13-R108

2013 -- H 5866

Enacted 03/06/13

H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N

RECOGNIZING MARCH 8TH, 2013, AS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Introduced By: Representatives E Coderre, Ajello, Williams, Naughton, and Walsh

Date Introduced: March 06, 2013

     WHEREAS, International Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900’s,

during a time of booming population growth, turbulence, expansion in the industrialized world,

and the rise of radical ideologies; and

     WHEREAS, International Women’s Day is a day when women are recognized for their

achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic,

or political; and

     WHEREAS, The first National Women’s Day was observed in the United States on

February 28, 1909, by the Socialist Party of America. The Party designated that day as National

Women’s Day in honor of the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York, in which women

protested against the working conditions they had to endure; and

     WHEREAS, Although National Women’s Day was celebrated on the last Sunday of

every February until 1913, International Women’s Day was first observed on March 19, 1911,

following the second International Conference of Working Women that was held in Copenhagen,

Denmark; and

     WHEREAS, The first countries to honor International Women’s Day were Austria,

Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. More than one million women and men attended

International Women’s Day rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained,

hold public office, and end discrimination; and

     WHEREAS, On March 25, 1911, a week after the initial celebration of this event and on

the heels of countless rallies campaigning for equal rights and tolerable and fair working

conditions for women, a disastrous event known as the “Triangle Shirtwaist Fire” in New York

City took the lives of more than 140 women, most of whom were Italian and Jewish immigrants;

and

     WHEREAS, This tragic event, along with succeeding rallies, drew significant attention to

working conditions and labor legislation in the United States, which became the focus of

subsequent International Women’s Day events; and

     WHEREAS, On the eve of World War I, International Women’s Day became recognized

worldwide on March 8th, beginning in 1914. Since then, March 8th has remained the day on

which International Women’s Day is celebrated; and

     WHEREAS, Following those early years, International Women’s Day has assumed a

new, global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike; and

     WHEREAS, International Women’s Day is celebrated in a variety of countries, including

Afghanistan, Armenia, Belarus, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Uganda, Ukraine, Vietnam, Zambia,

and a host of others, and in some countries, International Women’s Day is the equivalent to

Mother’s Day; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

Providence Plantations is honored to recognize March 8th, 2013, as International Women’s Day.

We encourage all citizens of the state to celebrate and pay tribute to the contributions made by

women of this and every nation; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to send

a duly certified copy of this resolution to the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

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LC02000

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