March 8 is an important date – International Women’s Day, dedicated to celebrating the social, economic and political achievements of women and gender equality. This year’s theme is #BreaktheBias – Campaigners are urging people to eliminate gender stereotypes and discrimination if they witness it.
“Achieving gender equality and empowering women is an unfinished business of our time and the greatest human rights challenge in the world.”
This was announced by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.
International Women’s Day is celebrated every year. It was first celebrated as National Women’s Day in the United States in February 1909, and the following year at the Second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Denmark, Clara Zetkin, a women’s rights activist, called on people to celebrate International Women’s Day. To demand equal rights. She was supported by women from 17 countries, including three women MPs from Finland.
There is speculation that the true founders of March 8 were American women, and this story dates back to an earlier date, 1857, when women staged a mass demonstration in New York for their rights. They protested against low wages and unbearable working conditions. The women who took to the streets were dispersed by the police. That is why the election was suspended on March 8.
International Women’s Day was first celebrated in March 1911, but the official date is March 8, 1913. It was first mentioned by the UN in 1975.
