International Women’s Day celebrated in the month of March when the US has its Women’s History Month is a movement working for the advancement and the rights of women globally. International Women’s Day was officially organized by the United Nations in 1975 and has been celebrated in some 80 countries worldwide; this has become a part of the women’s right movement and helped to create an awareness and to seek action on gender biases. The struggle for women’s rights and gender equality has been a long journey.
The first national Women’s Day was observed on the 28th of February 1909 when women demanded shorter work hours, better pay, and voting rights; it started with a march through New York City demanding change to society; it was then picked up by the women in the Democratic Party in Germany and they formally suggested that every year, in every country, on the same day there should be a demonstration for gender equality and to use that as a symbol to press their demands. This effort went on for several years and was recognized by the United Nations in 1975. While there is much to celebrate with respect to advancement in women’s rights, there is much more to go.
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The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is invest in women, accelerate progress. With the world facing multiple crises and tremendous pressure on various communities, it is a time when gender equality is more vital than ever – women are taking up responsibilities in so many areas and have been the mainstay for so many communities that ensuring the woman’s right would ensure a more prosperous and just economy internationally for now and future generations.
The United Nations appeal is to invest in women, this becomes a key challenge of the day and we certainly agree with this assessment and with this demand – as the theme says, if we invest in women we will be seeing an acceleration of progress. The cry is time is running out and gender equality remains one of the largest challenges of human rights, and so investing in women, in human rights, building an inclusive society, progress for women will benefit all. The current international economic system increases poverty, inequality and environmental degradation, and this impacts women in a significant way; to change this to an alternative economic model there has to be a shift with the understanding that investment in women is key to prosperity – let us get engaged in this year’s International Women’s Day activities to look to a better future for all.
