Archives

'International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.

'The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the last century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies. Following is a brief chronology of the most important events:

'1909 - Following a declaration of the Socialist Party of America, the first National Women's Day was observed across the United States on 28 February.

'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 assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. No fixed date was selected for the observance.

'1911 - 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 the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job.

'1913-1914 - As part of the peace movement brewing on the eve of World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913.

'1917 - With 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women again chose the last Sunday in February to strike for "bread and peace". Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere.

'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 for coordinated efforts to demand women's rights and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly, International Women's Dayis 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 women's rights.

'The theme chosen by the United Nations for this year's International Women's Day is "Gender Equality and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals". In September 2000, at the United Nations Millennium Summit, the largest ever gathering of world leaders, agreed to a set of time-bound and measurable goals and targets. They later came to be known as Millennium Development Goals and aim to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.

'Of the 08 Millennium Development Goals, Goal 3 calls for empowering women and promoting gender equality, specifically setting targets to eliminate gender disparity in all levels of education by 2015. However, it is widely felt that gender equality is an essential cross cutting component for meeting all the targets. "Gender equality is not only a goal in its own right; it is critical to our ability to reach all other targets", says Kofi Annan Secretary-General of the United Nations.

'Although the Millennium Declaration recognizes that equal rights and opportunities of women and men must be assured, according to the World Bank, in no region of the developing world are women equal to men in legal, social and economic rights. Of the 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty worldwide, 60 to 70 per cent are thought to be women. Two-thirds of the world's 876 million illiterates are women. Of the 113 million children of primary school age who are not attending school, almost two-thirds are female. Women comprise about half of the 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, of which 90 per cent live in developing countries. Women remain vastly under-represented in national and local assemblies, on average accounting for only 14 per cent of the seats in National Parliaments.

'In his message for International Women's Day 2003, UN Secretary-General while stressing the need for urgent action points out: "There is no time to lose if we are to reach the Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015. Only by investing in the world's women can we expect to get there. When women thrive, all of society benefits, and succeeding generations are given a better start in life." (UNIC)

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager