Looking Back

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

This month, we celebrate the achievements of women in America. Since 1995, U.S. presidents have declared March as Women’s History Month, and March 8 as International Women’s Day. This month also marks the 100th year anniversary of the first bat mitzvah in the United States.

I decided to explore the topic of local Women’s Days in the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History. Beyond a celebratory day, the evidence of women’s progress over the last hundred years is readily apparent as one reads the reports and stories in the JN and Jewish Chronicle. This is not to say that there isn’t more work to be done toward gender equality, but the role of women, especially since the 1960s and 1970s, has been radically transformed in America and Jewish Detroit. Women have increasingly entered the public arena as leaders in politics, civic and communal organizations, and religion.

The first widely recognized day to celebrate women was National Woman’s Day in 1909. It was subsequently designated International Woman’s Day and later became International Women’s Day. Moreover, according to recent research, it was a Jewish woman who proposed the idea that holds until today.

Russian-born Theresa Malkiel was a Jewish labor activist in New York City. She had immigrated to America with her family in 1891 and began working in the city’s garment industry. It was an era of low pay, long hours, dangerous work and few protections for workers. The worst example of such abysmal working conditions was witnessed in 1911. That year, the famous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory experienced a massive fire that killed 146 people including 123 women and girlswho had been locked into their work area by the factory bosses.

Malkiel became an activist, educator, writer and vocal proponent for women’s equality and suffrage. In 1909, she proposed the first National Woman’s Day. It grew into a globally celebrated event long before the United Nations adopted International Women’s Day (IWD) in 1977.

The Davidson Archive holds some reports about IWD celebrations in Jewish Detroit. Early announcements, for example, cite the Pioneer Women’s Organization holding celebrations of IWD in the 1940s.

What I really found interesting, however, were the various other Women’s Days held by local Jewish organizations. The Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies at Wayne State University, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit and Congregation Shaarey Zedek, held a Jewish Women’s Day of Learning in

2016. The keynote speaker was Rabbi Carole Balin. A female rabbi is also an example of women’s progress (May 5, 2016, JN). This event followed many years of Federation-sponsored Women’s Day of Learning events in the 1990s and 2000s — with many partners, such as the JN. Mike Smith Alene and Graham Landau I also enjoyed the Women’s Day announcement from Archivist Chair Fiddler International Dining on Orchard Lake Road in March 2001. In a celebration dedicated to IWD, the Fiddler sponsored a female voice contest where diners could vote for their favorite singer (March 2, 2001, JN). My wife, Pam, tells me that “every day is a woman’s day.” I believe her, of course (could I do otherwise?). The proof of this is in the Davidson Archives. Happy Women’s History Month.

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.