International Women's Day - March 8, 2011 - Global Centenary Year

By: ChichiGirls on March 7, 2011 9:55 pm PST     

Today is International Women's day, a major day of celebration around the globe of women. It is a day to honor women and to acknowledge the contribution of women of how far they have come in their struggle for equality, peace and development.

This year is International Women's Day Global Centenary Year (100 years.) The day was commemorated for the first time on March 19, 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, following its establishment during the Socialist International meeting the prior year.

In 1975, the United Nations began celebrating March 8 as International Women's Day.

International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history. 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 German socialist Klara Zetkin who started International Women's day and Russian revolutionary and feminist Aleksandra Kollontai, who helped organize the event, took part in the most famous International Women's Day—the March 8, 1917, strike "for bread and peace" led by Russian women in St. Petersburg.

2010's theme was: "Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all."

Below are some issues the United Nations and International Women's day have focused on:

• In a number of countries, women who have been raped are sometimes killed by their own families to preserve the family's honor.


• According to UNICEF, 100 million to 140 million women and girls have undergone some form of female genital mutilation.


• Rape as a weapon of war.


• About 25,000 brides are burned to death each year in India because of her financial status. The groom's family will set the bride on fire, presenting it as an accident or suicide. The groom is then free to remarry.

Let's take a moment today to celebrate not only the great achievements of well-known women leaders, but also ones in our own lives - whether they are a teacher, co-workers, a friend, a wife or girlfriend, a mother, or a grandmother.

Tags: international women's day, march 8, women, honor, holiday, 2011, united nations, history, celebration, global centenary year, 100 years, equal rights, peace