News

February 25, 2016

IWD Capital Region Committee Make a #PledgeForParity with International Women’s Day Celebration

For the second year, the Opalka Gallery and the International Center of the Capital Region have teamed up with the International Women’s Day Capital Region Committee to host the area’s celebration of International Women’s Day, which is marked globally as a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women as well as a call for action on gender parity. The event will be held on Tuesday, March 8 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Opalka Gallery, on the Sage College of Albany campus at 140 New Scotland Avenue.

All over the world, International Women’s Day represents an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women while calling for greater equality. National Woman’s Day (NWD) was first celebrated on February 28, 1909 in the United States, conceived as a national festival promoting women’s rights. In 1911, the idea was exported to Europe, where the first International Women’s Day (IWD) was held on March 19 in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. Now celebrated around the world on March 8, IWD continues to honor women’s achievements and promote equality across nations.

The theme for 2016 is “A Pledge for Parity.” Worldwide, women continue to contribute to social, economic, cultural and political achievement and there is much to celebrate, but progress toward true gender parity has slowed in many places. The World Economic Forum estimated last year that the gender pay gap would not close until 2133. Everyone, men and women, can pledge to take concrete steps to help achieve gender parity.

For the Albany celebration of International Women’s Day, we’ll bring together non-profit organizations helping women and families and women-owned businesses to celebrate the achievements of Capital Region women.

We’re pleased to announce Mayor Kathy Sheehan will be on hand for welcoming remarks, followed by journalist Rosemary Armao, a panelist on WAMC. Our keynote speaker will be Janell Hobson, associate professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the UAlbany. She is the author of Body as Evidence: Mediating Race, Globalizing Gender (SUNY Press, 2012) and Venus in the Dark: Blackness and Beauty in Popular Culture (Routledge, 2005).

Participants include: Grassroots Givers, South End Children’s Café, US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Albany, Mayan Hands, League of Women Voters, US Peace Corps, Eyes Wide Open, Muslim Soup Kitchen Project, Flores Family Restaurant, Honest Weight Food Coop, Lark & Lily Wine Bar & Kitchen, Our Daily Eats, and Pho Yum.

For more information, please contact Amy Griffin, Opalka Gallery, griffa@sage.edu, 518-292-8607, or Diane Conroy-LaCivita, Executive Director, International Center of the Capital Region, diane@iccralbany.org, 518-708-7608.