaembassy.org/holidays.html - This site supports claims that IWD is a holiday in Angola - http://www.bank-holidays.com/holidays_2010_6.htm. - The British Embassy is closed on IWD in Azerbaijan - http://ukinazerbaijan.fco.gov.uk/en/our-offices-in-azerbaijan/public-holidays - The British Embassy is not closed on IWD in Croatia. http://ukincroatia.fco.gov.uk/en/our-offices-in-croatia/our-embassy-in-zagreb/location-and-access/embassy-holidays-2010 Hluska (talk) 01:49, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

Merging in minor article

There's an article on MDZ (International Women's Day in Czechoslovakia, 1948 - 1989), but it's really quite short. I suggest it should be merged into this main article on the IWD. --Sverre 17:39, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

That seems like a perfectly reasonable idea: why don't you go ahead with it. — Gareth Hughes 17:53, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Done. Do we keep that long article title as a redirect, or should it be deleted and a shorter one created? (It's not likely anyone will type "MDZ (International Women's Day in Czechoslovakia, 1948 - 1989)" instead of MDŽ or MDZ). Alensha 23:04, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, Alensha. You are right that it is unlikely that anyone will type that long title into a search, but you never know how many external links there may be to it. As redirects are cheap, it's usually best to use one. That way, if anyone does come looking for the article they can find where it has moved to. — Gareth Hughes 23:09, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, Alensha. :) --Sverre 19:32, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Can we get some sources for IWD in Czechoslovakia? Now it all looks like somebody typing in what they heard somewhere. Zocky | picture popups 20:00, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

It is true that in Czechoslovakia after 1989 the view on IWD was not very nice. But it was rather because of the practices done during communistic times. As people forgot these things, they return to the celebration of this day, at least symbolically - for example by giving flowers to women. Quite many people think it should not be an official state holiday day anymore (however, it is, and always was a normal work day); and many people believe it was created by communists. The day is often politicized topic. Just today, there was a long discussion in the Czech Parliament whether it should stay a state holiday or not. The result was: it stays (the leftist parties were for it, rightist ones against, many MPs ignored this voting). Normal people, in general, are not very interested in similar political discussions because they do not affect their lives at all but they show the incompetency of the politicians. Miraceti 17:04, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

For people, who don't know about the background of IWD during communistic era: The day was very politicized. Roughly said, in fact, who did not celebrate the day, was against the Communists. Communistic labour unions arranged parties to celebrate the day. These were rather misused for a political agitation. Women get small gifts which should tighten them to the regime. The celebrations used to end in wild drinking parties of Communists and people sympatizing with them. Nowadays, people younger than 30 years do not have the IWD connected with these practices. Miraceti 17:04, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Ah yes, those debauched, unholy commies. You forgot to mention the massive group sex orgies organized on this and other days by the local Komsomol and party committees. The filthy fiends were doing that to attract the population to Communism and destroy traditional Catholic family values. --91.148.159.4 (talk) 12:33, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Also to grow up birth rate --Umnik (talk) 19:51, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

US Postal Service

This unsourced paragraph really makes no sense, other than as a sort of vignette of what may have taken place at one particular post office facility. I seriously doubt that it would extend beyond that to the level of "the US Postal Service" as claimed. Cgingold (talk) 22:34, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Violence

I started a paragraph describing what happened in Tehran in Martch 2007. Please add more information about these women. I'm also interested in more information regarding other violent encounters on International Women's Day. There may be a wish to develop a different subheading- such as "Violence on International Women's Day" —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tallmat (talk • contribs) 23:34, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

A need to promote 'Patriarchy Theory' industry, perhaps? 124.186.172.158 (talk) 22:55, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

Not observed by Western countries?

According to the infobox the only Western countries to observe this day are Israel and Italy. This is patently wrong, but since the error is so gross, I'll leave it to others to sort it out. __meco (talk) 07:30, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Reproductive rights

International Women's Day is often a time for activists to promote reproductive rights (e.g. abortion rights), this probably deserves to be included. [1] ADM (talk) 21:40, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

First Day of Spring

Isn't first day of spring generally regarded as 21st of March and not the 1st of March? Reg4c (talk) 09:03, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

Mention of IWD by the founder of International Men's Day

Here's an excerpt from an interview with Jerome teelucksingh (IMD founder) comparing IMD and IWD:

Jason Thompson~ An Australian sociologist has posed a theory that International Men's Day is a desire by men to mimic or imitate International Women's Day which he disparages as a self-centered "Me-Too-ism". This is clearly an erroneous view when one realizes that IWD and IMD promote different aims both in their stated objectives and in practical observations, though perhaps the objectives occasionally intersect on points such as the promoting of equality. Unlike IWD which focuses heavily on women's emancipation from oppression, IMD seems predominately focused on celebrating and promoting positive male role models and other issues unique to men's experiences. Would you consider this to be an accurate view, and could you explain a little more about the differences between the two days?

Dr. Teelucksingh~ IMD was not merely included on calendars to correct a gender imbalance. IMD has a deeper meaning. The day is designed to create solidarity among males and bridge the gender gap. IMD is unique because women have promoted this day and willingly participated in IMD activities. The success of IMD is the fact that women’s groups have welcomed this day. Probably in the future the approach of IMD could be adopted or modified by IWD. Both days strengthen and empower men and women, but we must not allow women to portray men as the ‘enemy’ and vice versa. The long gender war must come to an end. There has been too much sadness, single-parent families due to divorces and too many victims.

Not sure if there is something useful for the entry here or not, found it interesting nonetheless. 124.186.172.158 (talk) 13:04, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

2010 International Women's Day

"women are resourceful, resilient and courageous in the face of hardship"

Maybe it is true, but for me it's seems like it's an opinion, it's not a fact, although you can get that impression from reading this sentence. It needs editing, like "Its aim is to show that women are resourceful, resilient and courageous in the face of hardship". I would do it myself, but I am sure there are people here who'd do it much better than me as English is not my first language. Byt the way, the "comment" above mine should be deleted or something I think. My apologies if I edited this page wrongly, I did it for the first time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Henioo (talk • contribs) 23:40, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Women are victims of whom?

International Women’s Day was created in 1910 to promote socialist political objectives and was always referred to by the Communist name ‘International Working Women’s Day’. It was restricted primarily to the Soviet bloc. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the word ‘working’ was largely dropped along with it’s socialist meaning. Beginning in the 1970’s IWD became a vehicle for feminist concerns. Whereas IWWD was previously used to highlight women’s oppression by a bourgeois upper class of men and women, 1970s feminists changed the basis of the day by stating that men as a class of “chauvinists” completely controlled women who were each and all men’s victims. Women were no longer viewed as part of the bourgeois upper class. One can say that in the 1970s IWD became a brand new IWD with males -all males- for the first time being promoted as the single enemy. But even with this new ideological basis IWD limped along as a fairly insignificant world event until 1980s when “Patriarchy Theory” was elaborated as the brand new theory and also new basis for the need to observe IWD. It was in the 1980s that women began to celebrate IWD in vast numbers (mostly out of a new concern that men were out to oppress them) and on this basis the event has continued to grow primarily in terms of a gender war, the principle being that men alone as a privileged class hurt women alone as the oppressed class. International Men’s Day has a completely different reason for coming into being. Although IMD objectives occasionally intersect with those of IWD, such as advocating equality between the sexes, it is predominately about celebrating positive male role models, a very worthy aim in a social context which tends to highlight only males behaving badly. Said concisely, International Women’s Day started as a day for women to promote socialist objectives, especially for proletarian women to fight against oppression by the upper bourgeois class comprised of men and women both. In the 1970’s it became a new movement claiming that men alone oppressed women, and that IWD will be used as a vehicle to highlight, primarily, an assumed gender war. Said differently IWD shifted from being a class war, to a gender war. International Men’s Day is not based on the assumption of a gender war. IMD is primarily about promoting and celebrating positive male role models in a contemporary world context which is obsessed with teaching all young boys and girls that males behave badly, and only badly. 124.187.93.92 (talk) 23:33, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

PS. I hope this is useful for understanding the evolution of the reason for women's oppression and hence need for a women's day to voice their concerns. At present the main entry doesnt reflect the evolution of IWD from class war to gender war. 123.211.94.143 (talk) 08:39, 13 June 2010 (UTC)

IWD is an official holiday in South Africa

IWD is an official holiday in South Africa. I know because I have been living here for the last 52 years. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 156.8.251.250 (talk) 04:38, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

Origins

The first IWD was observed on 19 March 1911 in Germany following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America.

We need some explanation of this international connection!!!!!!!!!!!!--Jack Upland (talk) 11:03, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Mess

This article is a mess. We need a more coherent structure, and we don't need every incident associated with IWD around the world to be cited.--Jack Upland (talk) 22:39, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Unigine insists on positing game advertisement on this page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.35.79.70 (talk) 16:45, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

New Holiday?

I just heard of this holiday for the first time today (2011) and everyone on Facebook is jumping all over it. You bet no one said boo about it last year or previously because they hadn't heard of it either. So I recognized the reference in the first paragraph. I saw the same documentary film they are only vaguely recalling here. It became a call for fire safety measures to be enacted. Nobody was intentionally locked inside, they were trapped. I bet they are confusing it with this incident: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire — Preceding unsigned comment added by Juliekadams (talk • contribs) 18:58, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

Chart needed

There needs to be a chart for the In modern culture section. Right now it's very hard to read. --Harizotoh9 (talk) 10:52, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 8 March 2012

Link ref'd by text 'Tower Hamlets' (ref #45 in this version) is dead, as of 025503082012 GMT. 78.86.226.136 (talk) 02:54, 8 March 2012 (UTC)