11 things to do to celebrate International Women’s Day in NYC

Knockouts Women’s Comedy Festival, which runs through Saturday, March 9, is slated with over 50 shows at dozens of venues including Caveat, Club Cumming, The Stonewall Inn, Star Barr, and Littlefield. And some big names are on the lineup. Comedians including Phoebe Robinson (2 Dope Queens, Everything's Trash), Sydnee Washington (Bridesman, Comedy Central's Up Next), Liza Treyger (The King of Staten Island, Comedy Central’s The Half Hour), Emma Willmann (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Netflix's The Comedy Lineup) and Gina Brillon (America’s Got Talent, Amazon Prime’s Gina Brillon: The Floor is Lava) are all taking the stage, as well as plenty of local favorites performing stand-up, improv, variety shows and solo shows.

At a time when only 11% of acquisitions at U.S. museums are created by female-identifying artists, the Brooklyn Museum's Center for Feminist Art is displaying 48 emerging and established women photographers. The exhibit showcases photographs from artists born in or working from Europe, including Vanessa Beecroft, Carolle Bénitah, and Silvia Rosi. Everything in the exhibit was made after the year 2000 and focuses on issues of migration, the legacies of nationalism in Europe, and the male gaze as a patriarchal power structure. See it starting on March 8 through July 7.

This is your last chance to see ”Women Dressing Women” showcases 80 garments by 70 makers, from couture gowns by well-known designers like Donna Karan to political garments by Katharine Hamnett to plus-size outfits by Ester Manas. The exhibition, curated by The Costume Institute, is on view at the Upper East Side museum through March 10, 2024, included with museum admission. It highlights rare pieces from the collection, many of which are on view at The Met for the first time. 

The phrase “women’s work” is often used derisively to indicate labor that’s seen as “less than,” but a new exhibit at New-York Historical Society reclaims that phrase. Aptly titled "Women's Work," the show chronicles the history of women's contributions to labor and how those efforts are both inherently political and essential to American society. The exhibit features dozens of objects in the museum's collection from indenture documents to medical kits to military uniforms. With items ranging from the 1740s to today, the show celebrates the strides society has made in equality while not shying away from highlighting the gender-based inequalities that persist today.

When Komal Shah starting collecting art more than a decade ago, she noticed something startling: “The art world does not treat women artists equally” compared to male artists. A powerful and diverse show called “Making Their Mark: Art by Women in the Shah Garg Collection" in Chelsea (548 West 22nd Street). It's free to visit through March 23, 2024; hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-6pm.