International Women’s Day will be observed on Saturday, March 8th.
The first National Women’s Day took place on February 28, 1909, according to the United Nations. The Socialist Party of America originally designated the day to honor the 1908 garment workers' strike in New York, where women protested poor working conditions. According to the International Women's Day (IWD) website, around 15,000 women marched for shorter working hours, better wages, and voting rights. Over the years, the day has transformed and become a global marker of discussing daily issues that women confront as well as their rights in many spaces.
Experts across multiple specialty areas at GW are available to provide commentary and analysis on the significance of this day and various women’s issues.
To speak with an expert, please contact GW Media Relations at [email protected].
Shirley Graham, Director of the Gender Equality Initiative in International Affairs at the George Washington University. Graham is an expert in Gender and International Peacekeeping, Women’s Empowerment, Women, Peace and Security. In addition to her expertise, Dr. Graham’s research focuses on gender discourses in social relations, LGBTQAI+ issues, historical and intergenerational trauma, and engaging men and boys to end violence against women and girls. View her TedTalk, How Feminism Saved Me.
Chantal de Jonge Oudraat, John O. Rankin Professor of Practice of International Affairs and Program Director of the Masters of Arts in International Affairs. de Jonge Oudraat is an expert in gender, international security, international organizations, arms control and disarmament, terrorism and countering violent extremism, and U.S.-European relations. de Jonge Oudraat served as President and CEO of Women in International Security (WIIS) from January 2013 to July 2021 and is a member of its Board of Directors.
Lisa Delpy Neirotti is the director of the MS in Sport Management Program, a board member of the Women’s Sport Foundation (WSF), and past president and founder of the D.C. Chapter of Women In Sports and Events (WISE). She is an expert of sport tourism as an economic development and works with sport event organizations and teams to conduct economic and market research including for the Olympic Games, World Cup, College Football Bowl Games and marathons.
Jennifer Merluzzi specializes in research on the early careers of professional managers and labor market inequality. She conducts research on women in the workplace, examining promotion outcomes across gender and marital status, and using social network analysis to understand gendered work conflict in organizations. Her research appears in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Discoveries, and Social Science Research, with recent coverage in FastCompany and Harvard Business Review.
Mary Ellsberg, Executive Director of the Global Women’s Institute at the George Washington University is available to discuss gender inequality as well as violence against women and girls. Ellsberg has more than 30 years of experience in international programs on gender and development. Her deep connection to global gender issues stems not only from her academic work but from living in Nicaragua for nearly 20 years, leading public health and women’s rights advocacy. Ellsberg was a member of the World Health Organization’s Multi-Country Study on Domestic Violence and Women’s Health.
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