Each year International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8 in many countries around the world. It is a day when women are recognised for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. It is an occasion for looking back on past struggles and accomplishments, and more importantly, for looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women.
International Women’s Day in 2012
Thousands of events occur not just on this day but throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women. Organisations, governments, charities and women’s groups around the world choose different themes each year that reflect global and local gender issues.
The United Nation’s theme for International Women’s Day 2012 is “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty”. The 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which opens on 27 February at United Nations headquarters, will also focus on the theme of empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, sustainable development and current challenges. The Commission will agree on urgent actions needed to make a real difference in the lives of millions of rural women. These recommendations will also provide input into other policy forums, such as the Rio+20 Conference in June 2012.
Rural women constitute one-fourth of the world’s population. They are leaders, producers, entrepreneurs and service providers, and their contributions are vital to the well-being of families, communities and economies, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Rural women account for a great proportion of the agricultural labour force, produce the majority of food grown, especially in subsistence farming, and perform most of the unpaid care work in rural areas. Yet, their rights and contributions have been largely overlooked. If rural women had equal access to productive resources, agricultural yields could reduce the number of chronically hungry people by between 100 and 150 million. For more information about this theme and how the United Nations is seeking to review progress and gaps and agree on actions to empower rural women, please click here.
For more information about events and initiatives on or around 8 March 2012 world wide, please click here; there are also dozens of local websites and initiatives, so look around you and join in!
History of International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century in North America and across Europe. In 1909 the first National Woman’s Day was observed in the United States on 28 February. The Socialist Party of America designated this day in honour of the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions. In 1910 the Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women’s Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women’s rights and to build support for achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish Parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance.
As a result of the Copenhagen initiative, International Women’s Day was marked for the first time on 19 March 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded women’s rights to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job. During World War I, International Women’s Day also became a mechanism for protesting the war: in several European countries, on or around 8 March, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with other activists.
Since those early years, International Women’s Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women’s movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women’s conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women’s rights and participation in the political and economic arenas. Increasingly, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.
In 1975, during International Women’s Year, the United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March. Two years later, in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions. In adopting its resolution, the General Assembly recognized the role of women in peace efforts and development and urged an end to discrimination and an increase of support for women’s full and equal participation.