7 March 2013 by Louise
This Friday is the annual International Women’s Day (IWD). The day has been observed since the early 1900s but has grown in significance more recently and is now recognised across the world. Interestingly, in many countries including Cuba, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Zambia, IWD is an annual holiday which sees men honouring women that they know with various small gifts and flowers. It’s a day that puts women’s rights and achievements on the map.
You may be thinking that women have gained equality and that attitudes have shifted over the past century, and to an extent, you’d be right. However, women remain underrepresented in business and politics, are paid less than men, and globally women’s education, access to healthcare, and violence against them is worse than that of men. IWD draws attention to these differences.
There are a number of events taking place at NML venues to mark IWD. Here’s my pick at what’s happening at the museums:
Looking globally at women’s lives, the International Slavery Museum is hosting a talk on Saturday 9 March. Chair of the International Female Genital Mutilation network (FGM) and midwife, Dorcus Akeju, OBE will be raising awareness of and discussing female genital mutilation which affects thousands of girls and women in the UK and millions worldwide. Booking is essential.
On Sunday 10 March the Museum of Liverpool will be having a special performance called Suffragettes – a Liverpool story. On 6 February 1918 the right to vote was finally granted to women. Hear the fascinating story of the suffragettes’ struggle and their highly significant Liverpool activity in this performance by Jane Murdoch.
These events looks at different aspects of women’s lives or their representation and raise awareness of the different struggles women faced or still face on a local, national and international level.
More International Women’s Day events across our venues can be found here.
(Comments are closed for this post.)