The Rise Up

Half the Sky Movement

International Women’s Day, observed on March 8 since the early 1900’s, raises awareness of the status of women worldwide, petitions leadership to dismantle oppressive and exploitative structures, signals to humanity the need for public action and cultural shifts, and solicits the support of men in the movement to foster peace, balance and harmony.

The 2013 International Women’s Day theme established by the United Nations is, A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence Against Women.

Resources:
International Women’s Day – Resource Hub
CNN Report on International Women’s Day 2013
Google on International Women’s Day
United Nations – Women Watch
National Women’s History Project – International Women’s Day
Half the Sky Movement: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

“The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” – William Ross Wallace

“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.” – J. Krishnamurti (The same for separation between man and women.)

“I do not wish them to have power over men, but over themselves.”  -Mary
Wollstonecraft

“Every time we liberate a woman, we liberate a man.”  -Margaret Mead

“The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation because in the
degradation of woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source.”
-Lucretia Mott

“I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes
enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does
not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.”
-Anaïs Nin

“Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.”  -Cheris Kramarae and
Paula Treichler

“Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture
out, we will fall off the edge.”  -Andrea Dworkin

“Oppresive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.” – Toni Morrison

Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign – India (kanglaonline.com)

In what ways do you promote equity and justice for the women in your life?  What cultural shifts can we make, in solidarity, to restore peace, harmony and balance to the world??