According to International Women's Day, "a challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions — all day, every day. We can choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world."
International Women's Day
Monday, March 8, 2021
International Women's Day
Celebrate Women
Join voices around the world in celebration and advocacy during International Women's Day on March 8! Please make sure to read our disclaimer before participating.
In partnership with: Black Student Cultural Programming Board, Center for International Studies, Department of Geography, Department of History, International Student and Scholar Services, Multicultural Center, and the Women's Center.
Contribute to the Conversation
According to International Women's Day's website, the theme for this year, #ChooseToChallenge, encourages you to answer the question, "Will you choose to challenge and call out gender bias, stereotypes and discrimination every time you see it?"
They also ask us to "choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements." Therefore, we ask you to post the following on social media:
- Intervention Strategies: How can you practice bystander intervention skills to intervene when you witness bias and discrimination? From getting involved with Better Bystanders on campus, which teaches the 4 D's of intervention, attending the Division of Diversity and Inclusion's Allyship workshop (you can schedule on for your department/student group here or watch a recording), or Human Resource's and Diversity and Inclusion's Diversity Advocate Training, there's lots of ways to continue improving your knowledge on effective intervention strategies!
Sample tweet: "I will challenge gender stereotypes and bias by speaking up when I hear sexist jokes, by amplifying other women in the room, and by educating those around me on how to be better allies. #ChooseToAction #IWD2021 #OhioUInternationalWomensDay" -
Share about Women's Rights, and the Activists Making Change: What activists are working to uplift women in your own communities? What movements do you see in your communities across the globe that benefit women? The Women's Center's Women's History Month Art Challenge: Women of Color Who Paved the Way highlights women globally who have sparked change, conversation, and action. Our list isn't comprehensive, and we ask that you join us by sharing women who have made an impact. We also ask you to take this as an opportunity to learn about how issues that may not seem overtly to be about women's rights, are still gendered issues.
For example, environmental justice is a women's issue, as well as an anti-racism issue. To learn more, we recommend looking at one of many organizations to address this, The Green Belt Movement. -
We also encourage you to post videos to social media using the below video prompts as examples! For more on recording and uploading videos, visit this link.
Recognize Your Value
Take a moment to post what you are proud of. Celebrating who we are can change our culture to be more supportive of women coming forward and sharing their accomplishments. Empowered women empower other women! You may find inspiration in this video, featuring Dr. Helen Cumberbatch at the 2018 International Women's Art Festival, where she reads a poem, "Love After Love," by Derek Walcott.
Amplify Other Women
You can post a video, or post without a video, telling us about women's achievements. Let us know who your role model is, or who you admire. For an example, check out MaryKathyrine Tran, Assistant Director for the Women's Center, shouting out her mentor in this video!
Be a Global Citizen
Here's Viktoria Marinova answering questions posed by Student Senate at 2018's International Women's Festival.
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How the United States ranks
Georgetown University's Institute for Women, Peace, and Security have created an index that looks at women's wellbeing internationally, as well as evaluating women's experiences by-state in the United States. In this ranking, the United States comes in at nineteen.
In addition to considering how we are currently ranking, we ask that you consider the various challenges to women's livelihood that have been spurred by COVID-19. Women are dropping out of the workforce in the United States, and women of color in particularly have been disproportionately impacted.
Additional Resources
Penguin Random House has created a list of books "about women who have changed the world." It's a good starting place, but we also hope you will join us in sharing media that has helped you expand your knowledge of women's history and International Women's Day.
We also recommend the following films, but also recognize that there are so many more incredible films that highlight the diverse experiences of women! Please share with us your recommendations.
- The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson. Available for streaming on Netflix, this 2017 documentary is about the death of Marsha P. Johnson, a pioneer of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Learn more about Marsha P. Johnson through the Marsha P Johnson Institute.
- Difret. Executive produced by Angelina Jolie, you can read more about this film, and the true story behind it, at:
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Luz, Martin (nd). Difret: An Intimate Film of Profound Political Consequence. Huffington Post. Available online: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-luz/difret-an-intimate-film-o_b_6311282.html
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Metcalf, Charlotte (2015). The Rape Victim Who Fought Back and Shamed a Nation. January 9. Newsweek. Available online: http://www.newsweek.com/2015/01/16/rape-victim-who-fought-back-and-shamed-nation-297757.html
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- Girl Rising. This 2013 documentary comes completed with a downloadable curriculum to provide you with further context about the stories shared.
- Hidden Figures. This film is available for streaming on Disney+ and centers the experiences of Black women working at NASA in the 1960s and the incredible impact they had on the space program in the United States. There's a curriculum guide available, via Journeys in Film, to help you process this film as well.
- Offside, a 2006 film by Jafar Panahi is a comedy-drama about women in Iran trying to watch football (soccer for those in the USA) in a stadium. Pair the film with reading about the current status of female spectators.
- The Guardian (2019). Iranian women allowed to watch football at stadium for first time in decades. Available online at: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/oct/09/iranian-women-allowed-…
- The Trials of Spring, available through Ohio University's Kanopy: https://ohio.kanopy.com/video/trials-spring. This documentary tells the story of women who were involved in the Arab Spring.
Diversity and Inclusion
The organizers of the International Women's Day in Athens, Ohio, are committed to using this event to educate on women's experiences, and on issues of diversity and inclusion. We recognize intersectional identities and the varied experiences of women around the world. We, and Ohio University, are committed to supporting inclusion of diverse people and populations within and beyond our campus community.
Find out more about Ohio University's commitment to diversity and inclusion at: https://www.ohio.edu/inclusion. We ask that as you post about women's rights around the world, that you consider the varied experiences of women. Women face oppression that is rooted in not just sexism, but racism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, ableism, and other forms of oppression. We must be aware of these different forces of oppression and the ways they impact women.
Disclaimer
The organizers of the International Women's Day online program at Ohio University are nonpartisan. We hope that this program, and programs like this, assist individuals in understanding women's rights locally and globally.
The views reflected in the posts by others using #ChooseToChallenge, #IWD2021 and/or #OhioUInternationalWomensDay, or otherwise in connection to the community sharing of content for this event, do not reflect the views of the organizers or of Ohio University. Everyone is welcome to participate from their own viewpoints and perspectives.
Copyright: As you share, please be mindful of copyright materials. For whatever you share that you don't have ownership of, you should check to see if the material is in public domain. Cornell University has a helpful table in determining what material is in public domain. Ohio University also has this helpful website on fair use of imagery.
Risks of Sharing: Sharing online has risks, including (but not limited to) online bullying, permanence by way of screenshots and retweeting, and other responses that we can't predict. While you can report bullying or trolling behavior(opens in a new window)(opens in a new window) through Twitter, there are reports(opens in a new window)(opens in a new window) that Twitter does not act quickly enough to respond to these issues. As such, please consider that we have events like this because in many ways we still exist within a culture in which people face racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, and other forms of oppression. Therefore, responses to our event may not always be positive and we may face backlash.