Happy International Women’s Day 2022

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First published, March 8, 2021. Republished March 8, 2022

“Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.”

While March is celebrated as Women’s History Month in the United States since 2016, March 8 is a special day in this most special month. It is celebrated globally as International Women’s Day (IWD). Originally organized by the Socialist Party of America, the celebrations first took place in February 1909 and were called International Working Women’s Day. What began as a suggestion in 1910 following an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, grew into an international celebration by 1911.

Today, IWD is growing in popularity. Buoyed by women’s rights activism globally and the #MeToo movement, IWD is a national holiday in 27 countries around the world, ranging from Afghanistan to Zambia. This international salute to women has seen a recent resurgence since the #MeToo movement. According to the UN, IDW has been one of the most hashtagged events for the past 5 years.

Every year the celebrations embrace a special theme reflecting the urgency of the moment. #ChooseToChallenge #WomenInLeadership are the themes for International Women’s Day 2021. The message women of the world through their myriad organizations would like us to be reminded of today is that change comes from challenges. “A challenged world is an alert world,” the International Women’s Day website says, reminding us that we are all, individually and collectively responsible for our own thoughts and actions towards creating a gender-equal world.

Women, particularly the younger generation, around the world are leading diverse and inclusive movements for social change, including but not limited to, taking a stand against climate change, fighting for a green economy, and advancing the struggle for women’s rights, their daily challenges notwithstanding. Women are bearing the brunt of the Covid 19 crisis, among the added burden are increased responsibilities at home having in most cases to directly manage their children’s remote learning, oftentimes while working, or looking for a job, preparing their children’s meals, etc.

This year, Big Drum Nation highlights a most relevant message from one of the Caribbean’s most recognized public intellectuals, Dr. Verene Shepherd, Director of the Center for Reparation Research, The University of the West Indies on Caribbean Women in and the Struggle for Reparative Justice, which we are reprinting from the Jamaica Gleaner (March 7, 2021).