International Women’s Day has its roots in the American labor movement. In 1908, 15,000 women in New York City marched to protest against dangerous working conditions, better pay and the right to vote; the first National Women’s Day in the U.S. was held the following year.On March 8, 1917, women in present-day St. Petersburg, Russia, staged a strike to protest food shortages, poor living conditions and World War I. To commemorate the efforts of these women, International Women’s Day was established on March 8, 1921.

Audio of my interview about women’s role in African activism is here.

Source: ASU experts share insights on gender equality across the globe

My interview contribution is below:

Africa
Professor Munir is an assistant teaching professor at the School of Politics and Global Studies within The College. Her academic research focuses on three areas of social phenomena: gender, environmental politics and legal systems. She is an expert on the relationship between women’s rights and natural resources in sub-Saharan Africa.

Question: Your work focuses on gender politics, law and environmental conflict. How do these topics impact African women?

Munir: In much of the Global South, women play crucial roles in managing natural resources, advocating for legal rights and driving social justice initiatives. However, they also face systemic barriers, from discriminatory legal frameworks to the disproportionate impact of climate change and land dispossession. For me, these three areas — gender politics, law and the environment — form a crucial nexus where human well-being, economic empowerment and social justice intersect. Despite structural inequalities, African women have demonstrated remarkable agency in shaping policies, leading grassroots movements and creating sustainable solutions for their communities.

One of the most powerful examples of this agency is the late Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement, originally called the Trees of Peace campaign. She single-handedly led a movement to reforest eastern Africa. African women are also creating women’s co-ops for husbandry. African women are the driving force behind something called “merry-go-round savings,” which is when there is economic hardship due to environmental degradation in rural Africa, 12 women will get together to create a savings account to start small, environmentally-based businesses. Then every month, one of the 12 women gets the pot of money. In Uganda and other countries, women have used land disputes as a catalyst for creating business cooperatives, accessing legal training to understand their rights, and founding microloan programs to support other women in agriculture.

Q: Aside from running for office, what types of activism do women utilize to mobilize and engage their communities? Are there similar mobilization strategies to women in other regions?

Munir: Women’s activism in Africa goes beyond running for office, using collective action, cultural symbols and economic resistance to drive change. In Nigeria, “sitting on a man” is a protest tactic where women physically surround a male leader, refusing to leave until he meets their demands. This method, dating back to the Aba Women’s War of 1929, is still used today in labor and political protests.

There is something in West Africa called “the curse of nakedness,” which is the idea that if a woman who already has children is topless or naked, she will go in public and shame a man … The symbolic message is, “This body I have that you’re seeing naked creates life, and you, as a man, are engaging in behaviors that harm my children and other children.” This tactic has been used by women trying to reform Nigeria’s oil industry and was key in Liberia’s 2002 Women’s Peace Movement to pressure warlords to sign a peace agreement ending the civil war, ultimately helping elect Africa’s first female president.

Economic resistance is also common. Market women’s strikes disrupt trade to protest unfair policies, similar to agricultural boycotts in Latin America and wage-withholding campaigns in the Middle East. Across the world, women use collective action, symbolic protest and economic disruption to fight for justice and shape political change.