First published: 7 Mar

Borne out of the worker movements at the turn of the 20th century, we have been celebrating Women, their accomplishments and contributions to society, since 1977, when the United Nations proclaimed March 8th “UN Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace.”

Each year, the focus is placed on an issue affecting women around the world. This year the theme is “Empower Women – End Hunger & Poverty.” Oxfam America is helping the celebration by allowing people to send Women’s Day e-Cards to women in their lives who inspire them. This year, we want to take a moment to celebrate just a few of the women members in the Ask Me Help Desk Community who inspire us and the millions of visitors to our site every month.

Each of these women exemplifies the spirit of helping others in need of support, often with little recognition. While no means a complete list, these women have been giving of themselves on Ask Me Help Desk for many years, and deserve a moment of applause for their hard work and dedication.

J_9, for instance, is a very busy Registered Obstetrical Nurse, who naturally tends to help with Women’s Health issues and Pregnancy & New Motherhood categories. After six years of volunteering her experience and knowledge to thousands of women, she is as dedicated as ever to helping women of all ages with their health questions.

Synnen joined Ask Me Help Desk the day after Christmas, 2006, and has since made her mark in the Adult Sexuality category with over 7k posts and a Reputation Score of over 11.5k.

Anne Kirkpatrick, also known as Tickle, is yet another example of someone who lives a life of giving, a common thread among all of the women in our community. She works for the Canadian Red Cross, is a Registered Nurse’s Aid, and races in Dragon boats in her spare time. You will find her answering questions in health-related fields, and all over the site.

Redhed35 hails from Ireland, and is studying for her Social Care degree as well as performing duties as a job coach, adult literacy tutor, and she works for the physically and mentally disabled. When she’s not tending to her children, dogs, cats, fish and turtle, she is helping Teens and others all over the site.

DoulaLC helps families through childbirth, including early parenting training. (A doula is one who provides non-medical support through all stages of pregnancy.) She is also an elementary school teacher. As you might suspect, you will find her in Pregnancy & New Motherhood quite often, helping people online as she does in her day-to-day life.

This is just a sampling of the amazing women we have in the Ask Me Help Desk Community who volunteer their time every day to help perfect strangers on the Internet. We celebrate all women around the world, and especially those who have made Ask Me Help Desk a success at helping people in need across the globe. If you see them around the site in the next few days, be sure to give them thanks for all of their hard work and dedication.

Thank you, all!