Today is International Women's Day, and FloMarching would like to honor and acknowledge all of the incredibly strong women who have shaped the marching arts—by participating, by instructing, and by designing.

The marching arts has traditionally been a place where young women have been encouraged to participate, welcomed as equals, and given chances to shine as athletes alongside men. Nothing says "gender does not matter" like putting people in a uniform so identity is completely indistinguishable.

Drum Corps International was founded in 1972, the same year President Nixon signed Title IX into law. Meanwhile, Winter Guard International, Sport of the Arts, was founded five years later. Since the inception of Title IX, women's participation in high school sports has increased by over 1,000 percent, and it has grown by 600 percent in college sports.

However, the marching arts never needed a law to encourage women's participation.

Each winter weekend we gather in the marching arts' most intimate setting to bear witness to some of the most creative, groundbreaking, and powerful feats of sport and artistry that exist.

Has there ever been a greater way of celebrating the power, independence, and inspiration of women in sports than winter guard?

A comprehensive list of women who have shaped WGI and the rest of the marching arts is too extensive to put here in its entirety. So no matter who you are or the size of the role you have played as a woman in the marching arts, FloMarching salutes you every day—but today most of all.