Women’s day

 The Women’s rights statuar group on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Canada

It’s called: “Women are Persons!” Monument.

I was there in 2010 sitting with them .

The  earliest Women’s Day was held on February 28,

1909, in New York; it was organized by the Socialist

Party of America in remembrance of the 1908 strike

of the  International Ladies Garmet Worker’s Union.

In August 1910, an International Women’s

Conference was organized  in Denmark.

Inspired in part by the American socialists, 

Luise Zietz proposed the establishment of an

annual ‘International Woman’s Day’ .

 Delegates ,100 women from 17 countries,  agreed

with the idea as a strategy to promote equal rights,

including Suffrage  , for women. The following year,

on March 19, 1911, International Woman’s Day’  was

marked for the first time, by over a million people in

Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.

In the Austro-Hungarian Empire , there were 300

demonstrations. In Vienna, women paraded , carried

banners  and demanded that women be given the right

to vote and to hold public office. They also protested

against employment sex discrimination.

From its official adoption in Russia following

the Soviet Revolution in 1917 the holiday was

celebrated in communist and socialist countries.

It was celebrated by the communists in China from

1922, and by Spanish communists from 1936. 

After the founding of the People’s Republic of

China on October 1, 1949 the state council

proclaimed on December 23 that March 8 would

be made an official holiday with women in China

given a half-day off.

In the West, International Women’s Day was first

observed as a popular event after 1977 when the

 United Nations General Assembly invited member

states to proclaim March 8 as the UN for women’s

rights and world peace.

Some of US annual themes:

 Table World Free of Violence Against Women,

Women and Peace:Women Managing Conflicts ,

Gender Equality and the Millennium Development

Goals Equal Rights, Afghan Women Today: Realitie

and  Opportunities.

 Equal Opportunities: Progress for All Equal Access

to Education, Training, and Science and Technology:

Pathway to Decent Work for Women Empower Rural

Women, End Poverty and Hunger Empowering Women,

Empowering Humanity: Picture it!

The UN theme for International Women’s Day

2015 is “Empowering Women, Empowering

Humanity: Picture it !” 

The International Woman’s Day theme for 2015

is ‘Make It Happen’ with a dedicated hash tag for

social media.

(c) All rights reserved to Victoria Sara Dazin