International Women’s Day
On 8th March, International Women’s Day is celebrated to bring women’s accomplishments and women’s right into focus. In this post, we explore the history of International Women’s Day and how it can help people all over the world.
What is International Women’s Day?
It is contested as to the specific event that inspired International Women’s Day. In the early 1900s, several movements arose that advocated for equal rights between men and women in the western world. Different countries across the world began to celebrate IWD around the end of February/early March to commemorate the advocacy for women during this time.
United Kingdom
In the early 1900s, the Suffragettes movement (led by Emmeline Pankhurst) advocated for women to be enfranchised (be allowed to vote) which was achieved by 1928.
New Zealand
New Zealand was the first self-governing country in the world to give women the vote in 1893. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union New Zealand (WCTU) and Wāhine Māori were a few of the organisations that helped to put together a seven-year petition for the enfranchisement.
America
In the USA, on 28 February 1909, Clara Lemlich, a Ukrainian textile factory worker, stood with 20,000 women to strike against pay, working conditions and hours.
Whilst these examples demonstrate the historical plight of women to gain equal rights between all genders, there are still inequalities across the world in principle and in practice. International Women’s Day helps to shine a light on these inequalities and prompt momentum for change.
IWD United Nations Theme
This year, the theme for International Women’s Day is #InvestInWomen with its aim to shine a light on financial deficit between men and women.
The UN have highlighted several key issues, which you can read more about on their website:
- They project that an additional $360 billion is needed per year to achieve gender equality.
- The need to close gender gaps in employment in order to boost GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by 20%.
- Expanding services with decent jobs could lead to 300 million jobs by 2035.
Inspirational Women
We asked our Leeds ISC staff about the women that inspire them, personally and professionally.
Emily, Head of Business, highlighted her mum who lost her own mum at the age of 12 and channelled the grief and distress to inspire others through her work as a nurse then in working for charitable organisations helping women who had been trafficked, in hospices and cancer organisations. She is also inspired by her daughter who has dyslexia and struggles every day in school with the challenges this provides, however has learnt to embrace it and stays eternally positive.
Debbie, Head of Social Studies and Research Skills, is also inspired by her mum who was in the police force from 1964–1980 and worked her way up to be a key part of the team, finally finishing as an instructor at the police college. She also survived a catastrophic hot air balloon accident in 2008 where she broke 37 bones in her body and was told she would not walk again. She overcame this setback through determination to get back on her feet and walking.
Advice from successful women
“Never believe anyone who tries to make you feel you are not capable. You are without doubt stronger, more capable and worth more than you think. Whatever you set your mind to, with enough work, commitment and determination in the face of challenges you can achieve” — Debbie, Head of Social Studies and Research Skills
“Stay true to yourself. You do not need to change the way you are to fit into a male dominated world. Be yourself, work hard and fight to take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way” — Emily, Head of Business
Is International Women’s Day just about women?
Intrinsically, IWD advocates for women’s rights and gender equality. The graphic below from Business Fights Poverty illustrates the costs of inequality and the opportunities of equality. In the UK, changes such as Shared Parental Leave (allowing both parents to have equal time off after having a baby) was brought into the place to allow women to get back into work sooner, in turn gives the other partner the opportunity to spend time with their new-born.
Challenging gender stereotypes means that a person of any gender can be encouraged to pursue a line of work that traditionally may have been fixed into one specific gender, which in turn brings about increased freedoms and a diverse workforce.
If you want to know more about International Women’s Day read more about it on the United Nation’s website.
