Today is International Women’s Day — so have a great one! According to internationalwomensday.com this day, “is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.” International Women’s Day (IWD) became official in 1910 by the women of the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, just a couple years after 15,000 women marched through NYC demanding shorter hours and voting rights. At first, IWD was mostly celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.
However, it has truly become an international celebration. Celebrities all over the world are posting on their social media supporting IWD. Some of those celebrities include Emma Watson, who began the hashtag #HeForShe as a campaign to encourage men to be “advocates for gender equality.” Taylor Swift, who is consistently empowering women to follow their ambition. Ariana Grande, who celebrates IWD everyday. There are too many to list here, but if you flip through your social media today, you are bound to see tons of IWD support from ladies, gentlemen, neithers, and in-betweener.
Additionally, Spotify has put up several girl-power playlists up in honor of IWD. Some of the most popular women to listen to today (and some of our favorites here) are: Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Lana Del Rey, Katy Perry, Ellie Goulding, Adele, Selena Gomez, Lorde, Sia, etc.
This year has been a pretty empowering one for women in the music industry. From the collective support behind Kesha’s lawsuit against Dr. Luke, to Charli XCX’s BBC documentary on sexism in the music industry, to Miley Cyrus starting Happy Hippies which is a foundation for homeless LGBTQ youth, to, well, just Beyonce’s existence in general. Women in the music industry are fighting for their rights and standing up against the sexism in the music industry in powerful ways.
Not only that, but we have been seeing increasing acceptance of trans and non-binary women’s identities. Caitlyn Jenner, someone who the world would hardly have expected to come out as trans, went through with her transition, which has inspired many others to come out and accept themselves. Celebrities like Ruby Rose and Miley Cyrus openly talked about her gender fluid and genderqueer identities respectively. Not to mention, in the less main-stream music world, G.L.O.S.S. came out with their demo of five righteous trans anthems. And, of course, there’s Laura Jane Grace from Against Me! who came out with the Transgender Dysphoria Blues just a couple years ago.
Today is a day to celebrate the accomplishments of all women and to raise awareness for gender equality. Technically, March is Women’s Month, so let’s not just celebrate today, but everyday of this month (and our lives, let’s be real).
