Essay on Women's Day

It is an annual worldwide festival held on the 8th of March to honour women's cultural, political, and social achievements. It is also an essential part of the women's rights movement, concentrating on topics such as equality of the sexes, reproductive freedom, and assault and abuse against women. In some countries, it is an official holiday; in others, it is commemorated socially or locally to recognize and support women's achievements.

The United Nations observe the holiday with grand gestures and support them by providing a specific theme or subject in women's rights campaigns worldwide. It still shows its political beginnings in certain parts of the globe, with demonstrations and calls for radical change; in others, notably in the West, it is primarily social and centred on honouring femininity.

Origin

The first Women's Day was believed to be on February 28, 1909, in New York and was planned by Theresa Malkiel. On the 8th of March, 1857, a parade of female textile workers was held in New York to commemorate the day. Experts claim this is a lie designed to distance Women's Day from its socialist roots.

In August 1910, a Socialist Women's Conference was organized in Denmark before the general assembly. And later, every year, personnel like Clara Zetkin, Käte Duncker, Paula Thiede, and other German politicians lobbied for a "Women's Day", but no day was set till then. As part of a campaign to promote equal rights, including women's suffrage, about 100 delegates from 17 nations backed the notion.

On March 19, 1911, almost a million individuals in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland observed the inaugural International Women's Day. There were 300 protests in Austria-Hungary alone, with women waving banners to honour the Paris Commune martyrs. Women protested against sex discrimination in the workplace and sought the opportunity to vote and occupy public office across Europe.

At the time, Americans celebrated National Women's Day on the last Sunday of February. On the final Saturday of February 1913, Russia honoured Women's Day for the first time. Women's Day was first marked in Germany on March 8, 1914, most likely because the date was a Sunday. Germany's celebration, like that of other nations, focused on women's voting rights, which German women did not get until 1918.

Early Stages of Development

On March 8th, 1917, women textile workers in Petrograd began a rally that soon engulfed the whole city, demanding "Bread and Peace"-the end of World War I, food shortages, and czarism.

This movement kicked off the February Revolution, Russia's second revolution following the October Revolution. "On February 23rd, International Woman's Day, meetings and actions were planned," rebel leader Leon Trotsky wrote. They had no idea that Women's Day would trigger a dramatic change. Revolutionary events were planned, but no date was set. But, against the orders, textile employees left their jobs in various factories. They dispatched delegates to rally in support of the strike, which resulted in a mass walkout in which everyone gathered onto the streets.

After years of struggle, Lenin and Kollontai established Women's Day, an official Soviet Union holiday, in 1917. Women's Day was later proclaimed a non-working day in the Soviet Union on May 8, 1965.

Women's Day was primarily observed in communist nations and by the communist movement worldwide after its formal approval in Soviet Russia. Dolores Ibárruri, a Communist activist, led a women's march-past in Madrid on the eve of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Beginning in 1922, Chinese communists commemorated the holiday. Still, it quickly gained traction across the political spectrum: Guangzhou witnessed a march of 25000 women and men in 1927, including representatives from the Kuomintang, the YWCA, and labour organizations.

Acceptance by the United Nations

It was primarily a communist holiday until around 1967, when the second wave of feminists adopted it. The day was reborn as an active day and is now known as the "Women's International Day of Struggle" throughout Europe. In the 1970s and 1980s, progressive labour organizations joined forces with women's groups to push for equal wages, income equality, legal rights, reproductive choice, sponsored child-rearing, and eliminating violence against women.

Women's Day was established by the U.N. in 1975 as part of the International Women's Year. The United Nations General Assembly requested in 1977 that March 8th be declared an official U.N. holiday to promote women's rights and international peace. Since then, the U.N. and much of the globe have observed it annually, with each commemoration focusing on a different theme or issue related to women's rights.

Corporations' Acceptance

It has been criticized as being heavily diluted and commercialized by the twenty-first century, especially in the West. It is funded by large corporations and is used to promote broad and hazy ideals of equality rather than actual social reforms. The website internationalwomensday.com was founded in 2001; it established a yearly subject and hashtags unrelated to the U.N. effort. Aurora Ventures, a British marketing business, maintained the website with corporate support in 2009. The website began to push hashtags as daily themes, which became popular worldwide.

Women's Day Celebrations: Around the World

Annually, large Soviet-style celebrations were organized in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. When Communism fell, the holiday, which was seen as a significant emblem of the old system, slipped into obscurity. On the proposal of the Social Democrats and Communists, the Czech Parliament re-established International Women's Day as an official "Important Day" in 2004. This has sparked debate because many members of the public and the political right regard the holiday as a vestige of the country's Communist history.

Men in Italy celebrate the festival by giving women yellow mimosas. At the suggestion of Luigi Longo, Teresa Mattei, a communist politician, chose the mimosa as the symbol of Women's Day in 1946. Because the French symbols of Women's Day, violets and lily of the valley, were too rare and expensive to be utilized in underprivileged rural Italian communities, and so Teresa offered the mimosa as a substitute.

In the United States, Beata Pozniak, an actress and human rights activist, worked with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Governor Jerry Brown to encourage members of the U.S. Congress to endorse formal acknowledgement of the event. In February 1994, Representative Maxine Waters filed H. J. Res. 316, which had 79 voting members, to acknowledge the 8th of March as Women's Day formally. The measure was referred to and is still being considered by the House Post Office and Civil Service Committees. There was no vote in either house of Congress on this legislation.

On Women's Day, women's collectives in Pakistan launched the first Aurat Marches with the Pakistani #MeToo campaign. The inaugural March took place on March 8th, 2018, in Karachi.

Yearly Celebration

2012

People around the world were reminded to honour extraordinary women in their life by sending a free Women's Day e-Card or by presenting a Women's Day award to a woman whose contributions to the fight against hunger and poverty had made a difference.

On Women's Day 2012, the Red Cross appealed for a more tremendous effort to assist mothers and wives of missing people amid violent conflict. Men made up most of those who went missing due to arguments. In addition to the misery of not knowing what happened to their missing spouse or child, many of these mothers confronted economic and logistical challenges. The ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross, a non-profit humanitarian organization) emphasized that all parties to this conflict must search for the lost and offer information to their relatives.

2013

"A promise is a promise: time for action to end violence against women" was the focus of attention on Women's Day 2013.

The Red Cross raised awareness about the suffering of women in prison. Statistics show that about 70% of women have been sexual or physical assault victims. Director-General of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), named Irina Bovoka, declared on Women's Day 2013, "To empower women and maintain equality, we must reject all kinds of violence wherever they occur."

With the increase in violence against women and the brutal attack on Malala Yousafzai in October 2012, the United Nations designated combatting violence against women as a top priority for International Women's Day 2013. UNESCO rightly identified violence against young girls as one of the key reasons why girls did not attend school. As a result, it partnered with governments worldwide to support women's rights by providing quality education in a secure environment.

2014

Beyoncé, an American singer and songwriter, posted an International Women's Day video on her YouTube page. Her song, titled "Flawless", was played throughout the video, and a clip of author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's lecture "We Should All Be Feminists" was added. This supported the movement further.

2015

It was a memorable day as governments and activists commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and a platform for Action. This landmark roadmap laid the groundwork for achieving women's rights.

2016

"On this International Women's Day, I send warm greetings and best wishes to the women of India and thank them for their efforts to our nation's construction throughout the years," said India's President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee. On March 8, the Ministry of Women and Child Development proposed the creation of four new one-stop crisis centres out of the eight currently running across the country. As part of the International Women's Day festivities and to honour women, Air India claimed to have completed the world's longest nonstop flight, with all flight operations managed by women. The trip from Delhi to San Francisco took approximately 17 hours and covered around 14500 kilometres.

2017

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres stated in a statement celebrating International Women's Day that women's rights were being "limited, restricted, and reversed". With males still in positions of power and the economic gender gap widening, he urged for change "by empowering women at all levels, hearing their voices, and giving them responsibility over their own lives and the destiny of the planet".

2018

According to the United Nations theme for International Women's Day in 2018, "Time is Now: Rural and urban activists altering women's lives."

Global marches and online movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp, which began in the U.S. but gained support globally, enabled many women throughout the world to combat injustice and speak out on topics such as sexual assault and harassment, as well as the gender wage gap.

2019

This year's U.N. theme for Women's Day was "Think Equal, Build Smart, and Innovate for Change." The focus was on innovative methods to improve gender equality and women's empowerment, particularly in social protection systems, public service access, and long-term infrastructure. For the first time, the federal state of Berlin designated International Women's Day a public holiday.

2020

This year's U.N. theme for Women's Day was "I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women's Rights." Despite the COVID-19 epidemic, public demonstrations were held in all major cities throughout the world, including London, Paris, Madrid, Brussels, Moscow, and other European towns as well. Following a failed attempt to get it banned as unIslamic, the Aurat March in Islamabad was disrupted by stone-throwing assaults. Hundreds of demonstrators were detained by police in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan's capital, shortly after masked individuals reportedly assaulted the March.

2021

The United Nations' theme for 2021 Women's Day was "Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World," which was intended to celebrate the role that girls and women all over the world played as health care providers, caregivers, innovators, and community organizers during the COVID-19 pandemic. That year's hashtag theme was #ChooseToChallenge.

2022

This year's U.N. theme for Women's Day 2022 was "Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow." It seeks to showcase the valuable contribution of women and girls worldwide who take part in one's society, all while trying to promote climate change adaptation, mitigation, and resolution to construct a much better tomorrow for all. The year's hashtag theme is #BreaktheBias, and the colour is purple.

Conclusion

We are approaching an exciting historical period when the world will recognize gender equality. As a result of a significant increase in Women's Day festivities in every part of the planet, as well as many more female-focused days and projects throughout the world, women are being liberalized. Thus, on the coming Women's Day, let us appreciate the importance of women in our lives and society and encourage them to achieve even greater things in the future. They are changing the environment around us, and most importantly, they play a crucial part in the development of children and the creation of any family. Our role is to recognize and thank the women who succeed in their lives and bring success to the lives of other women and those around them.