Women's History Month: International Women's Day

Today's Women's History Tidbit:
1911: International Women's Day is first celebrated in Europe. It will receive official UN recognition in 1975.*

This post originally appeared at the AWEARNESS blog.

Happy International Women's Day!

Over the past 18 months I've written for AWEARNESS, I've written a lot about women's rights. For International Women's Day Gender Across Borders wants to know what "equal rights for all" means to me.

Equal rights for me means just that, equal rights. As a human being with two X chromosomes I should have the same access to education, jobs and safety as humans with only one X chromosome. That access goes far beyond any city, state or national border too.

My activism is rooted in my early education of human rights though working with Amnesty International. The U.S. Congress could pass every law feminists could think of, every judge could believe women when they ask for protection against violence and the police would enforce everything and I still wouldn't be satisfied.

I would relish that our job was done here in the U.S.A. and it left me with more time to fight for the education of my sisters abroad, for them to be free of forced marriage, for them to be healed from fistula and for their work to be honored around the world.

As long as there is a young girl trafficked, denied her education and forced to bear a child at way too young of an age, I will be there to fight for her. It's not enough for women in one country to enjoy freedom.

If you want to work on international women's issues, any one of these organizations would be happy to have your support:

• CARE
• Fistula Foundation
• Half the Sky Movement
• Heifer International
• MADRE

Have your own favorite? Please share it here!


* Source: 2010 Women Who Dare Engagement Calendar from the Library of Congress