International Women’s Day has come and gone, but the best tributes will hopefully carry us through the rest of Women’s History Month. Here are some of our favorite tributes from the day.
Women of Courage Awards
Jill Biden hosted the 17th annual International Women of Courage awards, which took place at the actual White House for the first time ever. The awards honored the following activists:
- Dr. Zakira Hekmat of Afghanistan (residing in Türkiye) – founder of the Afghan Refugee Solidarity Association
- Ms. Alba Rueda (pictured above) – Argentina’s current Special Envoy for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship
- Professor Danièle Darlan – former President of the Central African Republic’s Constitutional Court
- Ms. Doris Ríos – recognized Cabécarindigenous leader and well-respected member of the China Kichá indigenous community
- Meaza Mohammed – a veteran Ethiopian journalist and the founder of Roha TV
- Ms. Hadeel Abdel Aziz – a Human rights activist and founder of the Justice Center for Legal Aid
- Bakhytzhan Toregozhina – a civil society activist in Kazakhstan
- Senator Datuk Ras Adiba Radzi – founder of OKU Sentral, journalist, and representative for persons with disabilities in Malaysia
- Brigadier General Bolor Ganbold – Chief of the Education and Training Directorate of the General Staff of the Mongolian Armed Forces and first woman general of Mongolian Armed Forces
- Mrs. Bianka Zalewska – Polish humanitarian, journalist, and refugee advocate
- Mrs. Yuliia Paievska – head of Taira’s Angels, a volunteer unit of paramedics in Ukraine, and former prisoner of war
The White House also dedicated the Madeleine Albright Honorary Group Award to the Women and Girl Protestors of Iran. For more info, I highly suggest reading each women’s profile on the state website.
News & Politics
We are unfortunately going on a year of active combat in Ukraine. Still, the women of Ukraine are standing strong and defending their homeland, as shown in this tribute to the women in combat.
Malala Yousafzai also posted a touching tribute to her own mother, posting a picture of them at her Oxford graduation.
Women’s Rights and Women’s Wrongs
Some people went a little more of a tongue-in-cheek route to celebrate women’s rights and women’s wrongs.
Twitter User @CAdreamboy tweeted about the “feminine urge to become completely unhinged” which featured anti-heroines or even outright villainesses like Harley Quinn, Jennifer Check, and Amy Dunne.
Meanwhile, Diablo tweeted #HailLilith, and many users followed suit, swearing allegiance to the original succubus/demoness.
Presents & Acknowledgements
There’s also a rising trend of men getting the important women in their lives presents for International Women’s Day, which is always something sweet to see.
I’m not usually one for Pink Capitalism, but this ad was hilarious: Ford debuted a new “Men’s Only” car commercial by highlighting all of the parts of a car that were invented by women, many of whom have had their contributions erased or credited to men.
Calling out unappreciated labor
In a beautiful tribute to both International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, this TikTok trend is calling out double standards, patriarchal history, and the erasure of women’s labor, be it physical, mental, or emotional.
The full song is slated for release on March 24th and we’ll be listening to this section on loop until then.
I want to highlight this TikTok in particular, which highlighted the work of enslaved wet nurses who were forced to mother other people’s children at the cost of their own families.
What was your favorite tribute this International Women’s Day? Comment below!
(featured image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
