Each year the world celebrates International Women's Day on March 8 (Sunday). The day aims to highlight the achievements made by women across the globe and also ensures to create awareness among women about their rights and laws against discrimination. As the UN quotes, "It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political." According to the website of International Women's Day, Purple, green, and white are the colours of IWD. In times, when women are acing every field, it is still crucial to celebrate this day with the same spirit. Read here to know the history, theme of this year, significance and all other details about International Women's Day.
Theme
The United Nation's theme for this year's observance is 'Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow' in recognition and celebration of the women and girls who are leading the charge on climate change adaptation and response and to honour their leadership and contribution towards a sustainable future.
IWD 2022 campaign theme #BreakTheBias
This year's International Women's Day campaign theme is Break The Bias. The theme highlights the importance of a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.
History
Back in 1908, a total of 15,000 women initiated a march through the New York city US in order to demand better salaries, shorter work hours, and voting rights. A year later, the Socialist Party of America declared this day as the first National Women's Day at the Socialist International meeting in Copenhagen. Throughout the years, many changes and new objectives are brought to further engrave the meaning of this day and in 2015, countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In it, Goal 5 is "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls."
In many countries like Cuba, Armenia, Mongolia, Russia, Uganda and Ukraine, International Women’s Day is an official holiday.
For the first time, National Women's day across the United States was observed on February 28. The day was celebrated on the last Sunday of February until 1913.
According to the United Nations, International Women's Day was officially recognized in 1977. The day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century in North America and across Europe. In 1996, the UN had announced their first annual theme as "Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future".
Significance
UNESCO states, "International Women's Day is an occasion to celebrate the progress made towards achieving gender equality and women's empowerment but also to critically reflect on those accomplishments and strive for a greater momentum towards gender equality worldwide. It is a day to recognize the extraordinary acts of women and to stand together, as a united force, to advance gender equality around the world." People celebrate this day by pampering the women in their lives and telling them how special they are.
Happy Women's Day to all-powerful ladies reading this!!
