Holidays Celebrating Women and Girls
Date: March
About: Women’s History Month is celebrated in March to pay tribute to the generations of women whose commitment to nature and the planet have proved invaluable to society.
Learn more: Women’s History Month
Date: March 8
About: 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.
Learn more: International Women’s Day
Date: Varies, but often the second Sunday in May
About: Mother’s Day is a holiday honoring motherhood that is observed in different forms throughout the world. The American incarnation of Mother’s Day was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official U.S. holiday in 1914. Jarvis would later denounce the holiday’s commercialization and spent the latter part of her life trying to remove it from the calendar. While dates and celebrations vary, Mother’s Day most commonly falls on the second Sunday in May and traditionally involves presenting mothers with flowers, cards and other gifts.
Learn more: Mother’s Day
Date: August 26
About: At the behest of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY), in 1971 the U.S. Congress designated August 26 as “Women’s Equality Day.” The date was selected to commemorate the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. This was the culmination of a massive, peaceful civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention, in Seneca Falls, New York.
Learn more: Women’s Equality Day
Date: October 11
About: The UN declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child in 2011 to raise awareness about all issues concerning gender inequality around the world. It’s a day when activist groups come together under the same goal to highlight, discuss, and take action to advance rights and opportunities for girls everywhere.
Learn more: National Day of the Girl
Date: November 25
About: From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world.
Learn more: International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women