Celebrating International Women's Day with a Women Only Space at COGNEWS
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
International Women’s Day (IWD) originated from early 20th-century labor movements in North America and Europe, aimed at securing voting rights, better pay, and shorter working hours. It was proposed in 1910 by Clara Zetkin and first celebrated in 1911, with the date later finalised to March 8th.
For many years, we made great progress in the UK, but with recent discoveries such as the Epstein and Al Fayed scandals, and alarming reports that numbers of Gen Z men seek to erode women's rights, it's now just as important as it was in 1910 to make sure that all women have fair rights across the world, including in the UK and right here in Staffordshire Moorlands.
Men don't worry much about their personal safety if they want to go jogging at night in a relatively safe area. Their healthcare is designed based on their anatomy; even their pockets are designed for them. None of these things are true for women.
The endless display of marketing offered for International Women's Day means that the importance of the movement is degraded, so ladies, when you're getting your skincare offer for IWD, think about speaking out and influencing change for your sisters who struggle and for yourself too. It's not that long ago that women were property, and if you don't want your great-granddaughters facing the same issues your great-grandmother did, you need to use your influence to effect positive change.
Have confidence in your views, keep learning, keep earning, if you can do it yourself - do. If you need a hand make sure it's just the hand you take.
My mother was an exceptional feminist without even knowing or ever mentioning it. She was told by her pa aged 15 to always keep her own money, and she did. It gave her confidence and power. She chose to love only one man her whole life. She worked in the pottery industry for many years learning a man's job. You can see pictures of the machinery she operated in the Spode exhibition in Stoke museum.
Did she accept her lot? No, she told her bosses that if they wanted her to do a man's job, then she wanted a man's pay. She got it. Later she ran a hospital laundry during the time of privatisation, and she, along with another female superintendent, not only made the laundry profitable but took in commercial work from across the country, including the army. She was always a tour-de-force, defending her own people and her own views fiercely but could be tender and funny and always feminine.
I always resented her for being missing from things which were important to me, such as school concerts and when I came home from school and needed a hug, but I'm pleased she chose to sacrifice that to do the important work she did, and it is what's made me who I am, ironically exactly like my mum.
And today dear reader, I've created a new genre for COGNEWS where all women can voice their challenges and triumphs, a place where we can celebrate, smile and sob together. It's called Women's World. Please join, please share, please have your say. Let's not lose the progress we've made, and let's make a better world for womankind as well as mankind.
A personal point of view from Editor Lori Wood Williams
Celebrating International Women's Day with a Women-Only Space at COGNEWS - created 8th March 2026
