| International Women's Day is March 8th!
International Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900's, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. 1908 1909 1910 1911 1913-1914 1917 1918 - 1999 2000 and beyond The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that 'all the battles have been won for women' while many feminists from the 1970's know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men. However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.
Many global corporations have also started to more actively support IWD by running their own internal events and through supporting external ones. For example, on 8 March search engine and media giant Google some years even changes its logo on its global search pages. Year on year IWD is certainly increasing in status. The United States even designates the whole month of March as 'Women's History Month'. So make a difference, think globally and act locally !! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding. |
Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women's craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.National Women’s History Month’s roots go back to March 8, 1857, when women from New York City factories staged a protest over working conditions. International Women’s Day was first observed in 1909, but it wasn’t until 1981 that Congress established National Women’s History Week to be commemorated the second week of March. In 1987, Congress expanded the week to a month. Every year since, Congress has passed a resolution for Women’s History Month, and the President has issued a proclamation.
155.8 million
The number of females in the United States as of Oct. 1, 2009. The number of males was 151.8 million.
Source: Population estimates
At 85 and older, there were more than twice as many women as men.
Source: Population estimates
82.8 million
Estimated number of mothers of all ages in the United States.
Source: Unpublished data from Survey of Income and Program Participation.
1.9
Average number of children that women 40 to 44 had given birth to as of 2006, down from 3.1 children in 1976, the year the Census Bureau began collecting such data. The percentage of women in this age group who had given birth was 80 percent in 2006, down from 90 percent in 1976.
Source: Fertility of American Women: 2006
$35,745
The median annual earnings of women 15 or older who worked year-round, full time, in 2008, down from $36,451 in 2007 (after adjusting for inflation). Women earned 77 cents for every $1 earned by men.
Source: Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2008
88 percent
The ratio of women’s-to-men’s earnings in the District of Columbia in 2008, among the highest of any state or state equivalent in the nation along with California, Arizona, Maryland, New York, Vermont, Georgia and Hawaii.
Source: Men’s and Women’s Earnings by State: 2008 American Community Survey
29.4 million
Number of women 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more education in 2008, higher than the corresponding number for men (28.4 million). Women had a larger share of high school diplomas, as well as associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. More men than women had a professional or doctoral degree.
Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2008
29%
Percent of women 25 and older who had obtained a bachelor’s degree or more as of 2008.
Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2008
55%
Percentage of college students in fall 2008 who were women.
Source: School Enrollment in the United States: 2008
Source for the statements in this section:
Women-Owned Firms: 2002 and
Company Summary: 2002
More than $939 billion
Revenue for women-owned businesses in 2002. There were 116,985 women-owned businesses with receipts of $1 million or more.
Nearly 6.5 million
The number of women-owned businesses in 2002. Women owned 28 percent of all nonfarm businesses; 916,657 of these were employer firms.
More than 7.1 million
Number of people employed by women-owned businesses. There were 7,231 women-owned businesses with 100 or more employees, generating $274 billion in gross receipts.
Nearly one in three women-owned businesses operated in health care and social assistance, and other services, such as personal services, and repair and maintenance. Women owned 72 percent of social assistance businesses and just over half of nursing and residential care facilities. Wholesale and retail trade accounted for 38 percent of women-owned business revenue.
13%
Percentage of women-owned businesses in California, which had the most women-owned businesses at 870,496. New York was second with 505,077 or 8 percent of all women-owned businesses. Texas was third in number with 468,705, accounting for 7 percent of all women-owned businesses.
Note: The 2007 Preliminary Estimates of Business Ownership by Gender, Ethnicity, and Race will be available in July 2010 and the more detailed 2007 Women-Owned Businesses report will be published in December 2010.
Voting66%
Percentage of female citizens 18 and older who reported voting in the 2008 Presidential election. Sixty-two percent of their male counterparts cast a ballot. Additionally, 73 percent of female citizens reported being registered to vote.
Source: Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008
59%
In 2008, the percentage of females 16 and older who participated in the labor force, representing about 72 million women.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
38%
Percent of females 16 or older who worked in management, professional and related occupations, compared with 32 percent of males.
Source: 2008 American Community Survey
23.8 million
Number of female workers in educational services, health care and social assistance industries. More women worked in this industry group than in any other. Within this industry group, 11.9 million worked in the health care industry, 9.1 million in educational services and 2.7 million worked in the social assistance industry.
Source: 2008 American Community Survey
67%
Chances are that your taxes will be prepared by a woman, as this was the percentage of tax preparers who were women in 2008. In addition, 72 percent of travel agents were women.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010, Table 603.
99,000
Number of female police officers across the country in 2008. In addition, there were about 14,000 women firefighters, 349,000 lawyers, 267,000 physicians and surgeons, and 36,000 pilots. (Note: Number of pilots pertains to 2007.)
Source: U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010, Tables 603 and 1047
3.1 million
Number of girls who participated in high school athletic programs in the 2007-08 school year. In the 1979-80 school year, only 1.75 million girls were members of a high school athletic team.
Source: National Federation of State High School Associations, as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010, Table 1211.
178,084
Number of women who participated in a National Collegiate Athletic Association sport in 2007-08.
Source: National Collegiate Atheletic Association (NCAA), as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010, Table 1210.
G-40: The Summit - Washington DC Area Art Exhibition
This spring the Washington DC area opens a new art exhibition, G-40: The Summit, an artistic interpretation of the G-20 political summit, featuring the artwork of more than 400 artists in 75,000 square feet of exhibit space on four floors of an empty office building in Crystal City, Virginia. Each region-themed floor will highlight the works of 10-30 featured artists including a range of art from sculpture and paintings to collages, photography and many other forms of mixed media. Throughout the month, visitors will enjoy musical and visual performances, lectures, and more. G40 - The Summit is free and a great way to emerse yourself in the arts.
See the following photos and get a glimpse of the event.
Dates and Hours: March 3-27, 2010, Wed. & Thurs. 5-10 p.m., Fri. 5-12 p.m. Sat. noon-midnight, Sun. noon-6 p.m. Closed on Mon. & Tues.
Location: 223 23rd St. Arlington, VA. The closest Metro is Crystal City.
Washington, DC Independent Film Festival
The Washington, DC Independent Film Festival is an an award winning event that showcases more than 100 feature, short, animation and documentary films by local, national, and international filmmakers. Many of the festival films have gone on to the Academy Awards, Sundance, Toronto and Cannes, where some have taken prizes.
At each program of the Washington, DC Independent Film Festival participants view a range of films, including an animation, a short and a feature. After each session there is a question and answer discussion where you can interact directly with top executives from AOL, Discovery Communications, National Geographic and PBS, among others.
The Annual Washington, DC Independent Music Festival will run in tandem with the film festival to provide nightly entertainment. The musical performances will be in the main theater. The music will appeal to all ages and tastes. From Hip Hop, to an Open Mike Night, to Gospel, to our Closing night performance by Gibraltar is a North African Band from Algeria & Morocco with influences from Berber (kabyle & Touareg), Gnawa, Moorish, and Andalusian music.
Dates and Times
March 4-14, 2010.
Location
Navy Memorial Heritage Center701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
Washington, DC
The closest Metro station is Navy Memorial/Archives Tickets Opening Night Film & Reception: $25
Closing Night Film & Reception: $25
Tickets to film sessions : $10/$7 student and seniors
Tickets to seminars: $25 per seminar.
To see the list of films and purchase tickets, see the official web site.
March 6 - 27, 2010The Big Apple Circus
The Big Apple Circus, New York's original one-ring circus, will be in the Washington DC area from March 6 - 27, 2010. Performers from around the globe gather under the Big Top at Dulles Town Center for this season's show:
- From America, Bello Nock with his daredevil stunts and child-like humor!
- From Italy, the Curatola Brothers, the acrobatic duo perform an exciting act full of fun and fancy!
- From Italy, Luciano Anastasini and his Pound Puppies return for a joyously jumping mélange of human and canine acrobatics!
- From Russia, the Aniskin Troupe amaze with their bravura, athletic trampoline act-- then soar into the Big Top stratosphere with their spectacular flying trapeze act!
- From Russia, lovely and graceful Regina Dobrovitskaya performs a shimmering spectacle on aerial silk ribbons!
- From America and Kazakhstan, equestrians Christine Zerbini and Sultan Kumisbayev present an electrifying riding act -- standing atop galloping chargers, Roman-style!
- From Spain, Picaso Jr. returns with his sizzling style and extraordinary juggling act -- puffing into the air up to five ping-pong balls simultaneously, and catching them -- with his mouth!
- And many more
St. Patrick's Day Parade
Washington, D.C.
38th Annual Saint Patrick's Day Parade 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 12:00 Noon
The 39th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade Grand Marshals will be distinguished community leaders Frank Saul, founder of Chevy Chase Bank, and his wife Tricia Saul.
The Parade will proceed down Constitution Avenue from 7th to 17th Streets, N.W., in our Nation’s Capital. The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is one of the best attended parades in Washington.
You will not have to contend with mid-week traffic and scheduling problems, since we march on Sunday. The Parade is limited to 2 ½ hours. The average Washington temperature in mid-March is 50-55 degrees, though we have had some blustery days.
Please come & join us and support the Parade!!
March 17, 2010St. Patrick's Day
Many folk ask the question 'Why is the Shamrock the National Flower of Ireland ?' The reason is that St. Patrick used it to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagans. Saint Patrick is believed to have been born in the late fourth century, and is often confused with Palladius, a bishop who was sent by Pope Celestine in 431 to be the first bishop to the Irish believers in Christ.
Saint Patrick was the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland who is credited with bringing christianity to Ireland. Most of what is known about him comes from his two works, the Confessio, a spiritual autobiography, and his Epistola, a denunciation of British mistreatment of Irish christians. Saint Patrick described himself as a "most humble-minded man, pouring forth a continuous paean of thanks to his Maker for having chosen him as the instrument whereby multitudes who had worshipped idols and unclean things had become the people of God."
Saint Patrick is most known for driving the snakes from Ireland. It is true there are no snakes in Ireland, but there probably never have been - the island was separated from the rest of the continent at the end of the Ice Age. As in many old pagan religions, serpent symbols were common and often worshipped. Driving the snakes from Ireland was probably symbolic of putting an end to that pagan practice. While not the first to bring christianity to Ireland, it is Patrick who is said to have encountered the Druids at Tara and abolished their pagan rites. The story holds that he converted the warrior chiefs and princes, baptizing them and thousands of their subjects in the "Holy Wells" that still bear this name.
There are several accounts of Saint Patrick's death. One says that Patrick died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, on March 17, 460 A.D. His jawbone was preserved in a silver shrine and was often requested in times of childbirth, epileptic fits, and as a preservative against the "evil eye." Another account says that St. Patrick ended his days at Glastonbury, England and was buried there. The Chapel of St. Patrick still exists as part of Glastonbury Abbey. Today, many Catholic places of worship all around the world are named after St. Patrick, including cathedrals in New York and Dublin city
Why Saint Patrick's Day?
Saint Patrick's Day has come to be associated with everything Irish: anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck. Most importantly, to those who celebrate its intended meaning, St. Patrick's Day is a traditional day for spiritual renewal and offering prayers for missionaries worldwide.
So, why is it celebrated on March 17th? One theory is that that is the day that St. Patrick died. Since the holiday began in Ireland, it is believed that as the Irish spread out around the world, they took with them their history and celebrations. The biggest observance of all is, of course, in Ireland. With the exception of restaurants and pubs, almost all businesses close on March 17th. Being a religious holiday as well, many Irish attend mass, where March 17th is the traditional day for offering prayers for missionaries worldwide before the serious celebrating begins.
In American cities with a large Irish population, St. Patrick's Day is a very big deal. Big cities and small towns alike celebrate with parades, "wearing of the green," music and songs, Irish food and drink, and activities for kids such as crafts, coloring and games. Some communities even go so far as to dye rivers or streams green!
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day in a real Irish Pub!
Check out the Irish Pubs in Washington DC and surrounding area for your St Patricks Day celebrations!
Washington DC Duffy's Irish Pub
Washington DC Fado Irish Pub
Washington DC Finn macCool's Irish Publick House
Washington DC Four Green Field's Irish Pub
Washington DC Irelands Four Provinces
Washington DC Irish Channel Irish Pub
Washington DC Mackey's Irish Pub
Washington DC McFadden's
Washington DC The Dubliner Irish Pub
March 27 - April 11, 20102010 National Cherry Blossom Festival
Washington, DC welcomes the arrival of spring with the National Cherry Blossom Festival, a tradition that showcases the beautiful gift of 3,000 cherry trees that the city of Tokyo gave to our nation’s capital. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is an annual two-week, city-wide event featuring more than 200 international cultural performances and over 90 other special events. From arts and exhibits to cuisine and sports, there is something for everyone to enjoy!
The blossoming cherry trees symbolize the arrival of spring and brighten the area surrounding the Jefferson Memorial on the Tidal Basin with their vibrant pale pink and white flowers.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off the busy tourist season in Washington, DC and includes many special events near the monuments and the museums on the National Mall.
March 27, 2010The Smithsonian Kite Festival
The Smithsonian Kite Festival is an annual event that is traditionally a part of the festivities at the National Cherry Blossom Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Kite enthusiasts show off their stunt skills and compete for awards in over 36 categories including aerodynamics, beauty, box, and funniest. Top prizes are given for the Theme Award, People’s Choice, Family Trophy, and Highest Overall Score. The Smithsonian's Kite Festival is one of the most popular annual events in Washington, DC and features kite fliers from across the U.S. and the world.
Date and Time: Saturday, March 27, 2010, 10am to 4pm
Rain date: Sunday, March 28, 2010
Location: On the grounds of the National Mall, between 4th & 7th Streets, NW Washington, DC. The most convenient Metro stations are Smithsonian and Federal Triangle. For more information about getting to the festival, see Cherry Blossom Festival Transportation Guide
This year’s festival will explore using natural resources such as bamboo and recyclable goods such as paper and cloth to create environmentally and thematically “green” kites. Activities will include hands-on activities and demonstrations by kite flyers from Switzerland and the Czech Republic. The West Indian American Kiters Association and Tobago Flying Colours will demonstrate how to make kites with recycled material, the Embassy of Sweden will present a living green exhibit, and the Department of Energy’s Wind Powering America program will educate spectators about wind power.
The Hot Tricks Shootout is a stunt kite flying competition. Pairs of fliers compete against each other to see who can do the most interesting tricks in a 30 second countdown. At the end of each 30-second segment, the flier changes and every 3 minutes a winner is determined for each round. Winners of each of the rounds stay in the competition and the flier who is left at the end of all rounds is the winner of the event.
The Rokkaku Battle is held at the end of the day when individuals or teams try to cut or ground the other kites. The last kite in the sky wins the contest. Schedule of Events 10 a.m. - Opening ceremony - registration begins
10:15 a.m. - Kite maker/master kite maker competition begins
Noon - Kite maker/master kite maker competition breaks; children’s competition begins
12:30 p.m. - Registration ends
1 p.m. - Children’s competition ends, children’s award ceremony, kite maker/master, kite maker competition resumes
2 p.m. - Competition is completed. Hot Tricks Showdown
3 p.m. - Rokkaku Challenge and kite maker/master kite maker awards ceremony begins
The Smithsonian Kite Festival is sponsored by The Smithsonian Associates and the National Air and Space Museum. For more information call (202) 357-3030 or see the official web site.