International Women’s Day 2018: Significance, theme and all you need to know

International Women’s Day is around the corner with millions of people around the globe all set to celebrate the day. The day is dedicated to honouring the achievements and power of women. The day remembers women’s contribution to the uplifting of other women and the society. The aim of Women’s Day is to achieve gender equality for women across the globe. According to the World Economic Forum 2017, over 100 years will be required to fill the inequality gap between men and women.

How it all began
The first Women’s Day was celebrated on February 28, 1909, in New York by the Socialist Party of America. The day was dedicated to the 15,000 women who marched through New York in 1908 as part of the garment strike. In 1910, a German activist Clara Zetkin proposed the idea of celebrating Women’s Day in March at the 1910 International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. On March 19, 1911, Women’s Day was celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. In 1975, the United Nations declared March 8 as the official date to celebrate Women’s Day.

Women’s Day 2018
Various events, panel discussion, and celebration are held to mark the day. The theme for International Women’s Day 2018 is #PressForProgress. The theme aims to encourage women to raise voice for their rights and promote growing global movement to support gender parity. The year 2017, was a year dedicated to women and the issues faced by them. Trends like #MeToo gave voice to the way women are treated by men in power.

Also read: 7 ridiculous times when moral policing curtailed the freedom of Indian Women

Celebration
The day is an official holiday in countries like Afghanistan, Cambodia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Uganda, Vietnam, and Ukraine. In China, women are given a half-day off work, while Italy celebrates the day by giving mimosa blossom to women. On March 8, the US honours the achievements of American women every year.