You certainly don't need to speak Spanish to feel the raised hairs on your neck as you watch this moving video [1], edited by Argentine blogger Malearg, which recounts the progress and achievements made by women across the globe.
Erwin of The Latin Americanist points out [2] that this year has brought to the region a “growth of female employment, but also a lack of quality jobs for women, and the prevalence of racial and gender discrimination.” He also notes the rise of female heads of state throughout the Americas including Michelle Bachelet in Chile, Portia Simpson-Miller in Jamaica, and front-runner Lourdes Flores in Peru's upcoming elections.
Victor Ruiz, writing from Spain, used the occasion to look through various blog rankings and mention the most-linked-to weblogs (ES) [3] written in Spanish by women. According to Alianzo [4], six of the top 100 blogs are written by women. When rating by feed traffic, two women bloggers fall into the top 40. In the top 100 weblogs of Atalaya 2005 [5], ten are written by women. Ruiz concludes his post with a rallying call to all female bloggers that they change the disproportionate number of highly ranked blogs by men in the Spanish-speaking blogosphere.
A Flickr group, 8 de Marzo Día de la Mujer / 8th March Women's Day [6] commemorates the day with creative images, mostly from around Latin America and Spain.
Chilean blogger, Roberto Arancibia, never short on charm nor prose, says [7]:
Day of the Woman. Even though every day is theirs. When I caught on that they are in charge of everything, from then on I've been happy. Seriously. That's the order of the universe. No need to fight against the current. That's just how it goes.
Some time ago I wrote the same thing here and I continue to feel that way. Although, in reality, now I believe it even more. I continue to think it's useless to try and understand their secret languages, their moments of silence, their desire to talk. They are accomplices in solidarity with each other, but enemies when they feel threatened. Bodies and souls. Judgement and seduction. Minds and heart. Mysteries of the woman, mysteries of the world. 100 lives I have lived loving them yet still I do not understand. And so, a very happy day. To all. To each I owe something.
Maria Pastora – also from Santiago, Chile – shares her thoughts [8] about the day and why there is not a male equivalent.
More than once, some guy has asked me why he doesn't have his own “International Day.” According to them, it's unjust that they are not celebrated. To commemorate a day for our feminine gender has its background which – more than historic – is “vindicative.” [“reinvindicatorio” in Spanish]. “To reclaim/restore something which is rightfully theirs” is the first definition by the Real Academia Española of the term “to vindicate. And defined so, with permission of the guys and without encouraging argument, it's a day that corresponds to us.
… since the beginning, men have been celebrated day after day in public as leaders and recognizable figures. Let us celebrate the International Day of Women, the silent work of women behind the scenes, where they receive no applause and from where today we are beginning to understand just how much they deserve this deed.
And finally, the ladies behind TecnoCHICA introduce (ES) [9] a new project that originated in various online conversations over Gtalk. BlogsMujer.com [10] is a Spanish-language directory and community of female bloggers much akin to BlogHer [11]. Appropriately enough, the first post [12] wishes a happy International Women's Day to all. The first BlogsMujer.com blogger of the week is Patricia Villanueva [13] from Mexico City.