so…i jumped online, signed some actions, I’d missed my local IWD March but was looking for something to demonstrate my support for the day. thought about the easiest way for me to do this… was online – felt a little bad about this – but do think that everyone contributes in different capacities to social change, some days I can get to everything, sometimes I just need to do what I can. It all works out in the end.
the rest of the day enjoyed that feeling of being part of something bigger than the small part of the world i occupy – so thank you everyone for sharing IWD with me.

-By Sharon M, Sydney

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Suffragists march from New York on their way to the Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington D.C. in 1913. © AP/PA Photo

On 8 March 1857, women garment workers in New York City, USA, marched and picketed, demanding improved working conditions, a 10-hour day and equal rights to men. Their ranks were broken by the police.

Fifty-one years later, on 8 March 1908, 15,000 New York women garment workers marched again, this time demanding the vote and an end to sweatshops and child labour.

International Women’s Day is marked on this date by women’s groups around the world. It is commemorated at the UN and is designated in many countries as a national holiday.

The landscape for women’s rights has changed dramatically over the past century. In many countries, women are active participants in the political process and have made significant strides towards economic equality. Globally, there are legally binding agreements to protect and promote women’s rights.

While women make history, they do so in circumstances they have neither chosen nor created. Women face heightened levels of sexual violence in times of conflict, insecurity and in the context of poverty.

In Sierra Leone, it is estimated that one in every three women and girls were raped, or suffered some form of sexual violence, during the armed conflict that raged from 1991 to 2002.

Sexual violence is also closely related to the cycle of insecurity and poverty. In Haiti, many girls cannot afford to pay school fees and can be forced into sexual abuse or exploitation in exchange for gifts and money for their education. Others have been raped in streets no one could afford, or chose, to light properly.

Women living in Kibera, Kenya, one of the world’s largest slums, go about their daily lives lacking access to basic necessities such as water, education and security. People have few opportunities to break out of poverty, and women and girls suffer the most.

Girls’ education is often considered a luxury and those lucky enough to go to school are more likely to find themselves burdened with extra household responsibilities such as caring for sick relatives or looking after younger siblings. Lack of security in Kibera makes it harder for women to improve their situations. The alleyways through which women must pass to get buy food or travel to work are often unlit, and can be dangerous places.

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• 1909: The first National Woman’s Day was observed in the United States on 28 February. The Socialist Party of America designated this day in honour of the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions.
• 1910: The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women’s Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women’s rights and to build support for achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish Parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance.
• 1911: As a result of the Copenhagen initiative, International Women’s Day was marked for the first time (19 March) in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded women’s rights to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job.
• 1913-1914: International Women’s Day also became a mechanism for protesting World War I. As part of the peace movement, Russian women observed their first International Women’s Day on the last Sunday in February. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with other activists.
• 1917: Against the backdrop of the war, women in Russia again chose to protest and strike for “Bread and Peace” on the last Sunday in February (which fell on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar). Four days later, the Czar abdicated and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote.

Since those early years, International Women’s Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women’s movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women’s conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women’s rights and participation in the political and economic arenas. Increasingly, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.

Learn more http://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/iwd