Women in every country come together to celebrate women's social, cultural, political and economic achievements across the world on International Women's Day on 8 March. The theme for this year is "inspiring potential," encouraging women to achieve more in every sphere of their lives.
The first National Women's Day was observed in 1908 in the United States, in accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America.
In 1910, the Socialist International world political body held a meeting to establish an international women's day to help achieve votes for all women and to honour the movement for women's rights. As a result, International Women's Day was marked for the first time in 1911 with more than one million women and men attending rallies demanding women's right to vote, work and have access to vocational training.
In 1917, Russian women held a strike for "bread, peace and land" to protest against the destruction caused by war and the suffering they had endured. Four days later the ruling Russian Czar was forced to abdicate and the temporary government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 8 March and women in every country have celebrated International Women's Day on this date since then.
Source: Aurora
What can we do?
To find out more go to: www.internationalwomensday.com.