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Women Rising: Women's Activism that has Shaped the World as You Know it

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Women Rising: Women's Activism that has Shaped the World as You Know it

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On International Women's Day, we're celebrating women activists around the world who have insisted on a better world and persisted in the face of adversity. This news article shares how International Women's Day started, and about women rising, then and now.

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Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2019
This story was originally published on Medium.com/@UN_Women
Women have always risen. Women are rising today. Women will always rise.

From the women who came together in Seneca Falls for the United States first women's conference, to the Mirabal sisters who protested dictatorship in the Dominican Republic and everyone who has shared their #MeToo story on social media, the women who've risen up to claim their rights and to protect the rights of others, have changed the world as we know.

On International Women's Day, we're celebrating women activists around the world who have insisted on a better world and persisted in the face of adversity.

Keep reading to learn how International Women's Day started, and about women rising, then and now.

The beginning: Women's suffrage, labour rights and revolution

Since the earliest days of its history, International Women's Day has been a day for women to unite for a common cause, even when women were protesting World War I.

The first International Women's Day in 1911 saw more than one million people across Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland mobilizing for women's suffrage and labour rights.

In 1917, a large women-led demonstration demanded "bread and peace!" in Russia, and four days later, the Czar abdicated. Now a Russian national holiday, the Day is what some historians credit with Russian Revolution.
Demanding women's right to vote in the United States, 1920
The 19 th Amendment granted women in the United States the right to vote in 1920, more than 30 years after New Zealand became the first country to do so.

The women's suffrage movement in the US started in 1848 at the country's first women's rights convention. After being barred from speaking at an anti-slavery convention, Americans Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott brought together hundreds of people in Seneca Falls, New York. There, they demanded civil, political and religious rights for women, and kicked-off the women's suffrage movement in the United States.
Driving political change in the Dominican Republic, 1960

Minerva. Maria. Patria.

"Las Mariposas" became symbols of feminist resistance when they protested dictatorship. Discover our timeline of women's rights movements: https://t.co/0wJbWm2zpc #TimeIsNow pic.twitter.com/KlVQIUe9NQ
- UN Women (@UN_Women) December 23, 2018

Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa Mirabal were outspoken political activists and leaders of the resistance against the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. Despite Trujillo's persecution, the sisters continued advocating for change and respect and human rights for all. In November 1960, Trujillo declared that his two problems were the church and the Mirabal sisters.

On 25 November 1960, the sisters were assassinated. Their death shocked and enraged the nation, leading continued public outcry. Their assassination is considered one of the events that helped accelerate Dominican Republic's independence movement, and within a year, Trujillo's dictatorship came to an end.

To honor the Mirabal sisters, 25 November was named International Day for the Elimination of Violence against women.

And Now...
Protecting indigenous lands in Kenya
In Kenya, women of the Rendille community in Marsabit County, banded together to protect their lands when investors came in and claimed it as their own.

"It really brought our community together, to work towards a solution," says Alice Lesepen, a member of the community. "We started having community meetings, especially the women, to come together with one voice and claim back our land. We really want to be part of the development project. Can we be informed? Can it be done with our consent?"

The Rendille people, with women's voices at the center, took the developer to court in the hopes of protecting their communal lands.

The case is still pending.
Ending child marriage in India
Across five rural Indian states, Women's Peer Groups are working to end child marriage in their communities. In community meetings, these leaders are asking participants to pledge that they won't have their daughters married underage-or attend such weddings. After the pledging ceremony, they lead rallies in their villages to spread awareness about the negative impacts of child marriage.

"If all people start boycotting such weddings, it would definitely help eliminate child marriage," says Malti Tudu, a 20-year-old activist from Simalbari village. "People are needed during a marriage ceremony-a priest to perform the religious rites, musical band to play the music, cook to prepare the food for the guests, and guests to give their blessings to the newlyweds."

Malti also leads interventions when they hear about a planned child marriage, gathering as many community members as possible and going to the home to advocate for the girls' education and rights.
Advocating for Syria's future
The Syrian Women's Advisory Board, established by the UN Special Envoy for Syria, works ensure that women's perspectives and leadership is taken into account in the peace process. Composed of 12 independent women from Syrian civil society with diverse backgrounds, the Board works to show that Syrian women are not just victims, they are also leaders and need to be a part of the peace process.

"Women are leading efforts to push forward, but also asking for more stability," says Rajaa Altalli, a member of the Board and co-founder of the Center for Civil Society and Democracy, which works to strengthen community engagement and advocacy for peace in Syria. "They are pushing for political transition towards democracy in Syria, which is very promising, but they are risking their lives to tell the truth."

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Women rising: Women's activism that has shaped the world as you know it

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Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2019 This story was originally published on Medium.com/@UN_Women Women have always risen. Women are rising today. Women will always rise.

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The Glorias movie is about Gloria Steinem and her childhood in 1940s in Ohio to her leading role in the women's liberation movement. Steinem says, "I refuse to believe that women can't get along."

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The Glorias Movie Clip - I Refuse (2020) | Movieclips Coming Soon

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Women should not have to pay tax on any kind of period product.

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A post shared by Daisy Wakefield | Artist (@daisy_wakefield)

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"Leave the Saving of the World to the Men"

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"Leave the Saving of the World to the Men"

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Women are just as capable as men to "save" the world. This is demonstrated by all of the strong female leaders there are in the present and past all around the world.

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some of the most powerful, female heads of state 🤩 #greenscreen #womeninpolitics #feminism #politics #activism #teens #protest #polysci #world #women

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@womeninpoliticsss
some of the most powerful, female heads of state 🤩 #greenscreen #womeninpolitics #feminism #politics #activism #teens #protest #polysci #world #women
♬ original sound - edits

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Young Feminists Speak Up on Their Activism to End Violence Against Women and Girls #Say Enough

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Young Feminists Speak Up on Their Activism to End Violence Against Women and Girls #Say Enough

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From India to Kyrgyzstan, young feminists are at the forefront of the movement to end violence against women and girls. Anju from Dalit Women Fight talks about the power of young Dalit feminist activism and Deniz from Teenagers and Youth for Justice and Equality reflects on the need for education to unpack privilege.

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Young feminists speak up on their activism to end violence against women and girls #SayEnough

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CIA Recruitment Video Gets Slammed for Being Overly 'Woke'

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CIA Recruitment Video Gets Slammed for Being Overly 'Woke'

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A CIA recruitment video gets slammed for featuring a women of color who is a mom and a cisgender millennial. Haters claim the ad is too 'woke'.

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This CIA Recruitment Video Is Getting Slammed For Being Overly 'Woke'

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Black women have a more internal instinct for sensing harmful language such as "gay" and "retarded". Even at a young age, hearing their peers saying those words just felt wrong.

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Part 2. #intersectionality #feminism #womanism

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@kierabreaugh
Part 2. #intersectionality #feminism #womanism
♬ original sound - Kiera Breaugh

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'It's Her Body, She Can Wear What She Wants'

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'It's Her Body, She Can Wear What She Wants'

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Recently, women have been encouraged to own their bodies and wear what feels comfortable to them. However, this should also include women of other religions and ethnicities.

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A post shared by Bibi (@what_can_we_)

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In the trial during the movie, Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson calls down the corrupt system that has set his client, Walter McMillian, up for grave injustice. Justice in the United States courtrooms should not be based on race, wealth, or status.

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Just Mercy | "Equal Justice" Clip | Warner Bros. Entertainment

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Kamala Harris' Nomination Pushed Intersectionality Further into the Mainstream

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Kamala Harris' Nomination Pushed Intersectionality Further into the Mainstream

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Kamala Harris acknowledged her own intersectionality identity in her speech at the Democratic National Convention when she accepted the Vice President nomination as Joe Biden's running mate. Harris is a women who is black and has Indian heritage.

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While intersectionality is about centering the needs of women of color and of marginalized people more broadly who face discrimination based on multiple categories of identity, building policies around Black women specifically - given their unique history of racism and sexism in America stretching back to slavery, along with their modern-day wage gap and high maternal mortality rates, among other forms of oppression - would highlight the similar challenges faced by other women of color, said Lakshmi Sridaran, executive director of South Asian Americans Leading Together, an organization that advocates for racial justice and the civil rights of South Asian people in the U.S.

"If Black women are centered in policymaking, then we will all benefit," Sridaran said. "That is the other side of intersectionality. If those most impacted are centered, then the magnitude of transformation is also compounded and far more expansive."

Allison said intersectionality also gives white women and other people who do not personally experience the unique combination of racism and sexism faced by women of color an analytical framework for understanding how women of color experience distinct, multiple and simultaneous forms of oppression.

Intersectionality "gives white women a new way to think," she said. "There always have been people in this country who want to be part of a multiracial coalition. Intersectionality allows them a way in."

Until recently, Harris tended not to discuss the different components of her identity, deflecting questions by insisting that she did not spend time thinking about it.

"When I first ran for office that was one of the things that I struggled with, which is that you are forced through that process to define yourself in a way that you fit neatly into the compartment that other people have created," she told The Washington Post last year. "My point was: I am who I am. I'm good with it. You might need to figure it out, but I'm fine with it."

Harris expressed similar frustrations more than a decade ago. In a 2009 interview with the weekly newspaper India Abroad, she said her identity was the product not of a single influence, but of many.

"We have to stop seeing issues and people through a plate-glass window as though we were one-dimensional," Harris said at the time. "Instead, we have to see that most people exist through a prism and they are a sum of many factors - everyone is that way, and that is just the reality of it."

But in her interview with The Post last year, Harris added that she understood that voters want candidates for public office to share how their backgrounds shaped them.

"I appreciate that there is that desire that people have to have context, and I want to give people context," she said.

For activists, Harris' newly publicly embraced identity alone is not enough to make her an intersectional candidate: She also has to prioritize intersectionality in her policymaking and in a potential Biden-Harris administration, they insist.

Harris has insisted that she would use her identity to serve as a voice for the needs of Black women if elected.

"It is such a powerful and strong voice, the voice of Black women, and it needs to be heard," she told Essence last year.

But in an interview with The 19th, a nonprofit news organization covering gender in politics, last month Harris acknowledged that her identity would not be enough to secure Black women's votes, insisting that her and Biden's platform addressed Black women's concerns.

"There will be a point of pride - you don't want to have any false modesty - about a Black woman being on the ticket, but it takes more than just that to motivate Black women to vote," she said. "People have to speak to their issues, and the Biden-Harris ticket does that."

But Harris' record serving Black women is imperfect. Critics point to her record of presiding over the arrests of parents - notably, mothers, according to HuffPost and The Orange County Register - of mostly Black truant students during her years as San Francisco's district attorney and California's attorney general.

But activists and supporters of Harris say that intersectional policies that Harris has pushed in the past would directly respond to some of the economic and health-related issues that disproportionately affect women of color. That includes her support for monthly $2,000 direct cash payments during the coronavirus pandemic, which sent women's national unemployment rates higher than they had ever been in the more than six decades since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking women's unemployment. The economy affected women of color particularly hard - in June, 15.3 percent of Latinas and 14 percent of Black women were unemployed, compared to 9 percent of white men.

Harris has not publicly tied the proposal for cash payments to the challenges faced by women of color during the pandemic. But in The 19th interview, she reiterated her and Biden's plans to fund paid family leave, child care and elder care - the majority of which is done by women of color.

"Women carry a disproportionate burden for a lot of [care] responsibilities, so we need to recognize that and fix the problem," she said.

Activists also note that Harris co-sponsored the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act this year to address the disproportionate Black maternal mortality rate - Black women in the U.S. are three to four times more likely to suffer pregnancy-related death than white women. The bill would direct federal agencies to establish task forces to examine and address the social determinants of maternal health and provide funding for community-based Black maternal health organizations, among other measures. Last year, Harris reintroduced the Maternal CARE Act, which she originally introduced in 2018, to tackle the Black maternal mortality crisis by introducing health care professionals to implicit bias training and establishing a state grant program to address high-risk pregnancies in areas with high and racially disparate rates of maternal deaths and illnesses.

In a column for Essence this year, Harris wrote about the proposed package of bills and blamed racism for the disparities in maternal mortality rates between Black and white women.

"We must acknowledge that there are two problems when it comes to Black maternal mortality: ongoing systematic disparities and implicit bias," she wrote.

But advocates also say neither Harris nor Biden have gone far enough in their plans to prioritize racial justice work or to guarantee federal health care for all. While Biden vowed in June to set up a police oversight body within his first 100 days in office to address "institutional racism," research shows that many women of color want a more comprehensive approach to racial justice that goes beyond policing.

A national survey conducted by She the People found that 52 percent of women of color respondents support establishing a White House Office on Racial Justice, an idea proposed by several women of color activists and elected officials.

And 53 percent of those survey respondents also said they would be more enthusiastic about the Biden campaign if he came out with a plan to implement "Medicare for All," as opposed to his proposal to preserve employer-based coverage while boosting subsidies and eligibility for coverage under the Affordable Care Act and adding a public marketplace option that people could buy into.

Universal health care is, and has been, a particularly relevant concern for Black Americans because access to health care has largely been defined by race, and people of color are more likely to be uninsured than white people. And even when Black women have health care, they often face both racism and sexism. Black women, for example, have complained of doctors' not taking their pain seriously, in part because of mythologies stretching back to slavery arguing that Black people could bear more pain than white people.

During the primary season, Harris vocalized a series of conflicting positions about her health care plan. Ultimately, Harris released a plan that positioned her to the left of Biden on health care by guaranteeing coverage to all Americans via a "Medicare for All" plan phased in over 10 years.

Regardless of where activists say Biden and Harris still have room to improve when it comes to intersectionality, they characterize Harris' very presence on the Democratic ticket as an opportunity to center women of color - and intersectionality - in national politics.

"Her historic candidacy opens up more possibilities to force this conversation," Sridaran said.

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Why Kamala Harris' nomination is pushing this academic idea further into the mainstream

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While intersectionality is about centering the needs of women of color and of marginalized people more broadly who face discrimination based on multiple categories of identity, building policies around Black women specifically - given their unique history of racism and sexism in America stretching back to slavery, along with their

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A white man with a black mother and siblings sees how his skin tone gave him white privilege.

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A demonstrator speaks to the crowd on a bullhorn during a protest against racial inequality. (Kevin Mohatt/Reuters)

I walk a racial tightrope. It's one I've struggled to balance on for my entire life. But over the past several weeks, I've felt myself teetering. I'm black and outraged that racism continues to kill black people like George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor while burdening the lives of so many others in our country. But I know that I am not one of those people. I know the freedom of moving through a world that magically removes many barriers from my life and shields me from harm - all because of my ability to pass as white.

My skin tone has given me white privilege. For more than five decades of the journey across my tightrope, I've had what feminist researcher Peggy McIntosh calls an "invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks." These are the tools of white privilege, unwanted and conferred on me at birth by a white father who had a fleeting relationship with my divorced black mother. I was the youngest of five and grew up with older siblings in a large, extended black family. They were quick to remind me that what they jokingly called my "light, bright, almost-white skin" did not grant me any special advantage in our family. But they and I could see that wasn't going to be the case in the outside world.

I want to assure my white friends that white privilege is real, because I benefit from it every day. And I want to explain to my black family that even though this knapsack that whites carry is invisible, weightless and present from birth, it's possible to teach yourself that it's there. I say that not so I can seek forgiveness for myself or offer absolution for any others. It's to explain why so many claim to be blind and unfeeling to something that has been present throughout the history of this country. Even as I continue to reap its benefits, I am ashamed of the white privilege I carry around because I know it comes at the expense of others who have every right to the same opportunities, advantages and freedoms.

I remember the warm smile and solicitous attention I received as a child from the white woman at the drugstore checkout, and how they melted into a tight-lipped stare and chilly attitude when my mother stepped out from the aisle to join me. In my overwhelmingly white, Catholic middle school, the nuns seemed to encourage me but offered little support to my first cousin, despite the fact that we sat next to each other in the same classroom. The memory of them publicly praising my fifth grade book report is seared into my brain. So is what happened next, when they quietly pulled my cousin aside and asked her if she'd copied from me. In so many words, they said they didn't think she was capable of the work she'd turned in.

Diverse families still face skepticism. I've learned that the hard way.

I suspect that privilege opened doors that were closed to college classmates and co-workers who didn't look like me. I recall the favors from white professors, including one who passed me even after I flunked a critical exam required for graduation. And I wonder if they afforded that same grace to students who looked different from them. Early in my career, there were occasional pats on the back, nudges along the way, and invitations to business dinners or meetings that I'm not sure every other person of color enjoyed. In one such meeting, I remember a senior manager blithely using the n-word. (He defended it by saying he was just quoting someone else.) It was easy enough for me, then, to call out his racism and remind everyone that someone of color was in the room. But other times, there was subtle, coded language that I recognized as their attempt to set themselves apart from others. In some of those moments, I'm ashamed to admit, I feared for my job or advancement and just kept quiet.

I see now that even those small silences made me complicit in a wider system of racism that threatens people's lives and endangers my own family. I've talked my way out of traffic tickets over the years, driving away with just a polite warning. Yet my male cousins and nephew live with the fear that one wrong move during a traffic stop might end their lives. A few years ago, the teenage sons of my niece were noisily playing with water pistols in their backyard, in full view of their neighbors. Within minutes, they were met with heavily armed officers who assumed, given the neighborhood, that these boys had weapons. Around the time I was their age, I had already been stopped by police on a joyride after a night of partying and let go with a slap on the wrist.

The template for using white privilege to fight racism

If my skin had been darker, I've no doubt my treatment would have been different. When I first watched the chilling videos of Arbery and Floyd, I was reminded that my mother never had to warn me about what neighborhoods to walk in or how to act if stopped by the police. But I knew that my older brothers had been taught how to keep their hands visible even as they sought to make themselves invisible in other ways.

My white friends need to know that McIntosh's knapsack of privilege also contains a compass that has guided whites for almost 400 years in navigating institutions like law enforcement, education, housing and employment - institutions that were originally set up in their favor. For that reason, they have gone further and faster and in ways that are unfair to others on this journey. I have to acknowledge that compass has benefited me, too, steadying each step, clearing the path of obstacles and pointing the way ahead. My life has always been a balancing act, yes, but I've never had to doubt my direction.

As I've grown older, I've come to understand how to use that privilege to help others. As I've climbed the career ladder, I've tried to turn around and offer a hand up to others by hiring, coaching and advancing predominantly diverse teams. I've realized the power in simply stepping back and making sure those on the margins get a chance to lead or just have the space to speak. I've had my eyes opened to the white dominant culture in the workplace and recognized ways I've bought into and promoted it. And I've begun to call out the fact that my white privilege is not just an embarrassing advantage. Whether overtly exercised or silently accepted, it's a form of oppression.

Today, I have a family of my own: two teenage daughters whose skin tones ensure that the world won't see them as anything but black. And while I've tried to guide them and give them every advantage and break in life, as any parent would, I realize I cannot provide them the one benefit I had growing up and still have: Unlike them, I have the privilege of living in a world where my race simply doesn't matter.

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Perspective | I'm a black man with white privilege. I see how it distorts America.

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I walk a racial tightrope. It's one I've struggled to balance on for my entire life. But over the past several weeks, I've felt myself teetering. I'm black and outraged that racism continues to kill black people like George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor while burdening the lives of so many others in our country.

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The Tulsa Race Massacre (Tulsa Race Riot) of 1921 was when armed white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District. As the clip depicts, the riots left many businesses destroyed and many residents wounded or killed.

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Privileged individuals use their advantage in their everyday lives even when it comes to transportation or domestic duties. Those who are not privileged have a harder completing these seemingly simple tasks.

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Team Quit This Job (@teamquitthisjob)

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In today's world, there are still places, specifically educational institutions, who oppress homosexuals, transgenders, and basically anyone who isn't straight. Educators should feel comfortable being themselves at work and not be oppressed based on their sexuality.

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Straight cisgender folx/educators, how are you leveraging your heteronormative privilege? Silence=Oppression of #LGBTQ community. #pride2021🏳️‍🌈

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@josemedina1000
Straight cisgender folx/educators, how are you leveraging your heteronormative privilege? Silence=Oppression of #LGBTQ community. #pride2021🏳️‍🌈
♬ original sound - Dr. José Medina

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Customer's Racist Mask Rant After Refusing To Cover Her Face in California Starbucks

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Customer's Racist Mask Rant After Refusing To Cover Her Face in California Starbucks

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A customer in a California Starbucks refused to put her mask over her nose when asked. She then brought race and politics into the situation which oppressed the black barista.

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Video shows Customer's Racist Mask Rant After Refusing To Cover Her Face In California Starbucks

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Florida mother reveals how she is raising a gender neutral child named Sparrow as a 'theyby' in her 'transgender household' who can decide their sex at an older age.

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We're Raising Our Kids With No Gender | MY EXTRAORDINARY FAMILY

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Gender Roles & Gender Norms are Social Constructs

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Gender Roles & Gender Norms are Social Constructs

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Proof that gender is a social construct through beauty products, clothing, and colors.

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Gender roles and gender norms are social constructs. #fyp #genderexpression #foryou

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@awesomefilmsofficial
Gender roles and gender norms are social constructs. #fyp #genderexpression #foryou
♬ Don't Lose Ur Head (Sing-A-Long) - SIX

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Tyrannosaurus Rex & Social Construction of Gender

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Tyrannosaurus Rex & Social Construction of Gender

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Children associate the color blue with boys and the color pink with girls.

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by AllDayIDreamAboutSociology (@life.love.resist)

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A young Chinese maiden disguises herself as a male warrior in order to save her father. She succeeds and is awarded even though she is a women.

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Teaching Children About the Social Construction of Gender Roles

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Teaching Children About the Social Construction of Gender Roles

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At Shiv Nadar School, they are attempting to change gender perceptions and mindsets through some small experiments using language, self-reflection and analysis to influence behaviors.

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Teaching children about the social construction of gender roles

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The school is pivotal for identity evolution in young minds and given the space to explore it can shape inclusiveness among students