2019: International Women's Day
#BalanceForBetter
#BALANCEFORBETTER. The campaign for this year’s International Women’s Day calls for a balance for a better world. WOMEN all over the world will be celebrating International Women's Day and in some organization, the celebration and/or tribute extends throughout March. Here's a snippet of what you need to know about the global event.
Eve Writes | 08 March 2019
Life & Culture : Feature
A balanced world is a better world.
How can you help forge a more gender-balanced world?
Celebrate women's achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.
Balance for better.
When did it start?
In 1910, a woman called Clara Zetkin – leader of the ‘women’s office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany – tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She suggested that every country should celebrate women on one day every year to push for their demands.
A conference of more than 100 women from 17 countries agreed to her suggestion and IWD was formed. In 1911, it was celebrated for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19. In 1913, it was decided to transfer IWD to March 8, and it has been celebrated on that day ever since. The day was only recognised by the United Nations in 1975, but ever since it has created a theme each year for the celebration.
Born on July 5, 1857, in Saxony, Germany to a schoolteacher father and a mother from an upper-class family, she rose to prominence through her work with the Social Democratic Party.
It was her schooling at a local teacher training institute founded by German feminist Auguste Schmid, that turned her into a feminist. Working with her close confidante, Rosa Luxemburg, she helped organize the first International Socialist Women’s Conference in 1907.
It was at the second such conference, in Copenhagen in 1910, that Zetkin made the call for International Working Women’s Day, referencing how the the Socialist International had made May 1 International Workers Day, and citing inspiration from militant demonstrations organized by working class women across the United States.
Why do women all over the world still celebrate it?
Simply, because the original aim – to achieve full gender equality for women around the world – has still not been realized. In many countries, gender pay gap still persists and women are still not equally represented in numbers in business or politics. Figures show that globally, women’s education, health, and violence towards women is still in dire situations than that of men. According to the World Economic Forum, the gender gap won't close until 2186.
On IWD, women across the world come together to force the world to recognise these inequalities – while also celebrating the achievements of women who have overcome these barriers.
"I am not free while
any woman is unfree,
even when her shackles are very different from my own."
At About Eve, how we see it is that it is an opportunity for a year long activities and collaboration.
The 2019 #BalanceforBetter campaign should not be for just on International Women's Day, and it should not just be about championing equality and advocating against gender bias.
The campaign theme provides a unified direction to guide and galvanize continuous collective action be it by a company, a non-governmental organisation or even an individual.
With #BalanceforBetter, the activities can be reinforced and amplified all year round to also include a focus on women's and family health matters, improving gender relations, promoting collaboration in businesses and highlighting positive female role models.
