Women’s Day in Poland

The 8th of March is International Women’s Day. Surely, everyone remembers this date, but I discovered this year that each country celebrates it in a different way.

In Spain, it is a day for the vindication of women’s rights. There is a female strike and huge demonstrations in the main cities. The number of participants keeps growing every year, reaching 370,000 in Madrid.

That is why I was very shocked when, just after arriving to work, two strangers (delegates from the mayor, as I was explained later) came in the library with a bucket of tulips, gave a flower to each of us and three kisses. We also had some sweets from Mrs. Ewa. Apparently this is super common in Poland; every women is congratulated on this day and usually receives some flowers.

Marine and I also decided to do our bit to contribute on this day, as part of the activities organized by the Culture Center. We did a presentation -translated by Ania- about Influential European Women, focusing on people or facts not that well known, but still crucial for History.

We started with the ancient times and learned that Cleopatra, last Queen of Egypt, could master 10 languages and different sciences. Also about Hypatia of Alexandria, who was the first female professor in any institution. In the middle ages, we find outstanding women like Hildegarde di Bingen, a canonized German abbess to whom we own many botanical and medicinal studies; and the French pirate Jeanne de Belleville. I also included the heroine of my town, Maria Pita, whose courage save Coruńa from the invaders. We went on with the great Baroque painter Artemisia Lomi Gentileschi; and the entomologist and traveler Maria Sybilla Merian, who was the one introducing some fruits in Europe like the pineapple, and whose paintings of them were realistic and accurate.

           

   

Catherine the Great of Russia needs no explanation. Also the English writers Mary Wollstonecraft, author of Vindication of the Rights of Women, and her daughter Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, the first modern science-fiction novel.

Getting to the 19th and 20th century, it became harder to make a selection, for women started to gain a few more rights and freedom to get great achievements. We spoke about the twice-Nobel-prize Maria Skłodowska Curie -although the audience knew her well enough, and a woman told us that she was also one of the first women to have a driving license. We also mentioned Florence Nightingale, the precursor of modern nursing system.

Then, we went through the story of how the Suffragettes made it possible for women to vote in Britain. Linked to this theme is Clara Campoamor, the Spanish politician that achieved women’s vote for my country. We also discovered Concepción Arenal, first women to attend university in Spain, disguised as a man to trick the prohibition.

We came back to novelists with the bestseller of all times Agatha Christie, who was also probably the first European woman to learn how to surf; and  to Simone the Beauvoir, the well-known French philosopher. We surly also had to speak of Irena Sendler, the great Polish woman who saved the lives of 2,500 Jews during the Nazi occupation.

Regarding actresses, we included Hedy Lamarr and Audrey Hepburn, who also stood out for the inventions of the first one (she developed the precursor of Wi-Fi), and the humanitarian missions of the second one. We closed the series with the Russian astronaut Valentina Tereshkova, and the Women of the Don, an NGO that played a crucial role at the Chechen War demanding peace and human rights.

Afterwards, we joined the women in a decorative workshop with colorful beads, laces and diverse materials, to make brooches and other ornaments, which turned up very relaxing and beautiful. And of course, we also had tea and cakes. It was surely a different Women’s Day for me!