What is International Women’s Day?
International Women’s Day is a worldwide event that celebrates women’s achievements – from the political to the social – while calling for gender equality.
History
Its roots can be traced to 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding voting rights, better pay and shorter working hours. In 1910, a woman called Clara Zetkin – leader of the ‘women’s office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany – tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She suggested that every country should celebrate women on one day every year to push for their demands.
A conference of more than 100 women from 17 countries agreed to her suggestion and IWD was formed. In 1911, it was celebrated for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19. In 1913, it was decided to transfer IWD to March 8, and it has been celebrated on that day ever since.
Why do we still celebrate it?
The original aim – to achieve full gender equality for women in the world – has still not been realised. A gender pay gap persists across the globe and women are still not present in equal numbers in business or politics. Figures show that globally, women’s education, health and violence towards women is still worse than that of men.
On IWD, women across the world come together to force the world to recognise these inequalities – while also celebrating the achievements of women who have overcome these barriers.
What’s this year’s theme?
The theme for IWD 2017 is #BeBoldForChange – encouraging people to step up and take ground breaking action to help drive gender equality. It’s an active message that is likely to resonate with the millions of women, girls and men who have taken to the streets to march this year, in opposition to divisive politics.
Here at Beauty Flash we are celebrating some very inspirational business women and their stories of making it in their industries;
Jane Wurwand – Founder of Dermalogica
Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Jane’s first job was sweeping hair cuttings off the floor at a local salon where she grew up. She continued her career in skin therapy and cosmetics and became a licensed instructor.
After moving to America, Los Angeles, Jane founded the International Dermal Institute, where she began offering $10 skin care classes to fellow cosmetologists. During this time, she set out to develop products free of common skin irritants, including lanolin, SD alcohol, mineral oil, artificial colours and fragrances. This was inspired by student requests as well as a lack of existing products that Jane Wurwand could use could use on her skin, which experienced dermatitis and chronic eczema.
Jane founded Dermalogica in 1986. With a global distribution to over 80 countries! In 2011, Jane launched Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship (FITE), which works to provide small loans to women entrepreneurs in more than 68 countries. Through its global FITE initiative, Dermalogica has created vocational training programs and more than 75,000 loans for women to start or grow a business.
A very impressive woman, who hasnt let people stop her reaching the top and has helped other woman along the way. Amazing work Jane!
Noella Gabriel – Co – Founder of Elemis
Noella has always had a close affiliation with beauty products. She trained as a therapist and opened a salon in Ireland, before moving to New York to study holistic therapy.
Noella has been the beating heart of Elemis since 1990. She inspires every team member with her forward thinking for the brand, creating all the treatments and developing every multi-award winning product. Always striving relentlessly for exquisite textures, aromatics and unique actives, every product must deliver real results.
Her knowledge and passion for training is world re-nowned and seeing Elemis make the difference is her mission. Noella’s Elite trainers treat over six and a half million people a year.
What an intelligent and driven woman, way to go Noella.
Eva Graham – Founder of Nioxin
Nioxin began with one womans wish to make people feel good about themselves. Inspired by her own experience, Eva Graham made it her lifes mission to help men and women keep their hair.
When Eva lost half her own hair after giving birth – and found no real solution – her mind was set. She began to cultivate a new approach to healthy hair, starting with the scalp. She read everything she could on scalp and hair. She visited dermatologists, attended medical conventions and listened to lectures in the car and realised that “the scalp is simply an extension of the face, it needs gentle ingredients to breathe and function correctly”.
It was a simple but visionary idea and with just $500 and a dream, Eva set to work. She started experimenting with herbs and botanicals at home and from a small desk in her bedroom, built a network. She teamed up with biologists, chemists, pharmacologists and hairdressers and talked endlessly to consumers to create a revolutionary skincare company for hair.
We love that Eva learnt from her own experiences and wanted to bring about change to the world. A true entrepreneur at heart!
Rea Ann Silva – Founder of Beauty Blender
Working with people like Rod Stewart and Sian Combs Rea Ann Silva has been at the top level as a makeup artist. It was in 2002 that she came up with the idea of a better way to apply makeup to her celebrity clients. It was a monumental year when Rea Ann conceptualised and created the pink sensation that changed the face of makeup application forever!
Solange Dessimoulie and Caroline Colliard – Founders of Decleor
In 1974, two exceptional women, Beauty Therapist Solange Dessimoulie and an Aromatherapist Caroline Colliard founded Decleor. Its philosophy was “Be more than skin-deep” and each initiative was designed for the wellbeing of the body, the skin and the spirit, an astonishingly holistic and cutting-edge approach.
Decleor opened to the UK market in 1974 and continues to deliver innovative treatments and exceptional aromatherapy-based skincare. Trusted by the world’s best beauty professionals, Decleor offers specialist products and exclusive massage techniques and treatments to deliver the ultimate in skincare results and professional care.
A business based on a friendship and two strong women, great work ladies!
Carmen Tal – Co-founder of Moroccan Oil
Moroccanoil co-founder Carmen Tal was miles from home when, after a routine color service gone awry, she experienced the powerful Moroccanoil Treatment while traveling. As she witnessed the transformation of her hair instantly revitalized, going from damaged to shiny, smooth, manageable, she went on a quest to share the magic of this argan oil hair treatment with women across the globe.
What began as a single, revolutionary product that pioneered a new category in the beauty industry, has grown into a full line of hair and body products, all infused with nourishing antioxidant-rich argan oil, signature to the brand. Dedicated to providing the highest quality hair and body products, Moroccanoil has grown into an iconic beauty brand in less than a decade.
Way to go Carmen, a LOT of women thank you for this discovery. 🙂
