I is for International Women's Day

Wednesday, March 08, 2017

I is for International Women's Day

Today is the 106th year of International Women's Day. To quote the campaign's website, "March 8th is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity." Local initiatives in North Carolina include encouraging women to campaign for advancement and to stay home from work today to heighten awareness of how much women contribute to the workforce. At least one school district in North Carolina is closed today because of concern about not finding sufficient substitute teachers. The irony is that today is also the annual statewide tornado drill day. With or without their female teachers, at 9:30 a.m., all students in the State will move to safe shelter and assume the crouched, facing-the-wall position.

On another note, today's photo is a poster at the city parking deck on Bellemeade and Elm Streets. It features Prlyanka Ruparella, a Ph.D. student at Greensboro's Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering. According to the school's website, out of fourteen full-time faculty, one nano science faculty is a female and one nano engineering faculty is a female. Let's hope that more women, like the one featured on the poster, decide to pursue these specialized science fields. To be sure, it is hard work. To be sure, women deserve equal pay for equal work.

Today is ABC Wednesday, and for Round 20, "I" is for "International Women's Day", which has been celebrated in the USA only since 1975. In Cuba, Madagascar, and Uzbekistan, it is an official holiday. Here's to crouching and facing the wall at 9:30 and standing up and cheering at noon!

Posted at 05:30 AM in 2017 1st Quarter, ABC Round 20, ABC Wednesday, Schools, Science, Signs | Permalink