Dressing for International Women's Day

Tuesday is International Women's Day and as a United States Politics and Comparative Government teacher, awareness of women's global issues is important to me. This year's theme for International Women's Day is "Pledge for Parity." Throughout the world women have made great progress, including increased access to education and financial institutions, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Gender disparities widen as the level of education increases (see chart here), the gender pay gap (what do I mean? / visualizations by industry here) is improving but still has a long way to go, and in some areas women are refused education or married as children, forced into slavery, or barred from political participation. Though I could talk about any number of issues on this day, I'm choosing to focus on parity in political power. 

On February 26th, 14 female reformist candidates won seats in the legislature of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and though that is a small percentage of the 290 seats, with the possibility of additional seats awarded through electoral runoffs in April, Iran could find themselves with the largest female delegation in the history of their parliament. This makes government teachers like me excited because though only slightly (and I mean slightly) less than half of the world's population is female, "only one in five members of lower or single houses of parliament worldwide is a woman" (UN). As reported by the UN Statistics Division's report on The World's Women 2015, female heads of state have grown only from 12 to 19 over the past 20 years and only 18% of appointed ministers (think Cabinet Secretary) are women. A number of factors go into these statistics, including gender norms and expectations.

In the United States in 2015, 104 women held positions in Congress. That's 19.4% of 535 members. In Rwanda, 58% of their parliament is female. 

(more cool infographics here)

I could belabor this point but I realize this is a fashion blog :-) Suffice it to say, when I talk to my students I want to be able to say to both my male and female students that they have equal chance of running for the US Senate and winning. I want a future daughter I may have to know that she is "worth" as much as a male with the same education and experience. Taking the Pledge for Parity doesn't mean we put the achievements of men down or ignore the progress we've made as a country, but it means we work for the best of everyone in our community, regardless of gender. 

A Woman's Place is in the House and the Senate Tee Shirts by JLDesigns2016

Ebay 

IWD Outfit Details: 

Top: Custom made on customink.com. Similar phrased t-shirts above. 

Skinny Jeans: American Eagle, here. 
Black Blazer: Hand-me-down from a friend! There are a lot of great options for black blazers right now so I compiled some of them below in the widget. 
Leopard Heels: Nordstrom, sold out. Same print here, here, and in the widget below.
Watch: Charming Charlie, sold out. Similar here and in widget.
Bracelet: Charming Charlie, old. Similar here. 
Rings: Jane, in stock now!
Earrings: Forever21, sold out. Similar here. 
Necklace: Shinymix.com. Similar here and here and more in widget.
Purse: Amazon, LOVE IT! 
Lip Color: Mac, Rebel.

Options for Black Blazers: 

IWD Widget: 

Thanks so much for visiting!