This month we celebrate International Women’s Day! The history of this observance began in the early twentieth century, when National Women’s Day was initially founded in the United States. However, this global movement couldn’t be contained by one country’s borders. As women continued to fight for better work conditions and suffrage around the world, it became more common to hold days at the local and national levels to recognize heroines everywhere. Eventually, the 1910 International Conference of Working Women proposed expanding it globally, and soon after, the very first International Women’s Day was honored on March 19, 1911. The observance wasn’t given a set date, however, until 1917, when March 8 was selected to mark the day that women in Russia gained the right to vote.
When Rosemarie Arante, recalls surviving 2013’s Typhoon Haiyan — one of the most difficult experiences of her life — the emotions are still raw.
“I don’t want to see… to remember…” she trails off as tears well up.
Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was a Category 5 storm that hit the Philippines in 2013. With winds at more than 150 mph, Haiyan is still considered one of the most powerful typhoons of all time.
The aftermath was devastating for the 14 million people impacted. Over 4 million people were displaced and 6,000 people died. The livelihoods of nearly 6 million people were lost or disrupted.