How to help women on International Women's Day

The "A Day Without a Woman" protests held across the country on Wednesday were inspired by International Women's Day, which was originally called "International Working Women's Day."

FOX 5's Alexandra Limon looked into the different ways to help women around the world, and one of them is by shopping fair trade. The shop, Ten Thousand Villages, sources their items directly from villages and artisans ensuring safe working conditions and fair wages. In the shop they sell throws from Bangladesh, pottery from Indonesia and embroidered goods from India.

Ten Thousand Villages is focusing on International Women's Day because a large number of exploited workers are women.

"So the number one thing would be to get them out of the sweat shops and get them to make things that are part of their culture and part of their life," said Danielle Guryanski, an associate for Ten Thousand Villages.

International women's rights also include freedom from sexual and domestic violence, which is why every year Ten Thousand Villages partners with the City of Alexandria in Virginia and donates 10 percent of the day's proceeds to the city's domestic violence program.

"Last year, the City of Alexandria Domestic and Sexual Violence hotline received approximately 2,100 phone calls or services," explained Debbie Evans with the Domestic and Sexual Violence Program for the City of Alexandria.

The City of Alexandria says it relies on volunteers for their domestic and sexual violence programs. If you would like to help in honor of International Women's Day, you can contact the City of Alexandria's Domestic Violence Program at 703-746-4911 and the Sexual Assault Center at 703-683-7273.