It’s International Women’s Day (IWD) once again, and while I’m not doing anything special to celebrate (does watching The L Word finale tonight count?), I feel obligated to note the event here.
Of interest is a list of “Gender Facts” on the official International Women’s Day site. Did you know that “Women use 20,000 words a day while men only use 7,000”? Cocktail conversation, perhaps. More sobering is that “Of 1.2 billion people living in poverty worldwide, 70% are women,” “Women are 2/3 of the 1 billion+ illiterate adults who have no access to basic education,” and “Women do two-thirds of the world’s work but receive only 10% of the world’s income.”
While IWD is a blip on the consciousness of most Americans, it is an official holiday in many countries. Men are supposed to give the women in their lives small gifts. Think I’ll keep that in mind for when our son is older.
Are you celebrating? Have your kids’ schools done anything to mark the occasion?