Today is International Women’s Day, a time to celebrate women’s achievements around the world. On March 8th every year the political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.

Since the beginning, the democratic and open form of cooperative businesses was particularly appealing and welcoming for women, especially the marginalized and unempowered. It’s still that way in the cooperative movement today, as we can see in the great example of today’s featured story about the social cooperative Idea 90 in Italy, a co-op whose services “fit perfectly with its already-strong feminist ethos, which goes against the entrenched sexism often found in southern Italian culture and society.”

The Stories.coop website is full of examples like this from all over the world: from Canada’s Common Thread co-operative, where immigrant women and women with mental illnesses re-purpose street banners and other fabric into beautiful and useful products; in Senegal where Toubab Dialaw works to support the economic and physical health of the women; and in India where the Rachaita women’s construction co-operative offers training to members and helps them bid for work in a group rather than individually.

Click here to see more stories about women in cooperation.