Today celebrates the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. One hundred years ago, women did not have the right to work, vote, or hold public office in the United States. Thousands of dedicated women around the world have fought for gender equality and while the scale remains unbalanced even in 2011, today is the day to acknowledge the enormous strides that have been made toward women's rights. This is a global celebration of all women - past and present.
So many women have contributed to the women's rights movement throughout the years, some names are synonomous with women's rights and some are not so well known. I randomly selected four of the lesser known women to honor today. Four very different women from four countries of the world with a common goal - to obtain equal rights for women.
Alexandra Kollontai. Born in 1872 into an affluent Ukrainian family, Kollontai played a significant role in both the Russian socialist movement and women's suffrage. She organized women workers in Russia to fight against the male domination and conservatism of socialist organizations. In 1918, she was instrumental in organizing the First All-Russian Congress of Working and Peasant Women. That same year, she issued a statement following the establishment of the Central Office for Maternity and Infant Welfare. "Two million babies, tiny lights just kindled on this earth, died in Russia every year because of the ignorance of the oppressed people, because of bigotry and indifference of the class state. Two million mothers wet the Russian soil with their bitter tears each year as, with their calloused hands, they piled earth on the innocent victims of an ugly state system. Human thought has at last come out into the open vistas of the radiant epoch where the working class can build, with its own hands, forms of child care that will not deprive a child of its mother or a mother of her child." A relentless agitator for reform, Kollontai was exiled from Russia for long periods throughout her life. While exiled, she wrote numerous books, articles, and pamphlets promoting awareness of women's rights.
Jeannette Rankin. Born in Missoula, Montana Territory in 1880. In 1912, Rankin was hired by the New York Women's Suffrage Party and became the field secretary for the National American Women Suffrage Association. She was the first woman elected to United States Congress in 1916. Elected again in 1940, she made history as the only legislator to vote against the United States entering World Wars I and II. She was a respected leader and influential voice for women's suffrage and emancipation and an unapologetic pacifist. In 1968, at the age of 88, she led an organized group of over 5,000 women in Washington, DC to protest the Vietnam War.
Asma Khader. Born in 1952 in Jordanian controlled West bank, Khader is an attorney and human rights activist, focusing on women's and children's rights. Her staggering list of accomplishments include: two-term president of the Jordanian Women's Union, founder of the Sisterhood Is Global Institute - an international organization that assists Muslim women in learning technology, developer of legal literacy and legal assistance programs for Jordanian women, adviser for Human Rights Watch's Women Rights Division, and election to the Permanent Arab Court on Violence Against Women. As an author, she wrote Questions and Answers about Women's Rights in Jordanian Law and Law and the Future of Palestinian Women. She is responsible for generating global interest in the plight of women living in male-dominated Arab and Islamic countries.
Malalai Kakar. Born in Afghanistan in 1967, Kakar wore a traditional burka each day when she left the house, but underneath her burka was a uniform bearing the ranking of lieutenat colonel in the Kandahar police force. She was the first woman to graduate from the Kandahar police academy and first woman to become an investigator within the police department. As the head of Kandahar's department of crimes against women, she was the one called to examine crime scenes involving domestic abuse. Kakar was married to a man who was proud of his wife's role in helping their country. A devoted mother to their six children, she was shot dead by the Taliban in 2008 while on her way to work. The Taliban did not approve of a female police officer.
"Oh, if I could but live another century and see the fruition of all the work for women! There is so much yet to be done." - Susan B Anthony
Sources: en.wikipedia.org, encyclopedia.jrak.org, spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk., womenshistory.about.com, biography.com, journeyman.tv, brainyquote.com
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