Italy Panorama

Mimosa for Festa della Donna

A Celebration of Women

Throughout Italy March 8 is generally celebrated as girls’ night out- a chance to ditch the dinner chores, escape the kids, and spend a few unhindered hours in compagnia delle amiche (in the company of girlfriends). International Woman’s Day is heralded with puffy yellow mimosa blossoms and special dinners just for the ladies.

The customs are basic and sweet – at some point in the day mimosa blossoms are presented to every woman along with happy thoughts; women indulge in a leisurely dinner, an evening of unbridled “chick time”; and, at the end of the meal, the annual treat of Mimosa Cake.

It has been a yearly rite for many years in Italy.  The closest approximation we have in the U.S. is Mother’s Day, but I say that while all mothers are women, not all women are mothers! This day’s celebrations include those of us who cannot or otherwise choose not to bear children. It celebrates everyone of the female persuasion highlighting our abilities, importance in society, but also our femininity.

Despite the merry atmosphere surrounding Italians’ celebrations of the day, it began with a darker history and a more somber goal.

What started on March 8, 1908 as a sort of grass-roots effort to protest poor women’s working conditions and low wages, International Women’s Day also became a day to march for peace and to demand voting rights. In 1911 there was a tragic fire at a garment factory in New York where more than 140 women, working in a sweat-shop environment, were killed because the factory doors were locked, keeping them captive. This tragedy served to proclaim the atrocious working conditions women- particularly underpaid immigrant women- were forced to endure, and became a focus of commemoration for International Women’s Day for many years.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that March 8 was also the day that Susan B. Anthony testified before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives arguing for a Constitutional Amendment to grant women the right to vote.

So, oddly, while these two important occasions occurred in the United States, the day passes largely unobserved and unknown there.  Of course, for all the festivities in Italy, few people really commemorate the reason for the day so much as the spirit of the thing. But hopefully while the mimosa blossoms are blazing forth their yellow puffs they will serve as a reminder to us to express solidarity with our worldwide sisters who are still struggling for freedom -personal, political or social- and who lack basic rights.

This International Women’s Day, let’s commemorate not only those women who came before us allowing us the freedoms we have, but also recognize our power to effect change and make a difference in other women’s lives.

Read more about International Women’s Day.

Visit Amnesty International to learn about some of the pressing needs of women in the world.

Read some of the Biographies of Notable Women, which offers countless examples of awesome, touching, or odds-defying women. Famous Female Firsts is a slide-show presentation of ground-breaking gals