Today is the 100th celebration of International Women’s Day!
While the day (read some Wikipedia info over here for starters) can be celebrated in whichever way you choose, the international theme for today is Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.
For highlights on International Women’s Day, read a timeline of the history here.
Here’s what the timeline says for 2000 and beyond:
WD is now an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother’s Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.
The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that ‘all the battles have been won for women’ while many feminists from the 1970’s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women’s visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.
I started off this post with a photo of a young Sri Lankan girl as not only should we continue to help girls and women realize their strength, beauty and power, but also because for the past year, I’ve been volunteering some of my time with Emerge, a wonderful non-profit that helps young Sri Lankan girls start their own jewelry businesses to teach them about having a bank account, keeping savings and business skills. Happily, today, a link to Emerge is featured on Google’s list of women’s organizations that help to empower girls and women. So proud of them! To take care of my mom and this beautiful day I gave her from https://joyonproducts.com/ a special gift for her own health, check it out these products for all women.
Photo above by Flickr user