Since 1911

On Friday, March 6, about 40 individuals — 4 of which were men — gathered in Francis W. Parker School’s Harris Center for a celebration of International Women’s Day, March 8. The event was produced by a Parker club, Gender Matters, which comprises 10 students, with French teacher Lauren Pritikin as its sponsor.  “IWD is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to nationality, ethnicity or cultural and political differences,” an advertisement for the event read. “It is a day for looking back on past struggles and accomplishments and looking ahead to the opportunities that await future generations of women.” This year, the event’s focus was on women in the arts.

The first International Women’s Day was held in 1911, according to the International Women’s Day’s website. In 1908, the oppression of women was brutal and prevalent, inspiring many to become more vocal in campaigning for change. 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay, and voting rights. Then, in 1909, in accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Women’s Day was observed, primarily by women, across the U.S. on February 28. It was celebrated on the last Sunday of February until 1913. In 1910, a second International COnference of WOrking Women was held in Copenhagen, Germany. Clara Zetkin, the leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, suggested the observance of an International Women’s Day, which was greeted with unanimous approval by the other 100 women at the conference. Less than a week after the first celebration of International Women’s Day, March 8, 1911, on March 25, the ‘Triangle Fire’ in New York City took place in which 140 working women, mostly Italian and Jewish immigrants, were killed. The event drew attention to the dangerous working conditions in which women were expected to work, and labor legislation reform became a focus of subsequent International Women’s Day events. Today, International Women’s Day accounts for the betterment of many elements of female and male life.

While the audience in the Harris Center munched on falafel and pita, Pritikin introduced the event with a few videos. One video highlighted Eldzier Cortor, a black artist whose work is being displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago. Much of his work, as the video enumerated, “uses black women as an archetype for all people.” I was already thinking about my identity as a woman, but this video helped me to consider what always fascinates me — identity intersectionality. Throughout the rest of the event, I was not only concentrated on the presenters’ female identity, but also the other pieces of their identity which I could see or they included in their presentations.

Pritikin also showed a commercial produced by the women’s hygiene brand Always that was aired during the Superbowl. I “watched” the Superbowl. I “watched” rather than watched for reasons I have mentioned in previous blogposts: as a feminist, I can’t support the false definitions of manhood that the NFL expects of its players and viewers. But I watched, not “watched,” Always’ commercial — #likeagirl. Masculinity has become everything femininity is not, and thus, doing something “like a girl” is an insult.

The first two women to speak were Judy Hoffman and Winifred Haun. Hoffman, a filmmaker and director, introduced herself promptly as “67 years old, so I am second wave feminism.” As a student, she was forbidden from playing sports and required to wear skirts to school. She was given messages to “shut up, behave properly, get married, and be a school teacher.” Hoffman refused to be confined by conservative expectations, proving so by participating in protests against the Vietnam War and working indirectly with the Black Panther movement. Furthermore, Hoffman engaged with the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union, which held that women’s liberation wasn’t just for women — a modern concept of gender equity that I have mentioned in previous blogposts. The Union included a film union, to which Hoffman belonged as the first woman camera assistant in Chicago. Hoffman’s humble presence suggested a lot about her love for film and making connections. She encouraged the women in the audience to use their passion to dispel traditional myths and underestimations.

Haun’s artistic medium is dance. “A sculptor needs marble like a choreographer needs a dance company,” she said. Haun discussed the challenges of pursuing a career whilst being a present mother. Women are no longer expected to make motherhood their career, however, when they do, it is minimized, and when they don’t, it is considered distant and unloving. For Haun, it was finding just the right balance so as to please and fulfill herself, both of which required mothering and choreographing. “As a woman, just know you’re going to have it harder,” Haun said to close. The “knowing” is that which makes it harder to accept.