Today is International Women’s Day. From the website:

“International Women’s Day has been observed since in the early 1900’s, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.

1908
Great unrest and critical debate was occurring amongst women. Women’s oppression and inequality was spurring women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Then in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman’s Day (NWD) was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate NWD on the last Sunday of February until 1913.

1910
n 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named a Clara Zetkin (Leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day – a Women’s Day – to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women’s clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin’s suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women’s Day was the result…

IWD is now an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother’s Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.”

Hmm. There’s something wrong with the last paragraph. Something seems to be missing. What do you think it is? *Hint*- it’s a country.

Here is to all of the women who came before me. To Lillith – the mother of them all. To Boudica, Queen Gwendolen, Joan of Arc and Mother Lu. To Mavia, Judith, and Kara Fatima. To Madame Curie and Florence Nightingale. I toast to you, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, you iron-jawed angels. To the original women of Hollywood: Alice Guy-Blanche, Frances Marion and Anita Loos. To Amelia Earhardt. To Hedy Lamar and Marlene Dietrich – without you, WWII might have turned out quite differently.  To Alice Walker and Maya Angelou – you broke my heart and, by doing so, gave it wings.

To Hollywood heroines Dorothy Parker, Nora Ephron, Elaine May and Ruth Gordon. You made it okay for us funny ladies. To Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kathryn Bigelow, Kathleen Kennedy and Laura Ziskin. You paved – and are paving the way for the rest of us. To Ann Curry – you are grace under fire.

To Eve Ensler and the vagina warriors.

To my mother, who put convention aside, and risked ostracization by her bridge club to march for what she thought was right. She made it possible for me to attend college, and to enter the workforce.

To the warrior women in my life, who encircle me and embrace me… and I you. You are my sisters, my tribe. You are the almond butter to my jelly. You make me a better me, and I love you.

To the girls who aren’t waiting to become women to rise and make the world a better place – you have my eternal gratitude. For you, I share this – the trailer from “Girl Rising” 

I raise my glass of tequila to you all.

You know how I love my Wonder Woman and my Black Widow. But at the end of the day, they’re just drawings on a page – pale imitations of the real thing. The list above – and countless others – these ladies are true SuperHeroines.

Now, go celebrate the women in your life.

HRH, Princess Scribe