When is International Women’s day | Why do we celebrate it?

Marked annually on March 8th, International Women’s Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year to:

• celebrate the achievements of women across the world

• raise awareness about equality for women

• highlight and fight for accelerated gender equality

• fundraise for charities that have a female focus

Women began protesting for equal rights in the early 20th century, but it wasn’t until 1975 that International Women’s Day

was celebrated for the first time by the United Nations. Then in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by the Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions.

Why March 8th every year?

In 1917 in Russia, International Women’s Day acquired great significance – it was the flashpoint for the Russian Revolution. On March 8^th (Western calendar) women workers in Petrograd held a mass strike and demonstration demanding Peace and Bread. The strike movement spread from factory to factory and effectively became an insurrection. In 1922, in honour of the women’s role on IWD in 1917, Lenin declared that March 8^th should be designated officially as women’s day. Much later it was a national holiday in the Soviet Union and most of the former socialist countries. It has continued to be held throughout the world on this date ever since!

Every year the influence of International women’s day increases as more and more publicity and events are held to highlight the plight of women’s inequality and threats to women. Living in the UK, we are very fortunate in comparison to say women in India for example, but we still have a long way to go. Only recently it was highlighted how there is still an outrageous level of misogyny within the UK Police force. I know that things have improved because I’ve noticed a huge difference in the way women are treated within the Construction Industry. I used to work as a Project Manager and QS and I cannot believe how much (as a young female) I had to put up with in terms of abuse, and let me tell you, it wasn’t the on-site tradespeople that were the problem, it was middle management thinking they had the right to objectify women and get away with it.

So why do we need it,? (As if I need to ask)

1) Surveys show that nine out of 10 people found to be biased against women.^[1]

2) Women are twice as likely to be a victim of domestic or sexual abuse compared to men.^[2]

3) Women are three times as likely to be a victim of stalking compared to men. ^[3]

4) A gender pay gap persists across the globe – in the UK women work for free two months a year. ^[3]

5) Women are still not present in equal numbers in business or politics.^[4]

6) Men are still allowed to make life-threatening decisions about women’s bodies by banning abortions.^[5]

7) Women around the world spend on average more than twice as many hours as men doing unpaid work^.[6]

8) Figures also show that globally, women’s education, health and violence towards women is still worse than that of men.^[3]

9) Disasters such as floods, storms and drought kill more women than men due to the unequal division of power and resources between women and men.^[7]

10) More than 12 million underage girls are married off each year. That’s roughly 30,000 every single day.^[8,9]

(ifnotnowdigital.co.uk)

So let’s make a difference this IWD, think globally and act locally!
Make everyday International Women’s Day.
Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.

This International Women’s day as a business we will be promoting IWD by holding a virtual online coffee meet up. Everyone will be wearing purple!

• REFERENCES
• [1] Human Development Reports: Tackling Social Norms, a game changer for gender inequalities
• [2] Office for National Statistics: Domestic Abuse Victim Characteristics, England and Wales 2019
• [3] The Guardian: Women Work For Free For Two Months A Year Says TUC Analysis
• [4] The Telegraph: IWD Fights For Women’s Rights
• [5] The Guardian: This all-male council in Texas just voted to ban abortion
• [6] PanMacmillan: Shocking Gender Inequality Facts
• [7] World Health Organisation: Gender, Climate Change and Health
• [8] World Economic Forum: Child Marriage is Stalling Sustainable Development
• [9] Girls Not Brides: Child Marriage Around the World

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