International Women's Day March 08

 

                                              

International Women’s Day on 8^th March

 

International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8^th March. It was first celebrated in the year 1911. Industrialization population expansion and changing economic – cultural - climatic condition brought changes in the woman movement for rights. Women movement started with demands education, shorter working hours, higher pay, right to vote, maternity leave, child care facility, there are 195 countries in the world, with 7.9 billion population in the year 2021, the female population in the world was 49.6%. Over the decades the female population of world was declining.  Education, Child Marriage, Religious Bias and restrictions, sentiments are the hurdles to the development of the women.

Women are the core of the universe. Women is only endowed with giving birth. Women passes through infancy, childhood, puberty, adolescence, reproductive age, climacteric period, elderly years.  Men supports the creation. In relationship with men legally she will become wife. Women keep the seeds in the womb, provides necessary environment, food and carries for 9 months and gives birth to a baby. By giving birth to a baby, she becomes mother. Mother breasts feeds the baby. Breast milk is very much crucial in developing baby immunity system for rest of the life. Mother is the first teacher. Mother greatly influences her children. Mother is the matriarch of any family. There are possibly no homes where there are no women members.

Women plays many different roles and as a mother, as a sister, as a daughter, as a grandmother in a blood link. Apart from these roles she is a friend, she is a strength, she is the positive in all round development of a person, she is the creator, she is the destroyer, she is a philanthropist, she is generous, she is magnanimous, she is noble, she is the entrepreneur, she is the accountant of a household, she is the best cook, she is the best doctor, she is the guide, she is the counsellor, she is a mentor, she thinks and plans for her children and her family, she cares less about herself, she is the source of universal energy.

Who runs the household? Household is run by the women. Any doubt! Men are only earners; actual runners of the household are women. The women restlessly take care of the household in the presence and absence of the men. Women is a word which describes the one who work more altruistically throughout her life. 8^th March is a day of women to celebrate the achievements of women in socio-economic-cultural-literary- scientific- political sector. This day is also dedicated to increase awareness about the gender equality, gender parity, declining sex ratio, atrocities on women worldwide, women rights in all forms. Without participation of the women the sustainable all-round achievement of any goals is quite impossible.

 

History of International Women’s Day

Industrialization boom in 1900s provided the platform for women’s rights. Industrialization required workers. As cities were short of workers, workers started to move from rural areas and other countries. This industrialization labor requirement lead to urban poor and development urban slums.

·         In 1908 movement for reform began against oppression and inequality. 15000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter work hours, higher pay, right to vote.

·         28^th February 1909, the first National Woman’s Day was celebrated across the United States, according to a declaration by the Socialist Party of America

·         In 1910, at Copenhagen, 2^nd International Conference of Working Woman was hosted.

·         The Clara Zetkin, German Marxist theorist and activist, proposed the concept of International Women’s Day. Over 100 women from 17 countries representing various organization, socialist parties, working women’s organizations and the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, unanimously approved the Zetkin’s proposal, International Women’s Day came to existence.

·         International Women’s Day was first observed in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland in 19^th March 1911.

·         25^th March 1911 “Triangle Fire” in New York took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish Immigrants.

·         1911 Woman’s “Bread and Roses” campaign.

·         1913-14 – 1^st World War campaigning for peace, Russian women observed their first international women’s Day on 23^rd February 1913.

·         Until 1913 women continued to celebrate the National Woman’s Day on the last Sunday of February.

·         08^th March 1914, London, United Kingdom - march from “Bow to Trafalgar Square”  in support of women’s suffrage. Sylvia Pankhurst was arrested in front of Charing Cross station.

·         In 1917, last Sunday of February, Russian woman began a strike for “bread and peace” at St. Petersburg with demands to end World War-I, Czarism, Shortage of food in Russia in response to the death of 2 million Russian soldiers in World War I, This leads to Russian Revolution and 4 days later the Czar was abdicated and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote.  

·         “The date the women’s strike commenced was Sunday February 23 on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia. This day on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere was March 8.”

·         In 1975 the United Nations began celebrating the International Women’s Day for the first time. UN designated year 1975 as International Woman’s Year and organized a world conference in Mexico City on status of woman.

·         1976-85 United Nations Decade for Women.

·         1980 The world conference of the United Nations Decade for Woman gathered in Copenhagen.

 ·         The Unite Nations Themes

 

Year	UN theme
1996	Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future
1997	Women and the Peace Table
1998	Women and Human Rights
1999	World Free of Violence Against Women
2000	Women Uniting for Peace
2001	Women and Peace: Women Managing Conflicts
2002	Afghan Women Today: Realities and Opportunities
2003	Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals
2004	Women and HIV/AIDS
2005	Gender Equality Beyond 2005; Building a More Secure Future
2006	Women in Decision-making
2007	Ending Impunity for Violence Against Women and Girls
2008	Investing in Women and Girls
2009	Women and Men United to End Violence Against Women and Girls
2010	Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All
2011	Equal Access to Education, Training, and Science and Technology: Pathway to Decent Work for Women
2012	Empower Rural Women, End Poverty, and Hunger
2013	A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence Against Women
2014	Equality for Women is Progress for All
2015	Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!
2016	Planet 50–50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality
2017	Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030
2018	Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women's lives
2019	Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change
2020	I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women's Rights
2021	Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world
2022	Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow

·         2001, The internationalwomensday.com platform was launched with the specific purpose of re-energizing the day - a focus which continues to this day - celebrating and making visible the achievements of women while continuing the call for accelerating gender parity.

o   The IWD website also serves as a significant vehicle for charities and in 2020 a hefty six figure sum was fundraised with 100% of donations going to charity.

o   The IWD website's Charities of Choice are the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) since 2007, and Catalyst Inc., the global working women's organization, since 2017.

o   2021 sees IWD's charitable fundraising opened up more widely to further registered charities around the world.

 

·         2011the 100-year centenary of International Women's Day

o   In the United States, President Barack Obama proclaimed March 2011 to be "Women's History Month

o   The then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched the "100 Women Initiative: Empowering Women and Girls through International Exchanges".

o   In the United Kingdom, celebrity activist Annie Lennox lead a march across one of London's iconic bridges raising awareness in support for global charity Women for Women International.

o   Further charities such as Oxfam have run extensive IWD activity. Many celebrities and business leaders actively support the day.

 

Colors of International Women’s Day:

The color purple, green, and white are the Colors of International Day. These colors are assigned by the United Kingdom Women’s Social and Political Union.

·         The color Purple is associated with justice, spirituality, mystery, royalty, imagination, wisdom, creativity and dignity.

·         The color Green represents the hope, prosperity, growth, harmony and health. The color green is a generous and relaxing. It balances our emotions and leaves us feeling safe and secure.

·         The color white stands for the purity, innocence. It being a balancer of all colors, it is also associated with cleanliness, simplicity and perfection. The white color promotes open mindedness and self-reflection.

 

What is the contribution to world economy by woman?

In my view 100% of world economy is directly or indirect contribution by world economy. Always in the business investor or the proprietor invests for the profit, bonus shares, and dividend and liquid fund for emergencies. Women is by birth a good entrepreneur who manages right from morning till late-night safety including bread and butter, washing, financing, counselling, guiding and other essential services. Women is the original “Alexa, Siri”. Investing in women is a long-term investment, Investment compounds with over the period of time with proper love, care and affection.

Below are some of the most important statistics available on women in the economy:

·         Women perform 66% of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn only 10% of the income and own 1-2% of the property.

·         Women and girls suffer disproportionately from the burden of extreme poverty- they make up 70% of the 1.5 billion people living on less than a dollar a day.

·         Outside of the agricultural sector, in both developed and developing countries, women still average less than 78% of the wages given to men for the same work.

·         Globally, women represent 49.6% of the total population, but only 40.8% of the total workforce in the formal sector.

·         Closing the gap between male and female employment rates would have huge implications for the global economy, boosting American gross domestic product (GDP) by as much as 9%, Eurozone GDP by 13% and Japanese GDP by 16%.

·         Women dominate the global marketplace by controlling US$20 trillion in consumer spending and that number is predicted to rise to US$28 trillion by 2014.

Below are some of the most important statistics available on women as business owners:

·         There are approximately 187 million women entrepreneurs worldwide who own at least some of 32-39% of all private businesses in the formal economy.

·         More women than men entrepreneurs introduce innovations (new products and services) in developed economies.

·         In societies where women perceive they have the capabilities for entrepreneurship, there is a greater likelihood women will also perceive entrepreneurial opportunities. However, fewer women (47.7%) than men (62.1%) believe they have the capabilities to start and run businesses.[11]

·         According to preliminary research conducted by WEConnect International, women-owned businesses earn less than 1% of the money spent on vendors by large corporations and governments.

Covid and Woman

One of the major hurdles faced by the women over the period got increased in different forms. One of it came in the form of Covid pandemic. Covid pandemic disrupted the world economy drastically. Covid pandemic spread across the globe like a wildfire, infected millions and brought economy to standstill. Health and human mortality increased and health system failures were brought to the forefront. The women of the house hold fought from the front with precaution to face the covid.  During this period apart from infection, mortality, impact on education system, economy was hit, child marriages increased, family planning methods neglected, and it give rise to the population increase.

In reality only 50% of the working-age women are in the labor market. Unpaid domestic and care work falls disproportionately on women. “Twenty-five years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, progress towards equal power and equal rights for women remains elusive. No country has achieved gender equality, and the COVID-19 crisis threatens to erode the limited gains that have been made. The Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals and efforts to recover better from the pandemic offer a chance to transform the lives of women and girls, today and tomorrow” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

On average day women globally spend about three times as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men (4.2 v/s 1.7) In Northern America and Western Asia that gender gap is even higher, with women spending more than seven times as much as men on these activities.

In terms of power and decision making, women held only 28% of managerial positions globally in 2019 – almost the same proportion as in 1995. And only 18% of enterprises surveyed had a female Chief Executive Officer in 2020. Among Fortune 500 corporations only 7.4%, or 37 Chief Executive Officers, were women. In 2021, the proportion of women in senior management roles globally grew to 31%, the highest number ever recorded. Ninety percent of companies worldwide have at least one woman in a senior management role as of 2021

Women’s senior leadership roles are also shifting.

While women leaders are still more likely to be HR directors compared to other roles, this proportion has decreased from 2020 to 2021. In the same time frame, the proportion of women in other leadership roles like CEO, Chief Finance Officer, and Chief Information Officer has increased.

• In 2021, 26% of all CEOs and managing directors were women, compared to only 15% in 2019.
• The Fortune Global 500 reported an all-time high of 23 women CEOs in 2021, including six women of color.

  

The proportion of women in senior leadership differs by region:
Region	Percentage of Women in Senior Management (2021)
Africa	39%
Southeast Asia (ASEAN)	38%
Latin America	36%
European Union	34%
North America	33%
Asia Pacific (APAC)	28%

In political life, while women’s representation in parliament has more than doubled globally, it has still not crossed the barrier of 25% of parliamentary seats in 2020. Women’s representation among cabinet ministers has quadrupled over the last 25 years, yet remains well below parity at 22%.

Women’s participation in education on the rise worldwide

The world has made substantial progress in achieving universal primary education, with girls and boys participating equally in primary education in most regions. While school closures related to COVID-19 are likely to set back progress on access to education, evidence shows that girls, once they have access to schooling, tend to do better than boys in terms of academic achievement. In tertiary education, women outnumber men, and enrolment is increasing faster for women than for men.

However, women continue to be underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, representing only slightly more than 35% of the world’s STEM graduates. Women are also a minority in scientific research and development, making up less than a third of the world’s researchers.

Violence against women and girls remains a global issue

During COVID-19 lockdowns, many women and girls have been isolated in unsafe environments where they are at heightened risk of experiencing intimate partner violence. Around one third of women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner; and 18% have experienced such violence in the past 12 months. In the most extreme cases, violence against women is lethal: globally, an estimated 137 women are killed by their intimate partner or a family member every day.

While female genital mutilation is becoming less common in some countries, at least 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to this specific form of violence across Africa and the Middle East where the practice is most prevalent.

In a sign that attitudes are changing, women’s acceptance of being beaten by their partners decreased in almost 75% of countries with data over the past seven years. But laws to address domestic violence are not yet universally available, with only 153 countries having such laws. Gaps are largest in Northern Africa, Western Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where 43% and 35% of countries respectively have not passed such laws.

Reliable and timely data are critical

Reliable, timely and disaggregated data are critically needed, particularly now as the international community responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, to effectively measure progress in achieving gender equality. Closing the data and evidence gaps through regular collection and use of gender statistics is crucial.

“I call on all countries to accelerate efforts towards the empowerment of women and girls and towards improving the evidence base to monitor progress: data gaps in the coverage of key gender topics need to be filled,” said Liu Zhenmin, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. “Timeliness and comparability of data over time and across countries need to be improved, and data disaggregation and dissemination by age, sex, location and other key variables need to become a priority in order to fully measure and address intersecting inequalities, respond to crises, and ensure gender equality by 2030.”

About the World’s Women report

Produced by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the World’s Women report has been produced every five years since 1990 and provides the latest data on the state of gender equality worldwide.

  References :

·         International Women's Day - Wikipedia

·         About – InternationalWomensDay.org

·         12 Color Meanings - The Power and Symbolism of Colors (Infographics) (color-meanings.com)

·         What do we know about women in today's economy? | ConnectAmericas

·         Facts and Figures: Economic Empowerment | UN Women – Headquarters