The 8th of March is the International Women's Day (IWD). This year’s theme of #BreakTheBias encourages people around the world to take action towards achieving gender balance by taking responsibility for our own individual thoughts and actions. It invites women around the world to strike the specific IWD 2022 pose to encourage further people to commit to helping forge an inclusive world.
The first Women's Day was held in New York, on February 28, 1909 and was organized by the Socialist Party of America. The 8th of March was chosen as the official Women's Day after a strike organised by women for "Bread and Peace" on that day in Russia inaugurated the Russian Revolution. That strike lead to the granting of vote for women eight days later.
It remained a celebration for communist countries and by the communist movement worldwide until 1967 when it was taken by a second-wave feminists. It then re-emerged as a day of activism. But it is only In the 1970s and 1980s, that women's groups were joined by leftists and labor organizations in calling for equal pay, equal economic opportunity, equal legal rights, reproductive rights, subsidized child care, and the prevention of violence against women.
Nowadays, that date has a different meaning around the world:
The day is an official holiday in Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Germany (Berlin only), Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine,[74] Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Zambia.
In some countries, such as Australia, Cameroon, Croatia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Chile, the day is not a public holiday, but is widely observed nonetheless
In France, The Journée internationale des femmes is widely celebrated even though the gap between men's and women's salary is still huge (24% less for women).
In Italy, during La Festa Della Donna, men give yellow mimosa to women. Many consider the bloom to hold the same symbolic meaning as presenting a red rose on Valentine’s Day
This month we decided to share books about women or written by women with you. Please find our seclection int the list below:
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