International Women's Week
Graphic created by Kylie Gatchalian
This post was written by VCU Intern Razmila Razaak
Join us in celebrating International Women’s Week on Global Giving: all donations will be matched up 50% up to $50 and prizes are available for the most unique donors!
“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” - Audre Lorde.
As we celebrate International Women's Day, let's take a moment to shine a light on the progress made, continue to call for change, and honor acts of courage and determination by women - all who have represented a remarkable role in history in their countries. International Women's Day can mean many things to different women. It can mean justice as women continue to seek equal treatment, conditions, and opportunities for men. It could also mean appreciation - International Women's Day provides a specific and designated moment each year to identify and celebrate women's achievements. Individuals unite together worldwide to celebrate women's accomplishments and continue to call for action supporting greater gender equality. The purpose of International Women's Day is to bring awareness to the social, political, economic, and cultural concerns that women face and advocate for women's progress within all those areas.
International Women's Day was first recognized by United Nations observance in 1975. However, the day’s origins go much further back. The movement of international women's day was first birthed in 1908 when thousands of women who were garment workers went on strike and marched to protest against their working conditions. In honor of those on-going strikes, a National Women’s Day was commemorated for the first time in the U.S. on Feb. 28, 1909, originated by the Socialist Party of America. The concept of a “women’s day” caught on in Europe, and the first International Women’s Day was held, attracting more than 1 million people worldwide. Until the mid-1970s, the holiday was especially popular for many years in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, but gradually, it became more of a truly international celebration.
“As it spread around the world, it (IWD) became deeply connected to women's suffrage movements and to ending employment discrimination. In the days of World War I, it was observed as a day to show solidarity in protest against the war across nations,” says KaeLyn Rich
In the present-day, International Women's Day stands not only as a celebration of the countless victories made by women but also to bring awareness to the numerous gender inequality concerns we have today. This encompasses people from all areas of life who are non-binary, transgender, and many more as each faces unique challenges in the fight for gender equality. Removing structural barriers and societal constructs that have been put in place to oppress all women is the only way to move forward. International Women's Day stands as the day to solidify this need for change.
Our non-profit organization, Highland Support Project (HSP), was designed to empower Indigenous communities by providing opportunities for education, community organization, supporting social entrepreneurs, and addressing health and poverty in the face of shifting political arenas and environmental changes. This places a significant focus on Indigenous communities' women and their continued struggle to overcome deep-rooted discrimination. HSP has numerous on-going programs that are directly linked to empowering both women and girls in Indigenous communities.
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Hear directly from the women in Guatemala what AMA means to them
HSP works in conjunction with its sister organization Associación de Mujeres del Altiplano (AMA), to establish local Women's Circles, which provide participants with a mutual support network and a forum for sharing dreams fears, and collaborating on solutions. This allows resilience and self-determination as the authority is transferred directly to circle members to choose projects specifically for their communities' needs. In collaboration with AMA, Highland Support Project also has implemented The Mayan Arts Program (MAP), which connects rural Indigenous communities of Guatemala with resources to promote creative and critical thinking skills through a curriculum that respects local culture and history. This is especially important as it reaches out to girls at a younger age to encourage creativity, adaptability, and the ability to seek alternatives and exercise agency in personal and civic life. Another program implemented by HSP is the House of Design Pixan initiative. House of Design Pixan enables professional direct trade relationships to flourish between talented artisans and individuals, and businesses worldwide. The Pixan model champions fair pay and work conditions for women to create high-quality artisanal work and the aforementioned direct trade relationships. These Pixan products are sold through direct-trade boutique AlterNatives right in the heart of Richmond. Equally important, HSP service-learning partners have organized the Clean-Air Stove Building, which has been put in place to channel the thick smoke from cooking fires out of the unventilated brick dwelling via a new chimney installed with each stove. This will provide our partner communities in Guatemala with the necessary tool to decrease the chances of respiratory infections and waterborne contaminants.
Global Giving Campaign:
COVID-19 is a threat multiplier of existing social and economic inequalities throughout Latin America, exceptionally so among Indigenous populations. Indigenous women specifically, who have minimal job opportunities and a disproportionately large responsibility of demands at home, are also battling rising domestic and gender-based violence rates. The extensiveness of their trauma means that recovery is a long-term project, and through the last 25 years, Highland Support Project has shown we are committed to impactful change from the ground up.
More specifically, Indigenous Guatemalan women face multigenerational layers of historical trauma rooted in their status in a colonized state and the genocide they faced during the Guatemalan civil war from 1960 to 1996. Our Global Giving Campaign is designed to provide Indigenous Guatemalan women jobs and job training, peer to peer counseling and health services, and the tools & guidance needed to gain the resilience and self-determination they need to thrive.
Please be sure to check out our fundraiser at Global Giving International Women's week. Tune in to GlobalGiving Monday, March 8, 2021 - Friday, March 12th in honor of International Women's Day, as they will feature Global Giving's non-profit partners working with women and girls worldwide. During the week of March 8, two campaigns will be live on GlobalGiving: International Women’s Week and the March Little by Little Matching Campaign. The 2021 International Women’s Week Campaign is a five-day crowdfunding campaign for GlobalGiving partners working to advance gender equality and uplift women and girls in communities worldwide. The campaign is designed to help participating organizations cultivate a mighty network of small-dollar donors. That is why eligible donations up to $50 will be matched at 50% during the week-long campaign, and prizes will be available for the most unique donors!
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