History and Past Events

One aspect of the Gather the Women Global MatrixSM is our focus on March 8 -- International Women's Day as declared by the United Nations. Many countries in the world have a rich tradition of celebrating this day with a variety of events to recognize and honor women.

Borgna Brunner is quoted as saying, "In its various incarnations, ranging from a communist holiday to a U.N.-sponsored event, International Women's Day has been celebrated for almost 90 years."

Explore the reports and stories about events created globally in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

History

The original Steering Committee of Gather the Women began with a discussion about how the enormous potential of International Women's Day has never been fully realized because these diverse events were never energetically linked in common intention. We acknowledged that women everywhere have been gathering for centuries and yet what we have missed is a mechanism for connecting those diverse gatherings into a shared energy field, and in doing so, harvesting our feminine power for the well being of all life. We were inspired and activated by the possibility that GTW could help this single day truly become a focal point for the energy and wisdom of the world's women.

Thus, Gather the Women was first launched as a grassroots initiative to build more recognition and participation in International Women's Day. We put out the word that women around the world should create an event on March 8, 2003 – whether that was a circle of three gathered in a home or a community meeting or a national rally with 3,000 in a large venue. We created the technology to link the women participating through our unique interactive Internet website and we established a unifying goal of creating purposeful action through each event which can help to address the real problems facing our planet.

In this way, even small local events allowed women to participate in a global wave of shared energy that supports women in creating positive change through collaborative action.

While each woman, circle or organization has been encouraged to create their own event, we offered three common threads.

1) To read the GTW vision statement

2) To create a reflective opportunity to connect with the women around the world who were also gathering on this same day with the same intention.

3) To ask their husbands, partners and sons to consciously honor all that is feminine in the world.

GTW became the container for these events and a source of connection among women. Internet run, we offered opportunities to connect in cyber space through forums, directories, and event listings. We also offered assistance in creating events.

In only three years (2003, 2004, 2005), we collected reports from more than 900 gatherings in over 50 countries. The feedback from these events was exhilarating. Women reported that just in the planning and creation of their event with other women, they had felt empowered, witnessed and engaged in meaningful work. Gatherings were as small as the 6 women who came together for a potluck meal in Alaska, to the 250 women who gathered in a small church to visualize where they would be in five years. The women in Uganda asked why we did this only ONCE a year. Many churches from different faiths took part across the U.S. and across the world.

Many women joined with us in a global retreat, beginning seven days before the events or programs. Two or more would come together for 30-60 minutes each day to discuss and meditate on issues and values like compassion, love and integrity. These opportunities were provided to deepen both the connection and the experience of the event itself. Daily themes were sent out to once again establish a common intention.