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| Esther Peterson | International Women's Day
March 8th is
International Women's Day. This doesn't mean women from all over the world get
together and go on a huge shopping spree. Instead, they look back and
remember decades of struggling for equality,
justice, peace and change. We also remember all the women who have made a
difference in history to make these changes happen.
International Women's Day has
been around since the beginning of the 1900s. For several years,
beginning in 1909, the day was celebrated on the last Sunday in February. This later changed to March 8, which is the same
date that women were given the right to vote
in Russia.
Kidzworld has put together a list of women who have made a difference.
We couldn't possibly name all of them, but here are a few:
Esther advocated truth in advertising, standardization packing, pricing
and proper labeling of nutritional values. Food wasn't her only thing.
She was an active leader in women's and men's labor - educating working men and
woman. In
1981, Esther was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Harriet was raised as a slave until
she ran away as a teenager and gained freedom. Harriet was nicknamed the
"Moses of her people" because she led so many slaves to freedom. She made
a total of 19 trips on the Underground Railroad (a secret network that
helped slaves get to freedom) and freed more than
300 slaves. Besides the being an advocate of women's
rights, Susan was also very fashion-forward.
She cut her hair short and wore bloomers (short but wide pants) in a time when
that was unheard of for a woman. Some of Susan B. Anthony's causes were the
right for equal pay, the right to vote, and
women's suffrage. Susan was the first woman on US currency - a one dollar
coin. Gloria Steinem is considered a lead
activist in the modern women's rights movement. She started Ms.
Magazine, the first national women's magazine run by women. Her activism has
inspired women of all ages to take risks, as
well as fight for their rights.
Women in History Who Suck
Most women is
history have had a hard time being taken seriously. A lot of really cool ladies have fought to change that.
We're not talking about those women here. We're talking about the women
in history who haven't done us any favors. Here are a few of them. We've
rated them out of five on how many steps they've set us back.
# of Steps Back - 5
Also known
as the Blood Countess, this extremely
wealthy Hungarian woman tortured servants and apparently bathed in their blood. She thought blood was the key to
eternal youth. She killed more than 600 women, both peasants and
nobility. Although she was eventually locked up in her castle and her accomplices executed, she couldn't be harmed
because of her status.
# of Steps Back - 4
Imelda Marcos was once
the wife of the Philippine dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, and was also known
as the "Steel Butterfly." She led a life of corruption, political chaos and financial scandals. She and her husband had
to flee the Philippines to Hawaii but
she
returned after his death. In 2001, she was arrested and charged with corruption
and illegally obtaining riches - basically, stealing from her country. It
seems Imelda spent a lot of that money on jewelry and shoes. Rumor has it that
at one time she had more than 3,000 pairs of shoes, although she claims
she only had 1,060. She says she collected them because it was like a symbol of thanks and love. Ummmm... ok.
# of Steps Back -
3
Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider wrote the best-selling book The
Rules, which is about the so-called rules of dating. Rules include: never call a man, don't make eye contact
with men, don't talk too much - not exactly the most girl-power ideas. The
ladies also wrote the Rules for Marriage. However, the rules didn't work out for
Ellen Fein - she's divorced.
# of Steps Back - 3
She's called
Mother of the Nation by those who love her and a conniving fraud by
others. Winnie married an icon - Nelson
Mandela - and faught injustice as head of the anti-apatheid group, the
ANCWL (African National Congress - Women's League). However, she was her
conviction for assault and kidnapping connected with the 1989 killing of
14-year-old Stompie Seipei Moeketsi. In 2003, she was found guilty of 43 charges
of fraud and 25 of theft. |
