International Women's Day

I had no idea that International Women’s Day

originated back in 1909 in New York City as a labor movement.

It inspired European demonstrations the following year

that were seen in Germany and Russia.

Almost 70 years later, the UN adopted it as a holiday in 1977.

Forty-four years ago, on IWD, March 8, 1979,

one of the largest protests broke out in Tehran,

just a day after the hijab rules were introduced by the Islamic Republic.

The slogan “Woman Life Freedom” has been in use

since the late twentieth century

as a part of the Kurdish freedom movement,

which began as a response to persecution

from the governments of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria.

Originally it was said in Kurdish, Jin, Jîyan, Azadî.

On November 25, 2015,

on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women,

it was chanted at several gatherings across Europe.

You heard it shouted out by the cast of Girls of the Sun

during the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

September 20, 2022, Afghan women cried it out

in protest to the treatment of women in Iran,

after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini,

also known by her Kurdish name Jina,

who was stopped for not being covered properly.

She had been living in

Saggez, Kurdistan Province in northwest Iran

and was only in Tehran on a visit to her brother.

The cry is now heard in Farsi “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi.”

How do we help? How do we fight?

The first step is awareness. The next step is action.

This International Women’s Day

donate to an organization that fights for

reproductive rights, gender equality,

and ending violence and abuse against women.

When one woman loses her freedom, we all do.