International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8 in many countries throughout the world. This holiday became a part of the culture of Eastern European countries and countries of the former USSR. Historically this holiday started as political event expressing struggle for women’s economic, political and social rights. But nowadays in many countries people celebrate March 8 as a holiday of respect, appreciation and love towards women.
History
International Women’s Day (IWD) first emerged from workers movements at the beginning of the twentieth century in North America and Europe.The first national Women’s Day was observed on 28 February 1909 in the United States. In August 1910 on International Women’s Conference German Socialist Luise Zietz and communist Clara Zetkin proposed the establishment of an annual “International Woman’s Day”. Delegates of the Conference (100 women from 17 countries) supported the proposal. On 18 March 1911, International Women’s Day (IWD) was celebrated for the first time. Over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland participated in the celebration. Women demanded equal rights and the right to vote. Americans continued to celebrate National Women’s Day on the last Sunday in February.
In 1913 women of Russia marked their first International Women’s Day on the last Sunday in February. After the October Revolution the Women’s Day was established an official holiday in the Soviet Union, but was a working day until 1965.
This holiday was also celebrated in other communist and socialist countries, for example, in China from 1922. Spanish communists celebrated this holiday from 1936.
In 1975, which was designated as International Women’s Year, the United Nations gave official sanction to, and began sponsoring, International Women’s Day.
In the West, International Women’s Day was first marked as a popular event after 1977 when the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed March 8 as the UN Day for women’s rights and world peace.
The 2005 Congress of the British Trades Union Congress approved a resolution calling for IWD to be designated a public holiday in the United Kingdom.
IWD in modern culture
International Women’s Day is an official holiday in many countries of the world. In some countries the day is not a public holiday, but is widely celebrated.
With time the meaning of the holiday evolved to an apolitical celebration of women. On this day men congratulate to the women in their lives – mothers, wives, girlfriends, daughters, colleagues, etc. – and give them flowers and small gifts. In some countries it is also observed as an equivalent of Mother’s Day, where children also give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers. Also schoolchildren bring gifts for their teachers.
Problems of women today
But in many countries of the world women’s life is far from ideal. Just consider the following facts and figures.
Today throughout the world:
Up to 50% of sexual assaults are committed against girls under the age of 16.
Globally, 603 million women live in countries where domestic violence is not yet considered a crime.
Up to 70% of women in the world report having experienced physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their lifetime.
Over 60 million girls worldwide are child brides, married before the age of 18.
In the face of such appalling situation, the international community is strongly committed to change the position of women.
2013 International Women’s Day
The UN theme for International Women’s Day 2013 is “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women,” while International Women’s Day, a non-profit philanthropic venture, has declared the 2013 year’s theme as “The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum”.