Wednesday, March 8, marks International Women’s Day, and women around the world will be marching for women’s rights and celebrating women’s achievements throughout the weekend.

The main Toronto rally, march and fair takes place on Saturday, March 11 at 11 a.m. The theme is “A Million Reasons to March.” A few of those reasons include ongoing violence against women, justice for migrant workers and the fact that our new Prime Minister just blocked any hope we had of a publicly-funded, accessible, universal daycare program in this country.

The rally starts at the OISE auditorium (252 Bloor St. W.) and will head to Ryerson University, led by hotel workers currently struggling for a better standard of living.

Here are some other Canadian events.

It’s an important day to make your voice heard.

There’s a small item in this month’s Exclaim! (a free music monthly distributed across Canada) about an awesome new London, UK-based hip hop magazine for girls, called WAH Magazine.

It’s written by girls and looks smart, well-designed and packed with info on the latest in hip hop and culture.

Here’s their manifesto, from the first issue:

“We ain’t booty shaking video girls but we ain’t ashamed of our bodies. We ain’t gonna stand back and go unnotices. We ain’t tryin to be something we’re not. We ain’t gonna moan about the lack of women in hip hop. We ain’t obsessed with our appearance. We ain’t gonna follow the rules. We ain’t feminists. We ain’t stupid. We ain’t hoes.”

The statement “we ain’t feminists” makes me wonder why. Has the idea of what it means to be a feminist been so skewered by the backlash that even girls who are doing projects that are empowering, fun, smart and girl-positive (sounds pretty feminist to me) are afraid to call themselves feminist? That makes me sad.

Still, the mag looks great, and you can download the entire issue for free in PDF form.