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Happy International Women’s Day, ladies! Today is proving to be a day of activism and solidarity for women, and people are celebrating this special day all over the world. Events like #ADayWithoutAWoman and women’s marches for equality have taken place throughout the day, showing that women can and do make a difference. 

The official theme of this IWD, according to its website, is #BeBoldForChange, and marchers across the world did just that. According to The New York Times, an #ADayWithoutAWoman march took place at noon today in New York City and featured a heavy police presence, as 13 were arrested, including some who organized the march. A “Resist Trump” protest made up of several hundred people and dozens of journalists surrounded the White House in the nation's capital. In Dublin, thousands marched against abortion laws in Ireland, a country that has outlawed all abortions. There were also protests and marches in Seoul, San Francisco, Zurich, Paris, Madrid, Turkey and Toronto. 

#ADayWithoutAWoman, according to CNN, "aim[ed] to draw attention to inequities working women face compared to men, from wage disparity to harassment to job insecurity." Aside from marching, today, women all over the world striked. While not every woman was able to take the day off, the Center for American Progress did the math and determined that if every woman in America went on strike today, it would have cost the country $21 billion in gross domestic product (that's the total value of the goods and services produced and provided in the country). They also found that women—who make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce—contribute $7.6 trillion to America’s GDP each year.

Did you notice a lot of people wearing red today? That was part of IWD, too. Both men and women wore red in solidarity with women striking worldwide. In addition to wearing red, people were encouraged to avoid spending money today unless it was at small businesses or businesses owned by women.

Political figures also joined in on IWD. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and several other Democrats honored the contributions of women at the U.S. Capitol in Washington today, and Hillary Clinton and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan were honored at the Kennedy Center by Vital Voices for their work for women and girls. Across the pond, Theresa May, the Prime Minister of the U.K., hosted an event at government headquarters at Downing Street to celebrate.

What do you think of #ADayWithoutAWoman? How did you celebrate International Women's Day? Tell us in the comments!

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Photo credit: Todd Heisler/The New York Times, Women's March

by Emily Cavanagh | 3/8/2017