International Women’s Day Essay
International Women’s Day is observed on March 8 each year. It is a day when people from all over the world gather together to celebrate the accomplishments of women and girls and to advocate for additional action to reduce gender gaps in income, employment, education, and other life possibilities. International Women’s Day has focused attention on issues impacting women worldwide for almost a century. IWD is a national holiday in certain countries, including China, Russia, Vietnam, and Bulgaria. In 1911, the inaugural IWD was held. The International Women’s Day Global Centenary took place in 2011. Today, International Women’s Day is for anybody who believes that women’s rights are fundamental human rights.
Why is it necessary to have an International Women’s Day?
Worldwide, less than 15% of countries have a female leader. Women make up only 24% of senior management, and 25% of organisations have no female senior management at all. Women work in the lowest-paid jobs and get less money for doing the same amount of effort. This wage disparity is referred to as the gender pay gap, and it is widening for young women in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. Additionally, women are more likely to perform the majority of housework and childcare. All of these women disproportionately affect women of colour.
Women also confront major inequities in healthcare and safety. Each day, a large no of women die in childbirth. Female murder numbers are also disturbing. The UN said last year that 137 women are murdered daily by their partner or previous partner. Over half of all female homicides worldwide are done by the victim’s boyfriend or family. Women who have access to health information and care are also less likely to be disregarded by doctors when they complain of pain, and significant health concerns are frequently overlooked for years.
The new millennium has seen a sea change in women’s and society’s attitudes about women’s equality and independence. Many members of the younger generation believe that ‘all the battles for women have been won,’ while many feminists from the 1970’s are all too aware of patriarchy’s endurance and embedded complexity. With more women in leadership positions, improved legislative equality, and an expanded critical mass of women’s visibility as inspiring role models in all aspects of life, one may believe that women have achieved actual equality. Unfortunately, women are still paid less than males, women are underrepresented in business and politics, and women’s education, health, and violence against them are all worse than men’s.
However, significant progress has been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, schoolgirls are admitted to universities, women can work and have families, and women have legitimate choices. Thus, during the last few years, the tone and nature of IWD have shifted from a reminder of the awful to a celebration of the positive.
Thousands of events are held worldwide on 8 March each year to inspire women and recognise their accomplishments. Women from all over the world are connected through a global web of rich and diverse local activity, which ranges from political rallies, corporate conferences, government activities, and networking events to local women’s craft fairs, theatre performances, and fashion parades.
Numerous multinational corporations have also increased their support for IWD by hosting internal activities and sponsoring external ones. For instance, on 8 March, Google, the world’s largest search engine and media company, changed its logo on its global search sites for the first time in several years. IWD’s status is unquestionably expanding year after year. The United States even proclaims March as ‘Women’s History Month.’
Therefore, make a difference by thinking globally while doing locally! Every day should be International Women’s Day. Contribute to ensuring that girls’ futures are bright, egalitarian, safe, and satisfying.
History of Women’s Day
In 1908, 15,000 women in New York City went on strike in protest of poor wages and appalling working conditions in the factories where they were employed. The following year, the Socialist Party of America sponsored a National Women’s Day, and a year later, a conference on equality and women’s right to vote was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. International Women’s Day (IWD) was first observed in Europe in 1911, and the United Nations declared 8 March International Women’s Day in 1975.
What occurs on March 8?
Children and men in certain nations send gifts, flowers, and cards to their moms, wives, sisters, and other women they know. However, International Women’s Day is fundamentally about women’s rights. Protests and gatherings are being held worldwide to demand equality. Many women wear purple, a colour associated with women who fought for the right to vote. Marches and rallies against sexual harassment have gathered momentum in recent months as a result of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. There is still much work to be done in the area of gender equality. However, women’s movements throughout the world are prepared and gathering momentum to carry out that mission.
