[IndianSocialWorker] Women's Day
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Yogirajan N
Mar 8, 2006, 1:01:35 PM3/8/06
to IndianSoc...@googlegroups.com
Dear Friends,
Today was women's day. Everyone must have celebrated one or the other way. But can any one provide info on how this day was started?
I am not at all against celebrating day. But question is why this day was selected? who selected it? when it was selected? what was the purpose behid selection of this day?
John Desouza
Mar 9, 2006, 9:59:29 AM3/9/06
to IndianSoc...@googlegroups.com
Dear Friends,
Following is the information I got regarding the womens day celebration...
International Women's Day
International Women's Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women's
groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United
Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday.
When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and
by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences,
come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a
tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for
equality, justice, peace and development.
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 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
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America,
the first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States
on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of
that month through 1913.
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. 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 decision taken at Copenhagen the previous year,
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.
Less than a week later, on 25 March, the tragic Triangle Fire in New
York City took the lives of more than 140 working girls, most of them
Italian and Jewish immigrants. This event had a significant impact on
labour legislation in the United States, and the working conditions
leading up to the disaster were invoked during subsequent observances
of International Women's Day.
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. 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 their sisters.
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".
Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went
on anyway. The rest is history: 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 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 women's rights.
The Role of the United Nations
Few causes promoted by the United Nations have generated more intense
and widespread support than the campaign to promote and protect the
equal rights of women. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in
San Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to
proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. Since then, the
Organization has helped create a historic legacy of internationally
agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the
status of women worldwide.
Over the years, United Nations action for the advancement of women has
taken four clear directions: promotion of legal measures; mobilization
of public opinion and international action; training and research,
including the compilation of gender desegregated statistics; and
direct assistance to disadvantaged groups. Today a central organizing
principle of the work of the United Nations is that no enduring
solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political
problems can be found without the full participation, and the full
empowerment, of the world's women.
For more information, contact:
groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United
Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday.
When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and
by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences,
come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a
tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for
equality, justice, peace and development.
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 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
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America,
the first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States
on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of
that month through 1913.
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. 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 decision taken at Copenhagen the previous year,
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.
Less than a week later, on 25 March, the tragic Triangle Fire in New
York City took the lives of more than 140 working girls, most of them
Italian and Jewish immigrants. This event had a significant impact on
labour legislation in the United States, and the working conditions
leading up to the disaster were invoked during subsequent observances
of International Women's Day.
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. 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 their sisters.
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".
Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went
on anyway. The rest is history: 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 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 women's rights.
The Role of the United Nations
Few causes promoted by the United Nations have generated more intense
and widespread support than the campaign to promote and protect the
equal rights of women. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in
San Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to
proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. Since then, the
Organization has helped create a historic legacy of internationally
agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the
status of women worldwide.
Over the years, United Nations action for the advancement of women has
taken four clear directions: promotion of legal measures; mobilization
of public opinion and international action; training and research,
including the compilation of gender desegregated statistics; and
direct assistance to disadvantaged groups. Today a central organizing
principle of the work of the United Nations is that no enduring
solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political
problems can be found without the full participation, and the full
empowerment, of the world's women.
For more information, contact:
*************************************
Development Section
Department of Public Information
Room S-1040, United Nations,
Development Section
Department of Public Information
Room S-1040, United Nations,
With Regards,
John
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