Women’s equality has made positive gains but the world is still unequal.
International Women’s Day celebrates the social, political and economic achievements of women while focusing global attention on areas requiring further action.
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is #BeBoldForChange, in the hope that people will help to forge a better working and gender inclusive world.
Originally known as International Working Women’s Day, its roots lie in the socialist, rather than feminist, struggle of the early 20th century. Although national days had been celebrated prior to 1911, the 18 March of that year marked the first International day, following a proposal from German communist Clara Zetkin.
Each year International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8, with the first day being held in 1911. Thousands of events occur to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women. Organisations, governments, charities, educational institutions, women’s groups, corporations and the media celebrate the day.
Many global corporations have also started to more actively support IWD by running their own internal events and through supporting external ones. For example, on 8 March search engine and media giant Google some years even changes its logo on its global search pages. Year on year IWD is certainly increasing in status. The United States even designates the whole month of March as ‘Women’s History Month’.
You can find the latest news and events celebrating International Women’s Day on our dedicated page.