A special greeting to the Discovery Women! -Fernando Arias
Here´s a little history behind today’s celebration.
The annual celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8 serves as a focal point for the women’s rights movement and raises awareness of topics like gender equality and violence and abuse against women.
This day is also commemorated in a variety of ways worldwide; it is a public holiday in different countries, and observed socially or locally in others to celebrate and promote the achievements of women.
The Socialist Party of America staged the first known celebration of Women’s Day on February 28, 1909 in New York City under the name “National Woman’s Day,” at the idea of activist Theresa Malkiel. Almost a million people celebrated the first International Women’s Day the next year on March 19 in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. There were 300 protests in Austria-Hungary alone, and women carried banners remembering the victims of the Paris Commune as they paraded in Vienna. Women protested against sexism in the workplace and sought the opportunity to vote and occupy public office throughout Europe.
The United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day in 1975, which had been proclaimed the International Women’s Year. The UN´s General Assembly asked member nations to declare March 8 as a holiday in support of women’s rights and global harmony in 1977. Since then, the UN and a large portion of the world have celebrated it annually, with each year’s commemoration focusing on a different theme or issue related to women’s rights.
Happy International Women´s Day to all of you!