As many of you have probably already noticed, it's the 100th International Women's Day.  This year's theme: Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.

In honor of today, we'd like to especially note the amazing life of Jeanette Rankin.  From Missoula, MT, where Ericka lived for a while, she was twice a member of her state's Congressional delegation and is the only person to vote against the USA's entrance into both WWI and WWII.  From fighting for women's suffrage to fighting against war, she always occupied the moral highground even when it was incredibly unpopular and dangerous.

Green Mountain Code Pink was inspired in part by Rankin's trailblazing example.  And there is another organization we've contributed to in the past we want folks to know about:

The Jeannette Rankin Foundation honors the name and legacy of an American woman of incredible spirit and determination by providing much needed aid to women with the same attributes. Jeannette Rankin was a proponent of women's rights and was the first woman to be elected to the United States Congress in 1916.

Upon her death, Rankin left a portion of her Georgia estate to assist “mature, unemployed women workers.” Rankin's personal assistant, Reita Rivers, along with friends Sue Bailey, Gail Dendy, Margaret Holt, and Heather Kleiner, decided to establish a foundation to help adult women who face difficulties when returning to school. The $16,000 from Rankin's estate was the seed money for the Jeannette Rankin Foundation, which has been helping mature, low-income women succeed through education since it was chartered in 1976.

In 1978, the Jeannette Rankin Foundation awarded one scholarship in the amount of $500. Since that time, JRF has awarded over $1.3 million in scholarships to over 600 women.

In 2008, Jeannette Rankin Foundation registered the trade name Jeanette Rankin Women's Scholarship Fund to better reflect the organization's mission.

You might consider donating to celebrate IWD.

ntodd