by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
About 50 people packed into the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice on Wednesday. They were gathered to celebrate International Women's Day with dinner and music.
Eleanor Chavez, director of March 8th Women's Committee, said people in Albuquerque have been celebrating the day since the mid-'80s.
Female textile workers inspired International Women's Day.
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The workers protested lower wages and 12-hour workdays in New York City on March 8, 1857. In 1910, Clara Zetkin proposed International Women's Day be celebrated on March 8 to honor the strife of women.
The significance of Women's Day is to focus on women's contributions to society, Chavez said.
Every year at the center, the celebration has a different theme.
Chavez said this year's theme, Mothers and Others for Peace, focuses on peace and encouraging people to think about why the United States should not have declared war on Iraq.
Along the walls of the center, poster boards were set up like science projects with information on the struggles of women throughout history.
"The history books have left out a lot of women," Chavez said.
Chavez said most people in the United States are oblivious to Women's Day. She said in Mexico, Europe and Latin America the day is a big a celebration.
UNM alumna Michaela Trujillo said she never knew Women's Day existed until her father told her about the celebration.
"You have to wonder why the day is not as large in this country as it is in others," she said. "You would think we were more progressive than that."
Trujillo, a third-grade teacher, said she would tell her students about International Women's Day.
"Now I am more aware, and I can spread it," she said.
Sylviana Diaz-d'Ouville, an organizer of the event, said the peace theme comes at a perfect time.
"It's a great theme. If not here, where? If not now, when?" she said.
There were not many young people at the event.
Diaz-d'Ouville said more students should participate in Women's Day.
"There are too many gray heads here," she said, referring to the older crowd. "Come on, we have to pass the torch some day."
