WHEREAS, International Women’s Day first emerged from the activities of labor movements at the turn of the 20th century in North America and across Europe; and

WHEREAS, The first National Woman’s Day was observed in the United States in 1909 in honor of the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions; and

WHEREAS, International Women’s Day was marked for the first time in 1911 by Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies demanding the rights for women to vote and to hold public office, women’s rights to work, to vocational training, and to an end to discrimination on the job; and

WHEREAS, In 1913–14, International Women’s Day also became a mechanism for protesting World War I. As part of the peace movement, Russian women observed their first International Women’s Day on the last Sunday in February, and elsewhere in Europe, on or around March 8 of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with other activists; and

WHEREAS, In 1917, against the backdrop of the war, women in Russia again chose to protest and strike for “Bread and Peace” on the last Sunday in February, which fell on March 8 on the Gregorian calendar. Four days later, the Czar abdicated and the provisional government granted women the right to vote; and

WHEREAS, In 1975, during International Women’s Year, the United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8; and

WHEREAS, In 1979, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and the international treaty, described as an international bill of rights for women, was instituted on September 3, 1981, and has been ratified by 189 states; and

WHEREAS, International Women’s Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women’s movement has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women’s rights and participation in the political and economic arenas; and

WHEREAS, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change, and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities; and

WHEREAS, The United Nations has designated the theme for the 2018 International Women’s Day as “Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives,” following the momentum of global marches and campaigns, including the #MeToo Movement and #TimesUp in the United States and their counterparts in other countries, on issues ranging from sexual harassment and femicide to equal pay and women’s political representation into action, to empower women in all settings, rural and urban, to celebrate the activists who are working relentlessly to claim women’s rights and realize their full potential, and to draw attention to the rights and activism of rural women, who make up over a quarter of the world population, and are being left behind in every measure of development; and

WHEREAS, Measures ensuring women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work must include bridging the gender pay gap, especially for women of color; recognizing women’s unpaid care and domestic work, and addressing the gender deficit in care work, addressing the gender gaps in leadership, entrepreneurship, and access to social protection; and ensuring gender-responsive economic policies for job creation, poverty reduction and sustainable, inclusive growth; and

WHEREAS, International Women’s Day stands as a reminder of the long history of women’s social activism and organizing; fighting for equal wages, better working conditions, and the right to vote and that while women make up more than one-half of our population, they are disproportionately represented in our state; too few in leadership positions and too many who live in poverty; now, therefore, be it