Happy Belated International Women's Day

I was unable to obtain internet access in time to post my blog about IWD, but you can read now if interested on the holiday last Saturday.
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March 8th is International Women’s Day, a holiday and day of celebration that I was unaware of until I stumbled off an airplane in Kyiv five months ago. Although International Women’s Day is often seen as being rooted in Socialist or Communist societies, Russia and the former Soviet republics are not alone in celebrating this holiday as demonstrations have been held in the United States, India, Austria, China, Cameroon, and nations of every size and culture, from East to West.

Historically, the holiday can be seen as a mass dissent against the social, political, and mostly the economical inequalities of the sexes, which explains the day’s significance in socialist regimes. Women have demonstrated for workers’ rights across the globe for the last ninety nine years to shed light on not only horrid working conditions, but also domestic abuse and maltreatment.

Today in Ukraine, and many other countries where International Women’s Day is an official holiday designated by the government, the holiday has shed its political connotations and can be seen in a similar light as Mother’s Day. Political groups still meet to discuss the advancement of women and history is dictated in schools, administrative meetings - both local and national, and on the television.

Ukrainian society is still seen as patriarchal, though a Ukrainian proverb explains, “The man is a head, but the woman is a neck. The man looks where the neck turns.” Under the Soviet Union, more than ninety percent of households were unable to sustain on a single income, forcing women into the dangerous and unsupportive factories while continuing to maintain house and home.

The most common way to celebrate in Ukraine is the giving of small gifts, such as flowers, chocolate, and small gifts to all women in the family, neighbors, and sometimes coworkers as well. Odd numbers of flowers are presented to women, as even numbers are given only for funerals. The color of the flowers are also very important; yellow signifies a farewell; red indicates a victory and is often used on days of military remembrance; and white is a symbol of innocence.

So for those who were unaware of the holiday, like me, surprise your mother, sister, daughter, or coworker with a small gift this year. They’ll greatly appreciate the gesture and you can share a very important part of Ukrainian culture with those in America.

Quotes I enjoy:

"When I think of talking, it is of course with a woman. For talking at its best being an inspiration, it wants a corresponding divine quality of receptiveness, and where will you find this but in a woman ?"
- Oliver Wendell Holmes .

“I’m just a person trapped inside a woman's body."
- Elaine Boosler .


Further Reading (educate yourself, find more information!)
Fanny Wright – Scottish American activist who attacked the clergy believing organized religion to be the basis for inequality of the sexes. Most known for her “utopian” plantations in which the owners and slaves practiced miscegenation, the solution Wright believed would bring an end to chattel slavery.

Sojourner Truth – Born into slavery before the turn of the 19th Century, Truth fought to give herself a voice in a world where all women were white and all blacks were male. As she did not fit into the standard mold of 19th Century Femininity, Truth once publicly bared her breasts when a man questioned her womanliness. She strongly opposed the 14th Amendment, demanding the word “man” be removed and opposed Frederick Douglas who argued black men should vote even if black women could not.

Abbey Kelley – A Massachusetts born Quaker, Kelley dedicated her life to changing the way white society treated blacks. However, her white skin did not protect her from phrases such as “nigger bitch” which were heaved often by the very people she tried to educate. Inspired by William Lloyd Garrison and the American Anti-Slavery Society, Kelley was banished by her church for her independent travels through New England where she spoke to the commoner about the immorality of slavery.


The Anti Slavery Convention of American, where Kelley presented her ideals, was the first ever female organized political meeting in America, more than a decade before Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the famous meeting in Seneca Falls. Believing white women should vote before black men, both Stanton and Susan B Anthony prioritized women’s suffrage over abolition and greatly opposed Kelley’s commentary on abolition at any means.