Happy International Women's Day 2020!

Happy Women's Day!

Wishing you a day filled with goodness and warmth,

Wishing you happiness… today and forever!

For more than a century people around the world have been marking 8th March as a special day for women. International Women's Day grew out of the labour movement to become a United Nations -recognised annual event.

The seeds of it were planted in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. It was the Socialist Party of America who declared the first National Woman's Day, a year later.

The idea to make the day international came from a woman called Clara Zetkin. She suggested the idea in 1910 at an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. There were 100 women there, from 17 countries, and they agreed on her suggestion unanimously.

It was first celebrated in 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The centenary was celebrated in 2011, so this year we're technically celebrating the 109th International Women's Day.

Things were made official in 1975 when the United Nations (UN) started celebrating the day. The first theme adopted by the UN (in 1996) was "Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future". This year's focuses on "An equal world is an enabled world" and asks for people to work together to create a gender-equal world.

International Women's Day has become a date to celebrate how far women have come in society, in politics and economics, while the political roots of the day mean strikes and protests are organised to raise awareness of continued inequality.

Clara's idea for an International Women's Day had no fixed date. It wasn't formalised until a war-time strike in 1917 when Russian women demanded "bread and peace" - and four days into the women's strike the Tsar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. The date when the women's strike commenced on the Julian calendar, which was then in use in Russia, was Sunday 23rd February. This day in the Gregorian calendar was 8th March - and that's when it's celebrated today.

International Women's Day is a national holiday in many countries, including Russia where the sales of flowers double during the three or four days around 8th March.

In China, many women are given a half-day off work on 8th March, as advised by the State Council, although many employers don't always pass the half-day on to their female employees.

In Italy, International Women's Day, or La Festa Della Donna, is celebrated by the giving of mimosa blossom. The origin of this tradition is unclear but it is believed to have started in Rome after World War II.

In the US, the month of March is Women's History Month. A presidential proclamation issued every year honours the achievements of American women.

This year's International Women's Day campaign has chosen the theme #EachForEqual, which is drawn from the idea of collective individualism.

"We are all parts of a whole," the campaign states. "Our individual actions, conversations, behaviours and mindsets can have an impact on our larger society.

"Collectively, we can make change happen. Collectively, we can each help to create a gender-equal world."

The past few years have seen the women's movement reach an unprecedented scale. In October 2017, millions began using the hashtag #MeToo on social media to speak out against experiences of harassment and sexual assault, and to denounce their widespread prevalence.

In 2018, the #MeToo conversation grew to a global scale, with countries such as India, France, China, and South Korea joining in the conversation to demand change. In the US, a record number of women were elected in the midterm elections.

Last year saw abortion decriminalised in Northern Ireland and the repeal of a law that controlled how women acted and dressed in public in Sudan.

Enjoy Your Day!

Happy International Women’s Day!

అంతర్జాతీయ మహిళా దినోత్సవ శుభాకాంక్షలు!

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness. Happy Women’s Day!

-         N. Lalitha Raghu.