Green Party of Pennsylvania

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Saturday, February 15, 2025

CONTACT: 

Chris Robinson, Communication Team Co-Leader

267-977-0570 and [email protected]

Green Party and International Women’s Day 2025

By Erin King, Green Party of Pennsylvania Steering Committee

“Feminism and Gender Equity” is one of the Green Party’s Ten Key Values. It specifically recognizes how male-dominated political and economic systems, which have been passed down through centuries, significantly lack cultural, spiritual, and moral awareness, retaining a level of rigidity that has resulted in the marginalization of certain groups and stifled any forward-thinking progress, even well into the 21st century. Sadly, yet predictably, the consequences of such antiquated systems, which tend to consistently implement oppressive laws and policies to prevent distinct groups from attaining positions of power, as well as complete autonomy over their own bodies, intentionally deprives many women and LGBTQA+ people around the world of the most basic and vital liberties and safeguards.

This year, International Women’s Day (IWD) will be celebrated on March 8. The date holds a special significance linked to the women’s movement during the Russian revolution of 1917 -- according to the United Nations’ website -- although the recognition and celebration of International Women’s Day dates back as far as 1909.The IWD theme for 2025, as declared by the United Nations, is “Accelerate Action.”

While this theme’s message focuses primarily on taking expeditious steps towards achieving gender equality, it truly is a concept that can readily be applied to nearly every aspect of our lives, as women and girls across the globe reach out to one another in the name of solidarity and empowerment during a time when their struggles accumulate against an ever-growing movement of oppression by the patriarchy.

New year, old challenges.
Worth noting is that each new generation of women must continue to fight for the same rights and protections their mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers worked so fiercely to secure. In America, women’s rights, including those of LGBTQA+ persons, are at the forefront of every election cycle, and 2024 was certainly no different. Gender equality, trans rights, abortion rights, contraception rights, and even the right to affordable and easily accessible menstrual products were up for debate and decision. All too often, the ongoing battles over these fundamental freedoms can feel as though they have been reduced to little more than a mockery by the "powers that be."

One of the most tragic things we’ve seen over the past several years is the treatment of women and girls by the Taliban in Afghanistan, who have, yet again, been robbed of their human right to an education or to walk freely without a male escort. In Ireland, in 2018, women finally won their legal right to abortion care, only to still be hit with tough restrictions that continue to force some women to travel outside the country to safely terminate their unwanted pregnancies. On a more positive note, in 2024, Mexico elected its first female president, who also stems from a Jewish background and has appeared as a force to be reckoned with to anyone looking to undermine her progressive ideals. Lastly, we wholeheartedly recognize the immeasurably monstrous and inhumane suffering that has been illegally and immorally inflicted upon the women and children of Palestine, Sudan, and the Congo.

The enduring strength and resilience of women, internationally, during the most brutal and tumultuous times in history, to date, is both inspirational and shocking to behold. The fight continues, but we need to achieve an extraordinary level of solidarity to win the war.

The Green Party and its political candidates, for whom we campaign and confidently show our support, stand firmly against any and all forms of discrimination and inequality targeting women and LGBTQA+ persons. The Green Party is also committed to grassroots initiatives, which are necessary for growing a solid base of everyday citizens who believe in true democracy and equality without the interference of corporate entities.

Walk proudly. Embrace Green. Remember to stay strong and accelerate action on this International Women’s Day and beyond.

Pennsylvania voters who would like to run for local or county office as a Green Party candidate should contact [email protected]. The Green Party of PA, https://www.gpofpa.org, is an independent political party which stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPPA candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party’s Four Pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPPA, please email [email protected]. Please follow GPPA on social media: Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/gpofpa/; Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/pagreenparty/; and Twitter, https://twitter.com/GreenPartyofPA. 

For more information, please see:

“Have a Green International Women’s Day 2024” by Marci Henzi, GREEN STAR, March 2024, https://www.gpofpa.org/march_2024_greenstar 

“PA Greens Celebrate International Women’s Day 2023” by Tina Olson, GREEN STAR, March 2023, https://www.gpofpa.org/greenstar_march_2023 

“Choose to Challenge, International Women’s Day 2021” by Beth Scroggin, GREEN STAR, March 2021, https://www.gpofpa.org/march_2021_green_star 

“ERA on the Eve of International Women’s Day 2020” by Gayle Morrow, GREEN STAR, https://www.gpofpa.org/march_2020_green_star 

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Green Party of Pennsylvania

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

CONTACT: 

Chris Robinson, Communication Team Co-Leader

215-843-4256 and [email protected]

Have a Green International Women’s Day, March 8

By Marci Henzi (Allegheny)

International Women’s Day (IWD) will be celebrated on Friday, March 8, this year.  But did you know that the first “Women’s Day” (No, not the still famous magazine first published in 1931 as a free leaflet for A&P grocery shoppers, almost exclusively women.) was celebrated on February 28, 1909, and that it was organized by the Socialist Party of America in NY City? Then it caught on throughout Europe, and in 1917, March 8 was declared a national holiday in Russia, right after women gained suffrage. That date stuck, and the day was associated with movements of the far left until the late ‘60’s women’s movement and the day’s adoption by the United Nations in 1977.

Now IWD has become more of a celebration of womanhood in the West, but in other parts of the world it is still marked by protest and calls for radical change. This twenty-first century contrast in meaning and significance has not gone without criticism.  Claims have been made that Western corporations have commercialized International Women’s Day and diluted its meaning. But still, the United Nations declares a yearly theme. This year’s theme is based on the United Nations 68th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) priority theme: “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective,” or simply, “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress.”

And did you know that there are colors associated with International Women’s Day? They are purple -- signifying justice, dignity and loyalty to cause; green -- symbolizing hope; and white -- signifying purity. 

Maybe you are thinking of one of the Green Party’s Ten Key Values (TKV). And, I wish you would this IWD!  Here it is, TKV # 7: Feminism and Gender Equality.

“We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics.  We call for the replacement of the cultural ethics of domination and control with cooperative ways of interacting that respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as gender equality, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed with moral conscience. We recognize that the processes of determining our decisions and actions are just as important as achieving the outcomes we want.”

Please consider the intersection of TKV #7 and TKV #3: Ecological Wisdom through Ecological Politics: Ecofeminists and the Greens by Greta Gaard, https://tupress.temple.edu/books/ecological-politics

Hoping you remember to have a Green International Women’s Day! 

Marci Henzi has been a Green Party of Allegheny County (GPOAC) delegate to the Green Party of Pennsylvania State Committee since 2019. In the past, she was also a member of the GPOAC Executive Committee.

The Green Party of PA, https://www.gpofpa.org, is an independent political party which stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPPA candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party’s Four Pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPPA, please email [email protected]. Please follow GPPA on social media: Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/gpofpa/; Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/pagreenparty/; and Twitter, https://twitter.com/GreenPartyofPA.

For more information:

International Women’s Day, March 8, United Nations,
https://www.un.org/en/observances/womens-day

Green Party Ten Key Values, Green Party of Allegheny County,
https://www.alleghenygreens.org/about/ten-key-values

Ecological Politics: Ecofeminists and the Greens by Greta Gaard, Temple University Press, 1998, https://tupress.temple.edu/books/ecological-politics

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