ABOUT INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
International Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900's, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.
*1908 Great unrest and critical debate was occurring amongst women. Women's oppression and inequality was spurring women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Then in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.
*1909 In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day (NWD) was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate NWD on the last Sunday of February until 1913.1910At a Socialist International meeting in Copenhagen, an International Women's Day of no fixed date was proposed to honour the women's rights movement and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. Over 100 women from 17 countries unanimously agreed the proposal. 3 of these women were later elected the first women to the Finnish parliament.
*1911 Following the decision agreed at Copenhagen in 1911, International Women's Day (IWD) was honoured the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. However less than a week later on 25 March, the tragic 'Triangle Fire' in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labour legislation in the United States that became a focus of subsequent International Women's Day events. 1911 also saw women's 'Bread and Roses' campaign. *1913-1914 On the eve of World War I campaigning for peace, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. In 1914 further women across Europe held rallies to campaign against the war and to express women's solidarity.
*1917 On the last Sunday of February, Russian women began a strike for "bread and peace" in response to the death over 2 million Russian soldiers in war. Opposed by political leaders the women continued to strike until four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. The date the women's strike commenced was Sunday 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia. This day on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere was 8 March.
*1918 - 1999 Since its birth in the socialist movement, International Women's Day has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across developed and developing countries alike. For decades, IWD has grown from strength to strength annually. For many years the United Nations has held an annual IWD conference to coordinate international efforts for women's rights and participation in social, political and economic processes. 1975 was designated as 'International Women’s Year' by the United Nations. Women's organisations and governments around the world have also observed IWD annually on 8 March by holding large-scale events that honour women's advancement and while diligently reminding of the continued vigilance and action required to ensure that women's equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life.
*2000 - 2007 IWD is now an official holiday in Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother's Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.
The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that 'all the battles have been won for women' while many feminists from the 1970's know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.
Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. While there are many large-scale initiatives, a rich and diverse fabric of local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women's craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.
Many global corporations have also started to more actively support IWD by running their own internal events and through supporting external ones. For example, on 8 March search engine and media giant Google even changes its logo on its global search pages. Corporations like HSBC host the UK's largest and longest running IWD event delivered by women's company Aurora. Last year Nortel sponsored IWD activities in over 20 countries and thousands of women participated. Nortel continues to connect its global workforce though a coordinated program of high-level IWD activity, as does Accenture both virtually and offline. Accenture supports more than 2,000 of its employees to participate in its International Women's Day activities that include leadership development sessions, career workshops and corporate citizenship events held across six continents - in eight cities in the United States and in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain, South Africa and the UK. Accenture also coordinated am IWD webcast featuring stories about Accenture women worldwide that ran uninterrupted for 30 hours across 11 time zones via Accenture's intranet. Year on year IWD is certainly increasing in status. The United States even designates the whole month of March as 'Women's History Month'.So make a difference, think globally and act locally !! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.
The International Women's Day website is proudly provided by Aurora, a company that connects business and professional women and actively promotes companies’ employer brands, their job vacancies and their business products / services. Aurora owns and maintains the IWD website and for many years has promoted IWD activity globally through providing this FREE global register of IWD event listings used by women, the media, governments, charities and industry. This is a central global register of IWD events, for downloading IWD logos and for helping women's groups from all around the world communicate their IWD messages. Aurora wishes all groups a successful and effective IWD 2008. Although much progress has been made for women's equality, it is important that we are never complacent. For more information about Aurora's or Aurora's products/services, click here or visit some of Aurora's further websites such as the women-focused jobsite wheretowork.com/women.
International Women's Day (IWD) Global picture gallery
Young Bangaldeshi girls celebrate IWD (left) and IWD in the Whitehouse with Condoleeza Rice & Laura Bush (right)
Thousands of women and supportersmarch in Washington, D.C on IWD (left) and IWD US in the Whitehousewith Colin Powell (right)
IWD silent protest in Tapei, Asia (left) and Women gather for IWD conferencein Tolagnaro, Madagascar (right)
IWD Breakfast in IRAQ (left) and 1,000 Iranian women marchin Tehran on IWD (right)
Women's IWD Rally in Iran (left) and Global activity continueseverywhere on IWD ... (right)
Collage of women's global IWD activity (left) and Women in China review progressand discuss initiatives on IWD (right)
Peking Opera artists celebrateIWD in Beijing, China (left) and The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefsin Canada call for action on IWD (right)
Women at IWD marchin Vancouver, Canada (left) and Women call for equality at IWD march in Salvador, Brazil (right)
Hundreds gather forBangladesh IWD rally (left) and Women in IWD rally from factoriesand groups in Dhaka, Bangladesh (right)
Australian Emergency Servicevolunteers at IWD event (left) and Arab women at Amnesty International IWD Rally (right)
Women gather in Guinea, Africa (someof these women are no longer with us) (left) and Women in South Africa launch aneducation bus tour for women on IWD (right)
Afghan girls celebrate IWDat an event organised by USAID
VIETNAMESE WOMEN
Assiduous, laborious and proficient .... in working
Strong, healthy..... in sport
Graceful, lovely, faithful with "Ao Dai"
To be an science lover and success.....
INFORMATION ABOUT INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY VN CULTURAL DAY
Date: 08 March 2008
Time: 08:00 - 20:00
About: In Vietnam today, the International Women’s Day tradition sees men and boys honoring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. Remember to buy flowers in advance
Venue: New World Hotel, 76 Le Lai Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Org'n: AmCham: an independent association of American and international businesses. With about 400 member and associate companies, and nearly 800 representatives.
