Introduction
International Women's Day is celebrated in many
countries around the world. It is a day when women are recognized for their
achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic,
cultural, economic or political. 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.
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.
Chronology
• 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.
• 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.
• 1911 As a
result of the Copenhagen initiative, International Women's Day was marked for
the first time (19 March) 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.
• 1913-1914 International Women's Day also became a mechanism for protesting World
War I. As part of the peace movement, Russian women observed their first International
Women's Day on the last Sunday in February. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8
March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to
express solidarity with other activists.
• 1917 Against the backdrop of the war, women in Russia again chose to protest
and strike for "Bread and Peace" on the last Sunday in February
(which fell on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar). Four days later, the Czar
abdicated and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote.
• 1975 During International Women's Year, the United
Nations began celebrating International Women's Day on 8 March.
• 1995 The Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action, a historic roadmap signed by 189 governments, focused on 12 critical
areas of concern, and envisioned a world where each woman and girl can exercise
her choices, such as participating in politics, getting an education, having an
income, and living in societies free from violence and discrimination.
• 2014 The 58th session of the Commission on the Status
of Women (CSW58) – the annual gathering of States to address critical issues
related to gender equality and women’s rights — focused on “Challenges and
achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for
women and girls”. UN entities and accredited NGOs from around the world took
stock of progress and remaining challenges towards meeting the eight Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs have played an important role in galvanizing
attention on and resources for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The UN and Gender Equality
The Charter of the United Nations, signed in 1945,
was the first international agreement to affirm the principle of equality
between women and men. Since then, the UN has helped create a historic legacy
of internationally-agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to
advance the status of women worldwide.
Over the years, the UN and its technical agencies have
promoted the participation of women as equal partners with men in achieving
sustainable development, peace, security, and full respect for human rights.
The empowerment of women continues to be a central feature of the UN's efforts
to address social, economic and political challenges across the globe.
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