International Women's Day

International Women’s Day seeks to forge a world where all genders are equal. Gender equality is essential for communities, businesses and people to thrive.  This day has been celebrated since 1911.  The day is both a celebration of women’s achievements as well as a call for action for further equality. 

The ten values of Women’s Day are: 

• Justice
• Dignity
• Hope
• Equality
• Collaboration
• Tenacity
• Appreciation
• Respect
• Empathy
• Forgiveness

International Women’s Day is always March 8th.  Although it was originally celebrated starting in 1911, the United Nations did not recognize International Women’s Day till 1977.  It is also an official holiday in several countries, but not in Canada.

We celebrate this day to honour the amazing women who have done incredible achievements as well as use this day to reflect on where women’s rights are and how much further we need to push for equality.  Women’s day is interested in women being free from sexual violence, able to vote, hold property, fair wages, reproductive rights and more.  For too long women have been seen as weak or lesser, now is the time to keep pushing for women to be equal.  Women still earn 23% less than men, women only occupy 24% of parliamentary seats worldwide and 1 in 3 women will experience sexual or physical violence.

Everyone can participate in International Women’s Day.  Women should not just be celebrated by other women, but by everyone.  The United Nations has called for gender equality by 2030. Let’s all work together to make that a reality. 

Everywhere, the day is Internationally recognized and you can celebrate women at home, in the community, online and of course, in your school.  There are most likely incredible women in your school and in your classroom at this very moment.

Share stories of great women with your class, educate your students on the issues women have faced and continue to face today.  Try out a few of Trickster’s exercises or create an entire day to celebrate women.

Event Days give you the ability to not only explore International Women’s Day, but also an opportunity to broaden that learning into experiential projects which can be shared. You can share them throughout your school, with other classes, and even more broadly if you choose. The ability for your students to not only have a project of their own, but to be able to see what other students were able to come up with, broadens the viewpoints and creates more dialogue surrounding the issues.

One size does not fit all

How you and your school decide to use the suggested activities, performances, and resources will depend completely on what you and your peers are comfortable with, and the time you have available to designate to the project(s). Trickster is also available to consult with if you would like extra help, resource connections, and/or coordination. You can go big, involving every class with different projects, performances and events throughout the school, or, you can go as small as just doing an activity listed in the materials for your own class which you believe will help them connect to the subject matter. 

Due to the circumstances of COVID19, not everything suggested will be possible, and many will need to be adjusted to suit your needs and comfort level. As we hope to carry this forward, and know that schools are looking to future projects much further down the road, we do want to plant the seeds for what those event days might look like too. There will be suggestions throughout on how you can modify activities for social distancing, but you are also able at any point to choose and modify activities and projects to achieve the level of safety your school is comfortable with.