By Jess Bourne

“Celebrating and making visible the achievements of women, while continuing the call for accelerating gender parity.”

International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrated on March 8 every year, is a day to respect, honour and give praise to all the women in our lives.

It’s a day that we focus on women from all around the world. Whether you’re a doctor, a teacher, a chef, an engineer, a receptionist, a lawyer, a politician, a mother, a grandmother, a sister or a daughter. It’s a day to celebrate women, no matter their job title or role.

International Women’s Day is one of my favourite days to celebrate. Being a feminist, it feels only right to make a song and dance about this day. It’s what women deserve. For the other 364 days in the year, women from all over are subjected to harassment, violence and hatred. But March 8 has the ability to bring women together, no matter ethnicity, sexuality or background.

The history of International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day first started in 1909, in America, with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America – they observed the first National Women’s Day (NWD) on February 28.

Then in 1910, at an International Conference of Working Women, Clara Zetkin proposed the idea of International Women’s Day, meaning that every country, every year should celebrate women on the same day.

A year later, Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland celebrated International Women’s Day on March 19, with one million men and women attending rallies and campaigning for women’s rights to vote, work, to hold public office and end discrimination – while some of these have seen an end, women are continually fighting to put an end to discrimination.

Between 1913 and 1914, for the first time, Russian women celebrated International Women’s Day on February 23. After discussions between countries, it was decided that International Women’s Day would be celebrated on March 8, all around the world. As 1914 saw the start of the First World War, rallies were held across Europe campaigning for an end to the conflict and to show women’s solidarity. In the UK, a march from Bow to Trafalgar Square was set up to show support of the women’s suffrage.

In February 1917, Russian women started to strike for “Bread and Peace” after the mass loss of Russian soldiers during the war. After four days of striking, and being opposed by leaders, Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia, was forced to abdicate and the Provisional Government took over. While they were in power, they granted women the right to vote.

International Women’s Day was marked for the first time in 1975 by the United Nations. Two years later, the General Assembly adopted a resolution for a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year, in accordance with their historical and national traditions.

The first International Women’s Day celebrated by the United Nations was given the theme “Celebrating the past, Planning for the Future”.

By 2000, International Women’s Day had lost quite a lot of mainstream activity in a lot of countries. Feminism was no longer seen as a popular topic of discussion. There was now a need to reignite enthusiasm for International Women’s Day.

Following on, women’s groups, charities and other organisations took part in collaboratively planning conversations. It was decided to launch internationalwomensday.com to motivate people to get involved with IWD. International Women’s Day now encourages events, shares information about the day and wider gender issues and to celebrate the achievements of women.

Despite the increased rights and visibility that women have, women are still illegally paid less compared to their male counterparts, nor are women equal in terms of numbers in business and politics. And all around the world, women are still the ones to suffer with access to education and healthcare and violence against women and girls is worse than that of men.

“Year on year, IWD is certainly a powerful moment increasing in status. Make a difference, think globally and act locally. All choice of IWD activity is valid, that’s what makes IWD so inclusive.

There’s a space and place for everyone to help fight the good fight. That’s the spirit of abundance. Make every day International Women’s Day. Do your bit to ensure to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe, and rewarding.” – International Women’s Day

What does it mean to me?

It’s all about empowerment. Thanks to all those women before us, we finally have rights, more freedom and much more collective power than we did 100 years ago. It’s empowering to see women all over the world coming together for one day in March, celebrating each other and highlighting how incredible women are.

Every year, it allows me to reflect on my mother, my sister, my best friend, and friends and appreciate everything they do for me. I have a different relationship with each of them, I talk about different things with each of them, but the one thing we all share is our womanhood. Each one of us understands what it is like to be a female in modern society, we know the struggles and issues we face but knowing that I have this support system makes life so much easier. So, on this International Women’s Day check in with those women who are closest with you, tell them how much you enjoy their company and thank you for what they have done and continue to do. Show them off and celebrate all women, especially the ones that are unable to take part in the celebrations.

March 8 is not just another day, it’s a time to show off all the women in your life. It’s the one day that women get just for ourselves, because International Men’s Day is every day – just let us have this!