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March 8, 2007 is International Women's Day.

From the IWD website:

THE IWD COLOURS
Purple, green and white are the official international women's colours.

The colours originated from the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), in the UK in 1908. The colours were said to represent:
- white for purity in public as well as private life
- purple for justice, dignity, self-reverence and self-respect (and representing the women's vote)
- green for hope and new life.

The colours unified the women's movement and emphasised the femininity of the suffragettes. The tricolour of the WSPU soon became a visual cue for the women's movement in other countries. Purple, green and white were worn on International Women's Day and were used for other women's movement banners and posters.

More recently, two changes have occured:
- the use of the colour white has more recently been rejected as 'purity' is a controversial issue and attitudes towards the role of 'purity' from women differ greatly
- the introduction of the colour gold representing 'a new dawn' has been commonly used to represent the second wave of feminism.

Wikipedia: Feminism
-Wikipedia: First Wave Feminism
-Wikipedia: Second Wave Feminism
-Wikipedia: Third Wave Feminism


Article- Electronic Iraq: Women's Lives Unraveling in Occupied Iraq

Article- BBC: Women's Day Report Shows Wage Gap

Article- Electronic Intifada: Violence Against Women Rises in the Occupied Territories


Other organizations and websites devoted to the empowerment of women:

Blog Against Sexism

Code Pink: Women For Peace

Health for Humanity: Maternal and Child Health Projects

Feminist.org

La Leche League

National Organization of Women

Women for Women, International

Association for Women's Rights in Development

Feminist Theory Website

Feminist Blogs

Feminism and Women's Studies

National Women's Health Information

National Women's Health Institute

V-Day: Global Movement to Stop Violence Against Women and Girls

Girl Scouts of America

Girlguiding UK

Girl Guides of Canada

Girl Guides Australia



If you know of other great organizations or websites, please leave a link in the comments.



"Mommy, when I grow up I want to help smash the white, racist, homophobic, patriarchal, bullshit paradigm too!"

-Author unknown (on my refrigerator magnet)