International Women’s Day 2024

International Women’s Day 2024

International Women’s Day (IWD) was inaugurated in 1910 at the International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. The day was gradually adopted around the world and first marked by the UN in 1975.

IWD was to be a torch for political mobilisation, specially marking the demands of female activists. Much of women’s efforts in the early 1900s centred around worker’s rights, the right to vote, and ending discrimination based on gender.

These campaigns were brutally punctuated with events such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 Manhattan. The practice of locking factory doors to prevent unauthorised breaks and stealing led to the deaths of over 100 women of varying backgrounds and ages, with many being first generation Italian and Jewish immigrants.

Histories such as these are now as relevant as ever, seeing this year’s International Women’s Day based around the theme #InspireInclusion. Discrimination is an intersectional phenomenon, affecting women of all races and ages in varying ways.

The theme of inclusion recognises all IWD action and celebrates difference, something which has long been a point of contention and discussion between feminists across the movement.

Author and theorist bell hooks was a key commentator on the fissures within feminism. She is quoted here in 2000 stating a principle which sums up much of this year’s IWD theme:

“We continue to put in place the anti-sexist thinking and practice which affirms the reality that females can achieve self-actualization and success without dominating one another.” — bell hooks, Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics, 2000

The publishing industry has been historically referred to as a “gentleman’s profession,” with the majority of women’s publishing house positions in the early 20th century being low-paid, secretarial roles.

Women in Publishing (WiP) was founded in 1979 to investigate and challenge these disparities, campaigning for equal pay, childcare provision, and the positioning of women in senior positions at publishing houses.

Today there is still more work to be done, as the publishing industry remains largely white dominated with gender pay gaps still existing.

To help raise awareness this International Women’s Day, we are making some articles relevant to the theme of #InspireInclusion open-access.

Black Feminism in ‘Introducing Feminism: A Graphic Guide’

This section of ‘Introducing Feminism: A Graphic Guide’ explores Black feminist activism, including Sojourner Truth’s ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ speech and the impact of the Combahee River Collective.

Read the extract, pages 139 to 148, here.

‘The British academic on the importance of an intersectional and intergenerational approach to feminism post #MeToo’

Hunger Magazine, 2018 issue.

Holly Fraser speaks to Dr Gail Lewis, academic and co-founder of the Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD), about intersectional feminism and its direction post #MeToo.

Read the article, pages 230 to 233, here.

‘Maryam al-Mulla as an Iraqi-Jewish Feminist Activist’

Banipal Magazine, 2021 issue.

This article explores the work of Maryam al-Mulla, a pioneer of Jewish women’s writing in Arabic literature, and its comment on gender relations in Iraqi society.

Read the article here.

To explore the free Feminism & Gender Equality Resource available on Exact Editions, click here.

If you would like to explore the range of titles available on the Exact Editions platform, click here.