Today is International Women’s Day, a holiday started in 1911 largely by Clara Zetkin, who pushed for it after a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen.

In my daily existence, I deal on a strictly local basis. My job as a reporter confines me to five towns in the Chicago suburbs. Even most of my freelance work and blogging intensely focuses on the uniquely American experience.

So I’m thankful for this day to jolt me out of my tunnel vision, especially since it’s easy to miss the dwindling amount of international coverage the media provides nowadays. And even though Girldrive is a truly American story, some women we talked to explicitly told me and Emma that feminism needs to get out of its Western bubble.

Here are some IWD events going on across the country. Also see Gender Across Borders’ International Women’s Day blog directory–many many feminist blogs are jumping on the bandwagon today and blogging about global issues.