International Women's Day (IWD) was honoured the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. However less than a week later on 25 March, the tragic 'Triangle Fire' in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants.The theme for this year is equal access to education, and training in science in technology, two areas women are still, to no one's shock, woefully underrepresented. I thought about this as I read the above quote. As a working-class, U.S. woman, I've faced more barriers than gender. College wasn't a given. A number of people in my extended family didn't make it through high school. And yet, I've still been granted a few more privileges based on the color of my skin, the sacrifices my family has made, and the work of feminists and women's rights activists that came before me.
I've thought long and hard about how to write about the lack of women in science and technology when college at one point seemed out of reach for me. And to be honest, I hate turning this into an extended personal anecdote, but sometimes the only way for me to approach things is personally. This isn't my post to write, but it is important to note that getting women into higher-paying tech jobs means getting more women of all backgrounds into college, breaking down gender walls, but also those of class and race.
One more thing: the is international women's day. The mainstream feminist blogosphere can be a little US-centric. Feministe (one of those who does a pretty good job at not being so US-centric) provided a list of links to articles from women around the world and what IWD means to them.
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