Suffrage parade, New York City, May 6, 1912 Library of Congress Ball, Images of American Political History
Today, March 8th is International Women’s Day. I often wonder where these kinds of holidays or special international days get their origin. After a little digging, I learned that the day came out of many movements around the world to improve women’s rights. In 1910, at a women’s conference in Copenhagen, Demark the idea was conceived and “International Women’s Day” was created.
Women in the U.S., with leaders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony, were not just fighting for women’s suffrage but fighting for women’s economic rights, property rights, parental rights, rights in education and religion, among others. Since then, many things have changed but unfortunately women around the world continue to face unbelievable challenges.
The countless stories of the ways in which girls and women are dehumanized and disenfranchised around the world are overwhelming. Too many are neglected, abused, and denied opportunities for education, health care, and so on. A day like International Women’s Day is useful in bringing these inequalities and injustices to light along with highlighting how we can do something about it.
Women Thrive, an organization based in the Washington D.C. area, who advocates for women and girls who are denied equal freedoms and opportunities around the world. Women Thrive partner with local organizations in order to create coalitions impacting women and girls. One such coalition is with Elimu Community Light (ECOLI) in Tanzania. ECOLI’s founder and director, Juhudi N. Mbwambo, took his first trip to Washington recently to talk with Members of Congress and leaders in the Administration and NGO community about the work he is doing in Tanzania. Excerpts from his interview with Women Thrive is below (for the full interview clickhere):
I want American lawmakers to understand the fulfillment of children’s rights – all beings need nourishing from conception to age 18…. Our goal is to build the foundation of human development from early childhood. It’s the only time to prepare future human beings. A large amount of brain development happens during early childhood. We make sure that we work at the holistic level so that children can prosper from what they gain in early childhood.
Girls are not given the opportunity to access education like boys are – socially, boys are sent to school more. Also, in the culture and the social way of living, girls have more duties. Girls are also at much higher risk of violence, specifically sexual violence. Girls are not given priority in the community and government.
I believe women are the center of societal change. The mother’s role is to educate the family and ensure children grow well. It’s important that girls access education because they educate society and the family. No one can boost themselves without boosting women. If we change positively how women help the next generation, we will have a good generation.
If we don’t invest in early education, we’ll find that goals like the Millennium Development Goals won’t be successful. No one can build a house without a strong foundation. Universal education to make sure children go to primary school won’t work without early education. With a pail of water, if 25% of the water is clean and the rest is dirty, you can’t make the water clean. We know that with early education, children perform much better and dropout rates are reduced because children are engaged in school early on.
The fact that 65% of the world’s children who do not attend school are girls is disheartening but work like ECOLI is doing to invest in girls at a young age is helping to change the trajectory of a girl’s future and ultimately entire communities. I am thankful for days like International Women’s Day that helps us devote one day of the year to the worth of women and girls.
Learn more about what Women Thrive is doing and the coalitions they are building!
Learn more about ECOLI and how you can help!
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