International Women’s Day (IWD) is March 8, and with the global theme, “Pledge for Parity,” women world-wide will celebrate and commemorate the social, economic, cultural and political, achievements women have gained, organizers have announced.
In Evanston, The YWCA Evanston/North Shore, together with other local organizations, will host the fifth annual International Women’s Day commemoration and breakfast, featuring keynote speaker, Beth Richie, who will give a lecture entitled, “Gender Violence: Addressing Injustice.”
“What’s important,” said IWD event coordinator, Cece Lobin, “is that we, as a community, stay vigilant about naming where gender inequity exists, educating ourselves on when, how, and why this happens, and taking action in that regard.”
Richie is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and author of “Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence and America’s Prison Nation.”
“International Women’s Day provides an important simultaneous moment, when women all around the world come together to celebrate, to discuss relevant issues, and to strategize next steps,” Richie said.
In Evanston in 2012, the YWCA Evanston/North Shore, together with The Woman’s Club of Evanston, and the Northwestern University Women’s Center, created their first International Women’s Day commemoration event.
“Every year our theme is different,” Lobin said, “and this year there’s incredible attention and aliveness around the massive national issue of the intersectionality of race, gender and mass incarceration, police brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement and other racial justice issues. So we wanted to look at this issue through a specific gender lens.”
Community partners like the Evanston Women’s History Project, Frances Willard Historical Association, and the League of Women Voters of Evanston have joined as partners, working together on all aspects of the event from planning, financial underwriting, to dedication of time and supplies. This year, the city of Evanston came on board to become an active co-sponsor in the event.
According to IWD Committee member, Carol Jungman, 8-10 community organizations will be present so that participants can learn of local community efforts doing related work, (like anti-gender violence, helping to keep young people out of the prison system, or how to support those coming out).
“We will be handing out a ‘call to action’ which will give participants very specific ways they might support local community groups by giving few hours or a few dollars.” Jungman said.
This event is free and open to the public and will be held at the First United Methodist Church, 516 Church Street in Evanston from 7:45 to 9:30 a.m.
To learn more about the breakfast commemoration in Evanston and register to attend, go to www.ywca.org/IWD.
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Gina J. Grillo is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.