The International Day of Working Women is not a randomly chosen date without any meaning, but it has a history behind that many do not know. Since March 1857, women who worked in the textile industry began to demonstrate for their working conditions, under the motto “Bread and roses!”. They were recurring protests year after year in America, which gradually spread throughout the world.
The most climactic point to proclaim this day was when, in March 1908, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York burned down due to its poor conditions, and its more than 146 workers died, of whom the vast majority were women (120) . The catastrophe caused the US labor law to be modified, regulating the conditions of women. At that time, the German Clara Zetkin proposed that March 8 be established as International Women’s Day, during the International Congress of Socialist Women. Thus, it was decided to pay tribute to women, once again claiming their rights to achieve full equality in society, both in the workplace and in social coexistence.
The inequality, which still exists today, has been changing and decreasing over the years, although unfortunately there is still a long way to go. Achieving gender equality between men and women is everyone’s job, and a primary objective of the United Nations, which aims to achieve a 100% equal society by 2030.
Throughout history, the female gender has been making goals and great steps that have helped progress, generating actions with great changes.
At BYHOURS we believe in talent, charisma and equality of people above all else. So this time, we have collected some of the most important women in history in the travel industry. Those who took a step forward to change the unjust acts of society and be an inspiration to future generations, revolutionizing the world and facing all those who were denied the opportunity to be women.
Do you want to know a little more about the women who have helped us get to this day?
- Elizabeth Jane Cochran: Known for her alter ego Nellie Bly, she was a journalist for The New York World, where she had to publish successful articles without being able to say that she was a woman. In 1888, she proposed to her publisher to go around the world inspired by Jules Verne’s book, but wanting to exceed his 80-day record. He denied her the possibility of seeing her incapacitated as a woman and going alone. Seventy-two days later, she had traveled the world, being the first woman to sail alone, breaking a world record and proving that she had the same possibilities as any other person of the opposite sex.
- Amelia Earhart: the first female pilot to fly over the Atlantic Ocean alone. Her passion peaked in 1929, she had once been a volunteer in Toronto during World War 1. There he discovered aviation, and years later he dared to fly a biplane at an air show in Long Beach. She received pilot classes from the hand of another pioneer woman, Neta Snook, both being part of the group of the only 15 female pilots in the world. In 1937 it disappeared during a flight through the central Pacific Ocean.
- Valentina Tereshkova: she was the first woman in history to travel to space, and the only woman to do so alone in 1963. Chosen from more than four hundred applicants and five finalists to pilot Vostok 6, her participation was for a study where The aim was to answer whether women had the same physical and mental resistance as men in space. After three days of study, the answer was completely affirmative, representing a great advance for the consideration of the female gender.
Being part of the leadership and breaking molds, like BYHOURS being the first micro-stay platform, is a responsibility in society. Examples like those of these three women motivate us every day to continue fighting so that women occupy the place they deserve in society.
And to you, which is the woman that inspires you the most in your life?
