March 11, 2016
This Sunday marks the international holiday of ‘Mother’s Day’, an ode and honouring of motherhood that is celebrated in countries all across the world.
The roots of the holiday started in 1908 America, when Anna Jarvis’ mother passed away. In respect of her Mother’s passing, Anna wanted to promote a day honouring mothers, in her words “the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world”. Over time ‘Mother’s Day’ became more commercial – it became customary to buy your mum a card and maybe some flowers. Anna Jarvis was outraged by the fact that what she had created had been taken over by consumerism and now the holiday was about profit instead of gratitude. Anna urged that people should be writing their Mothers heart-felt letters instead of buying pre-written cards.
As much as Mother’s day may have become a consumerist holiday – it is still an important day in remembering and supporting motherhood, and the importance of Mothers in society. Maybe this year you should write your Mum a heart-felt letter and do something for her to show you care – breakfast in bed is always a winner!
Next Tuesday (March 8th) is also the celebration of International Women’s Day. The idea of International Women’s Day is to raise awareness of the struggles and problems women still face today, it aims to support and empower women all across the world and to educate everyone about the inequality that is still prevalent now in the 21st century.
Although we should strive for gender equality at all times – March 8th is seen as a day in which the world should become aware of what we can do to eradicate the gender gap. This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is #PledgeForParity: this year we want to focus on the different access to education that male and females have. As a creative education company, this idea sticks with us. With everything we do, we understand the importance of education and that education is not a privilege but a right. Therefore we believe that it is essential that access to education is universal and that race/gender/wealth plays no part in who receives it. Visit their website to see what you can do to help the Pledge for Parity campaign!
As International Women’s Day was instigated through a political and feminist movement, we wanted to touch on some of the feminist campaigns in place today that can help to achieve gender equality. The amazing Emma Watson and her #HeForShe campaign is proving extremely beneficial – her influential character and status means that more awareness can be raised for women everywhere. The HeforShe website lists the ways in which gender inequality is still at large today and ways in which we can help eradicate this. From Education to Identity to Health – there are signs that women are not being treated the same as men in modern day society. It is integral to our world that equality comes forward and with each and every International Women’s Day, more and more methods to achieve this arise.
“International Women’s Day means different things to different people. For some it’s a celebration, for others it’s a call to action to accelerate gender parity, and for many it’s an opportunity to align and promote relevant activity. Whatever your objective, International Women’s Day is the perfect moment for gender-focused action.”
Love Jess & The One Day Team x
#PledgeForParity #HeForShe