This news release is available in PDF format here
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Hiawatha First Nation pays honour and respect to all Women on “International Women’s Day.”
International Women’s Day can be traced back to the early twentieth century and began from the actions of labour movements across Turtle Island (North America) and Europe. This movement reflected an increasing call for women’s equal participation in society.
The first International Women’s Day took place on March 19, 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Over a million women and men attended these initial events to show their support. In the following years, many countries around the world also began to observe this day. In 1975, the United Nations recognized International Women’s Year and began observing March 8 as International Women’s Day.
So it is that today, on International Women’s Day, we celebrate and recognize, not only Indigenous Women but all women around the world. We celebrate women from all walks of life regardless of divisions in ethnicity, nationality or culture.
Women are the heart of all our Nations!
It’s important we give honour to those who have led and continue to lead the fight for equality, rights and the recognition of those who are no longer with us. Women are there for us as caregivers, protectors and teachers. They educate and nurture us as mothers and as grandmothers. They are pillars of our history and a link to our ancestors.
We honour the women in our lives who have been there with us from the moment we are born, have nurtured and guided us and have taught us about our roles and responsibilities as we grow from baby, to toddler, to child, to youth, to womanhood.
Women are the unequivocal power of mothers, grandmothers, aunties, sisters and friends, coming together so that we can all thrive and live the life Creator intended for us. Women Supporting Women!
We must stand together and use our collective voices. Voices which are raised for women now and for the next generation of progressive leaders.
HFN Chief and Council