International Women’s Day: What is it and why do we need it?

INTERNATIONAL It was unanimously Women’s Day (IWD) takes approved by the female place on March 8. attendees from 17 countries,

It began life as National including Finland’s Women’s Day in the United first three women MPs. States back in February International Women’s 1909. Day was marked for the

The following year, at first time in March 1911 – the second International and the date was fixed as 8 Conference of Working March in 1913.

Women in Copenhagen, The United Nations Denmark, women’s rights celebrated it for the first activist Clara Zetkin called time in 1975 and in 1996 it for an international women’s announced its first annual day to give women a theme: “Celebrating the greater voice to further past, Planning for the their demands for equal Future”. rights. International Women’s

Day is celebrated as a national holiday by countries across the globe, with women often given flowers and gifts – and there are IWD events in major cities worldwide.

On 8 March, 1914, there was a women’s suffrage march in London, calling for women’s right to vote, at which high-profile campaigner Sylvia Pankhurst was arrested.

In 2001, the internationalwomensday.com platform was launched to reignite attention for the day, celebrate women’s achievements and continue to call for gender parity.

On the centenary in 2011, thrn sitting US President Barack Obama called for March to be known as Women’s History Month. He said: “History shows that when women and girls have access to opportunity, societies are more just, economies are more likely to prosper, and governments are more likely to serve the needs of all their people.”