#ChooseToChallenge
• Celebrated March 8, 2021
On January 20, 2021, history was made in the United States when the first woman and first woman of color was sworn in as the Vice President of the United States of America. In honor of our first female Vice President, we will begin this month’s celebration of awareness days with the celebration of International Women’s Day Campaign. The IWD theme is: #ChooseToChallenge noting:
A challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change.
So, let’s all choose to challenge!
The International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. International Women’s Day has occurred for more than a century with the first gathering held in 1911. On March 8, 2021, the International Women’s Day Campaign asks you to:
• Celebrate women’s achievements
• Raise awareness about women’s equality
• Lobby for accelerated gender parity
• Fundraise for female focused charities.
The International Women’s Day Campaign is calling you to join them to call out gender bias and inequity. We will spend the entire month of March looking at different awareness days and then challenge you to find virtual events in our community or on social media and become involved. The International Women’s Campaign is asking you to “Strike the #ChooseToChallenge Pose” by raising your hand assertively and show that you choose to challenge inequity. Show your solidarity in choosing to challenge and call out aspects that are unhelpful to women. Will you raise your hand high and pledge to #ChooseToChallenge?
Colors for the Day: Purple, green and white. Purple signifies justice and dignity. Green symbolize hope. White represents purity. The colors originated from the Women’s Social and Political Union in the United Kingdom in 1908.
Women’s rights have improved a lot over the past century, but still not enough and not everywhere. Females should be able to live equally and have all the opportunities to achieve what we want.
There are all kinds of discrimination that goes on worldwide. Among these there is trafficking, lack of representation in politics, domestic violence, and rape. 98 percent of women in Somalia are victims of genital mutilation and there are pupils in Somalia actually raped by their own teachers.
During International Women’s Day, events will take place around the world to celebrate the achievements of women. To support worldwide activity, the International Women’s Day website provides:
• Free guidance and resources
• Searchable IWD events database
• Platform for collaborative purpose-driven missions
• Women-owned business IWD supplier directory
• Fundraising channel for female- focused charities
Visit the International Women’s Day website at: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/About. You can also post your own show of support on your social media platform on how you feel about the International Women’s Day!!
Next Week: March Awareness Days: : Environmental Awareness Day
Call for Reader Submissions for July Series: I am nows commissioning responses to the prompt: “What Do You Want to Declare Independence From?” for the July 2021 series. Whether that is politics, relationships, career, etc., I am placing no restrictions upon the content other than their relevance and suitability for publication. If you are interested in submitting a response, please send no more than a 200-word abstract to me at: MKE.revjtlester@gmail.com. Please include your first name, initials and/ or a pseudonym. I reserve the right to edit or reject any submission. Absolute submission deadline: May 1, 2021.
General Disclaimer: The writer has used her best efforts in preparation of this information. No representations or warranties for its contents, either expressed or implied, are offered. Neither the publisher nor the writer shall be liable in any way for readers’ efforts to apply, rely or utilize the information or recommendations presented herein as they may not be suitable for you or necessarily appropriate for every situation to which they may refer. This information is for educational purposes only. In some instances, this article contains the opinions, conclusions and/or recommendations of the writer. If you would like to contact Rev. Lester, write to her c/o P.O. Box 121, Brookfield, WI. 53008.