Inspiring Celebration: International Women’s Day
Mar 10, 2018
Given the high level of energy and engagement shown throughout the world during this year’s International Women’s Day, it’s almost hard to believe that this celebration is more than 100 years old.
The annual day dedicated to ordinary women and their continuing battle for increased rights, education and pay has several mothers, according to the University of Chicago, which cites numerous protests and conferences for women between 1907 and 1916 that helped spark the day.
They included a march by textile workers in New York in 1907 to protest work conditions; a 1911 celebration of women that drew more than one million people to rallies in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland; and the “Bread and Roses” strike of women mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
But the observance most likely falls on March 8 because of a protest in Moscow on the eve of the Russian Revolution in 1917. Thousands of women took to the streets to protest everything from World War I to a shortage of food supplies and other goods. The protest was led by Alexandra Kollontai, a Russian feminist, and after the revolution, the Soviet Union marked the day as an annual celebration of women’s contributions to society.
International Women’s Day grew in significance in 1975, when the United Nations adopted it as part of its Year of the Woman. Now it is observed in more than 100 countries.
Every year, the day has a special theme and for this year it was “Press for Progress.” The momentum for this cause has been particularly strong in 2018 with the high visibility of the #MeToo and Times Up movements, often referred to as a cultural reckoning for women’s rights, but organizers wanted to make sure that we keep up the pressure throughout the year.
The annual day dedicated to ordinary women and their continuing battle for increased rights, education and pay has several mothers, according to the University of Chicago, which cites numerous protests and conferences for women between 1907 and 1916 that helped spark the day.
They included a march by textile workers in New York in 1907 to protest work conditions; a 1911 celebration of women that drew more than one million people to rallies in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland; and the “Bread and Roses” strike of women mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
But the observance most likely falls on March 8 because of a protest in Moscow on the eve of the Russian Revolution in 1917. Thousands of women took to the streets to protest everything from World War I to a shortage of food supplies and other goods. The protest was led by Alexandra Kollontai, a Russian feminist, and after the revolution, the Soviet Union marked the day as an annual celebration of women’s contributions to society.
International Women’s Day grew in significance in 1975, when the United Nations adopted it as part of its Year of the Woman. Now it is observed in more than 100 countries.
Every year, the day has a special theme and for this year it was “Press for Progress.” The momentum for this cause has been particularly strong in 2018 with the high visibility of the #MeToo and Times Up movements, often referred to as a cultural reckoning for women’s rights, but organizers wanted to make sure that we keep up the pressure throughout the year.
Because, after 100 years, there is still much to be done.
Gains are being made day by day, but it’s imperative to keep striving for more every day and, perhaps more importantly, show why increased rights, education and pay for women benefits everyone.
That’s right – women getting more actually usually translates to entire societies doing better. Here’s a few reasons why:
- The World Bank has determined that for every 1% increase in the population of girls educated, a country’s GDP increases by .3%.
- A 2014 study by global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company indicates that more women in leadership roles leads to better companies. Their report estimated that businesses with three or more women in senior management score higher in all aspects of organizational effectiveness.
- Better educated and better paid women lead to lower infant mortality rates. The medical journal The Lancet published a 30-year study of 219 counties that showed that for every additional year of education for women of reproductive age, child mortality decreased by 9.5 percent.
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Gutiérrez noted this week that “Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls is the unfinished business of our time, and the greatest human rights challenge in our world."
And, as the statistics above show, finishing up that business could very well help advance everyone on the globe.
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