INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY MARCH 8-2025

Saturday March 8 will be celebrated internationally as International Women’s Day (IWD.) The day was first recognised by the United Nations (UN) in 1977 following a resolution calling for member states to proclaim a day for women’s rights and international peace. In adopting its resolution, the UN General Assembly recognized the role of women in peace efforts and development and urged an end to discrimination and an increase of support for women's full and equal participation. The theme for IWD 2025 is “For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality.” International Women's Day is a time to honour and celebrate the achievements of women. To raise awareness of the work that needs to be done to ensure the full participation of women and girls and to celebrate the progress that has been made. Women across the globe, in various societies, have had to struggle for progress. Racialized women living in European dominated societies have had to struggle against sexism and racism. On April 7, 1973, at the National Congress of Black Women in Canada, Rosemary Brown said: "To be black and female in a society which is both racist and sexist is to be in the unique position of having nowhere to go but up." Rosemary Brown was the first African Canadian woman elected to any provincial legislative assembly in Canada, on August 30th 1972 in British Columbia. Rosemary Brown is one of many African women in the Diaspora who have achieved against great odds and whose names are not widely known. The African Proverb: “Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter” makes a profound statement about the lack of widespread knowledge of our African sheroes. In 2025, we do have historians who have documented some of the stories of the lives of pioneering African women on the continent and in the Diaspora. As a Pan-Africanist, the lives of African women globally have been of interest since childhood. As we approach IWD 2025 I think about the numerous African women who have inspired change. The history of those women has been researched and documented by our historians including Dr. Afua Cooper who published “The Hanging of Angelique,” in 2006) and Dr. Natasha Henry who published an article about Chloe Cooley (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chloe-cooley-and-the-act-to-limit-slavery-in-upper-canada/) Books about other African Canadian women who inspired change include “Sister to Courage” about Viola Desmond published in 2010 by Wanda Robson, the 1998 published “Mary Ann Shadd Cary: The Black Press and Protest in the Nineteenth Century” by Jane Rhodes and “Sylvia Stark: A Pioneer” by Alfred Ernest Jones, Torie Scott and Karen Lewis published in 1991. Some African women in the Diaspora and from the continent who inspired change in their communities during slavery and colonization did so in groups. They took collective action in sisterhood. During every struggle for equality and freedom from enslavement, colonization and occupation by foreign entities, women have participated. The women of Buxton Village on the East Coast of Demerara in Guyana and the Igbo and Ibibio women of Calabar and Owerri in southeastern Nigeria, resisted unfair tax laws imposed by British colonizers. Following the August 1, 1838, end of the “Apprenticeship system” in Guyana, groups of formerly enslaved Africans pooled their money together, bought abandoned plantations and established villages throughout the Guyanese coastland during the “African Village Movement.” Of the more than 100 villages established by Africans in Guyana, Buxton Village on the East Coast of Demerara is the most well-known. With the establishment of Buxton Village, there was resistance from the British colonizers who had formerly dictated every area of the lives of Africans. The former enslavers tried sabotaging the growth of the recently established village. The Buxtonians survived the deliberate flooding of their farms and other attempts to dislodge them from their homes. The final straw was an unfair taxation of their land by the colonial government. Several attempts to dialogue with the British governor were rebuffed. When the villagers heard that the governor would be passing by their village as he inspected the recently laid train tracks, it was an ideal opportunity to dialogue with the governor. As the train approached Buxton, the women of Buxton strode onto the train tracks putting their lives on the line. The men followed when the train was forced to stop and supported the women in immobilizing the train by applying chains and locks to its wheels. The Governor was forced to meet with the villagers who demanded that he repeal the exorbitant, unfair taxation of their land. Following that impromptu meeting at the train line, surprisingly, the governor did repeal the tax law. Buxtonians are famous throughout Guyana for their resistance to British colonization; every Guyanese knows that “Buxton women stop train.” In the Calabar and Owerri provinces in southeastern Nigeria, thousands of Igbo and Ibibio women organized in 1929, to resist the policies imposed by British colonial administrators. The women called their campaign the Ogu Umunwanye (Women’s War) and forced the colonial authorities to drop their plans to impose a tax on women. The “Women’s War” in Nigeria was considered the most serious challenge to British rule in the history of colonized Nigeria. It took months (November and December 1929,) for the British colonizers to suppress the “Women’s War.” British police and military were sent out to deal with the protesters and reportedly killed 100 women. The “Women’s War” sparked changes beyond the rescinding of unfair tax laws; it inspired the tax protests of 1938, the Oil Mill Protests of the 1940s and the Tax revolt of 1956. On Saturday, March 8, a group of African Canadian women will launch their recently published book “Reflections on Sisterhood: Voices from Black Canada,” at 1553 Eglinton Avenue West from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.