International Women's Day 2019: Everything you need to know

This year the themes for International Women's Day are #BalanceforBetter, which is described on IWD's website as call-to-action for driving gender balance across the world

International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 every year. It is a day when the world comes together to appreciate womanhood and their importance in society. The day also celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. 

History

Earlier, it was called National woman's day and was acknowledged by the U.S. on February 28, 1909. This was done because of the labour movement which was started in 1908 where 15000 female employees went on strike in New York City to protest against poor working conditions.

National Women's Day was recognised as International Women's Day only in 1910 after German women’s rights activist Clara Zetkin suggested at an International Conference.

Themes

This year the themes for International Women’s Day are #BalanceforBetter, which is described on IWD’s website as a “call-to-action for driving gender balance across the world” and "More Powerful Together". The themes stress upon the need for more men to get involved in the fight against gender equality and feminism.

"Let's build a gender-balanced world. Everyone has a part to play - all the time, everywhere," the IWD official website says.

Why March 8?

It was on this day that women in Soviet Russia gained the right the vote in 1917, hence March 8 was declared a national holiday for them. The United Nations General Assembly invited member states to proclaim March 8 as the UN Day for women's rights and world peace in 1977.

For those who are wondering, if there is a Men's Day too, there is. It is celebrated on November 19.

Colour

Interestingly, purple is a colour for symbolising women. It has been associated with women's fight for gender equality. The combination of green, purple and white was also used earlier. Purple symbolises justice and dignity while Green stands for hope. White represents purity but it is no longer used because 'purity' is a controversial subject. 

Women's history is full of pioneers, who have broken gender barriers and were the firsts' in their fields.

First Indian female physician: Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi

Country's first woman autorickshaw driver: Shila Dawre

First female amputee to climb Mount Everest: Arunima Sinha

First woman to score a double hundred in Test Cricket: Mithali Raj

First Indian woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize: Mother Teresa

First woman Prime Minister of India: Indira Gandhi

First woman President of India: Pratibha Patil

First Indian woman to reach space: Kalpana Chawla

First woman police officer: Kiran Bedi

First Indian woman to win the Women's Tennis Association: Sania Mirza

Only woman boxer who has won a medal in each of the six World Championships: Mary Kom

First Indian woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest: Bachendri Pal

First Indian female pilot and captain of Indian Airlines: Durga Banerjee

First lady cadet in Indian Army: Priya Jhingan

The writer of a book titled 'New Age Fairy Tales', Ariana Gupta spoke to mid-day and said, "I think we get to read a lot about women’s achievements on woman’s day but apart from the WhatsApp forwards there isn’t a drastic change in how women are treated. Yes, they might receive a little more attention than usual but that’s about it. As soon as the day is over the sexism returns and everything’s back to how it was." 

She also touched upon how women are stereotyped all the time in our society. When asked about some of them, she said, "In my opinion, one of the worst stereotypes that I have come across would be where women are still always expected to compromise their work life when they want to start a family because women are still seen as primary caregivers."

So, this year, let's pledge to not just celebrate women's day on March 8 but throughout our lives. 

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