March 8 is a landmark day for women’s struggles around the world. Struggles over three centuries, thousands of anonymous and named women, who with their victories, defeats, compromises, and reintroductions managed to significantly improve the position of women, at least in Western societies.

The important symbolism of the day is being redefined today with new demands, claims, and forms of struggle emerging with the rise of feminism worldwide; from the Women’s Strike to #metoo, and from the great mobilizations of the pioneering feminist movement in Latin America and Spain to the women’s fights in Ireland, Poland, and Greece.

The 8th of March – with its course in the past, the present, and the future – is for us a constant reminder that the struggle does not stop until the complete elimination of historically established gender inequality until the conquest of essential equality.

In this context, the Diotima Center organizes various actions for International Women’s Day.

Athens

The Don’t Skip campaign, run by the Diotima center with the kind sponsorship of Papastratos company, is here again! Honoring the symbolism of International Women’s Day, we choose for a second year March 8 as the starting point for the second phase of our now well-known digital campaign, which will run throughout March and April.

Tune in to the Center’s website and social media to learn more.

With the motto “Learn to recognize gender-based violence – Don’t Skip it” we aim to make an everyday phenomenon that affects millions of women and young girls around the world visible. Informing, changing the consciousness, transforming the gender stereotypes, which perpetuate gender inequality and gender-based violence, but also enhancing the awareness of society for the support of survivors are at the heart of our new campaign.

At the same time, on March 8th we invite all women, LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as male equal allies in the fight for essential equality, to meet at the strike rally (2 pm, in Klathmonos) and the afternoon feminist march, (6 pm, Klathmonos ). Finally, as part of Diotima’s actions for March 8, an open event will be held at the end of March. Stay Tuned!

Thessaloniki

In Thessaloniki, the Diotima Center in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are organizing a series of workshops for the beneficiary refugee women of the organization, on Friday, March 8, 2019, 2-5.30 pm, at the city’s Museum of Photography.

The workshops will be implemented by the Panhellenic Network for Theater in Education. The purpose of the meeting is the gathering of Greek and Farso-speaking women and the sharing of their experiences on the occasion of the subject of videos and photography.

In particular, two short films will be shown: Women at work overcoming prejudices, 6′: A subway driver, a woman in the fire department, and a politician.

All white, western, European women work in stereotypically “male” occupations and talk about the apparent gender equality in Europe. Skateistan Kabul Farana’s Story, 13′: Farana, a teenager in Kabul, Afghanistan, talks about her experience growing up as a woman in Kabul and inspires us.

It will be followed by a Mobile Phone Camera Demo workshop, a one-hour course, in which the refugee women will learn to use a mobile phone as a camera, as well as two more half-hour workshops (Photoshoot, Photos & Discussion).

Mytilene

“Why is International Women’s Day celebrated on March 8?” is the title of the event/discussion organized by the branch of the Diotima Center in Mytilene, on the occasion of International Women’s Day. What do the conquests of the feminist movement mean for the women who have taken the long road of uprooting, the refugees? How does the gender equality project communicate their needs and experiences?

These and many other issues will concern the Center’s event, which is addressed to the beneficiary refugee women of both the organization and the refugee women of the Tapuat Center.

The event will take place on Friday, March 8 in Tapuat and will have parallel interpretation in Farsi Arabic, and French. The event is part of the program to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in the urban fabric, which is also implemented in Mytilene, with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the funding of the European Commission.