100 Years of International Women’s Day-and Still Far to Go

On the 100th Anniversary of the first International Women’s Day (IWD), Mass Dissent takes a look at the current state of women affairs – women’s achievements, challenges, obsticles, and hopes.

In March of 1911, over a million people across Europe observed IWD for the first time. In 2011, women across the world still face difficulties set in place by patriarchal social, legal, and political structures. Now as then, women are victims of patriarchy, but they also emulate their sisters from past eras as they challenge the system in any way possible – in the street, in courtrooms, and in their private spheres.

Lily Huang, a lead organizer for the Student Immigrant Movement, in her article “The Wonderful Women of the Student Immigrant Movement” presents to us women who build, maintain, and lead the organization and the movement to achieve equal education for undocumented immigrant youth.

In “Human Trafficking: Redefining Progress,” Julie Dahlstrom analyzes the complex and difficult phenomenon of trafficking women. She stresses the fact that none of the initiatives undertaken by governments to cure the problem focus on human trafficking survivors, mostly women.

Barb Dougan, in her article “Tough Love: Drug Sentencing Law and their Impact on Women,” describes how mandatory minimum sentencing laws can result in particularly harsh penalties for women convicted of drug offenses.

In “Family Rights Discrimination Claims: Breaking More Barriers in the Workplace,” David Conforto discusses ever-present discrimination in the workplace because of stereotypical perceptions of women as the main caregivers in a family.

Our last article, “Statewide Campaign to Respect All Workers,” written by Natalicia Tracy and Lydia Edwards from the Brazilian Immigrant Center, describes a new Massachusetts campaign to pass a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. This is a tremendously important and inspiring undertaking which would help many working poor women.

- Editors -