The official United Nations theme for International Women's Day 2015 is
"Empowering Women - Empowering Humanity: Picture It!":
Celebrated globally on 8 March, International Women's Day will highlight the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a historic roadmap signed by 189 governments 20 years ago that sets the agenda for realizing women's rights. While there have been many achievements since then, many serious gaps remain. This is the time to uphold women's achievements, recognize challenges, and focus greater attention on women's rights and gender equality to mobilize all people to do their part. The Beijing Platform for Action focuses on 12 critical areas of concern, and envisions a world where each woman and girl can exercise her choices, such as participating in politics, getting an education, having an income, and living in societies free from violence and discrimination.
UN Women Executive Director
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, in
her message to the world for International Women's Day 2015, said, "We call on countries to 'step it up' for gender equality." She speaks of the goal to reach "Planet 50:50" before 2030.
Follow me below the fold for both the history and current events around the nation and in the rest of the world for International Women's Day and beyond.
I've always celebrated International Women's Day. My parents taught me about it, and I used to tease my kid brother that he got born the wrong gender because he was born on March 8. I found it curious that it didn't seem to be a major holiday in the U.S. and it seemed to be subsumed into Women's History week, then month, with little discussion in school (if any) about its roots, the same way that May Day wasn't a major working people's holiday here, although my friends in other parts of the world participated in massive May Day marches.
I realized as I got older there were reasons for the distancing from both international events here in the U.S.
Clara Zetkin (1857-1933)
The history:
Women's Day emerged out of the simultaneously growing worker's, and women's rights movements during the rapidly industrializing period of the early 20th century. In the United States in 1908, the Socialist Party's newly formed Woman's National Committee, responded by calling for the Party to designate a day each year to campaign for women's suffrage. "National Woman's Day" began the following year. By this time, mass strikes and demonstrations for women's suffrage and in protest of inhuman treatment in the factories were taking place.
Inspired by the U.S. events, European socialist leaders initiated what would later be known as International Women's Day with a proposal unanimously passed at the Second International Conference of Socialist Women held in Copenhagen, August 26-27, 1910, a month before the Eighth International Congress of the Second International would open, also in Copenhagen. Alexandra Kollontai, a Russian delegate representing St. Petersburg textile workers, wrote, "The growth of the women's proletarian movement over the last three years was noticeable at the opening of the Copenhagen Conference. In Stuttgart [the first women's conference, 1907] the delegates numbered 52, in Copenhagen they already numbered around 100 and represented 17 countries......Socialist parties and trade unions were represented, together with clubs, societies, and unions of women workers adopting a class position.
The 1910 Socialist Women Conference chairwoman was German socialist leader, Clara Zetkin. She would second Luise Zietz's Women's Day proposal, an excerpt of which was published a few days later in Die Gliecheit (Equality), the newspaper recognized by the conference as the organ of the international socialism. The paper, edited by Zetkin since 1892, was identified with the left wing of the German Social Democratic party.
"In agreement with the class-conscious, political and trade union organizations of the proletariat of their respective countries, the Socialist women of all countries will hold each year a Women's Day, whose foremost purpose it must be to aid the attainment of women's suffrage. This demand must be handled in conjunction with the entire women's question according to Socialist precepts. The Women's Day must have an international character and is to be prepared carefully." Alexandra Kollontai recollected that the two main issues of the conference were, strategies for attaining universal suffrage for women, and social security for mother and child, including maternity leave and health insurance.
Since the U.S. is still feeling the chilling effects of the McCarthy communist witch hunt era, and the term "socialist" or "communist" is thrown around willy-nilly as an epithet (note the use by the right-wing here to smear President Obama, who is clearly not a socialist), it is no wonder that it wasn't until the late 1970s that we joined in celebration of women as a nation, as part of the
United Nations:
In 1975, during International Women's Year, the United Nations began celebrating International Women's Day on 8 March. Two years later, in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions. In adopting its resolution, the General Assembly recognized the role of women in peace efforts and development and urged an end to discrimination and an increase of support for women's full and equal participation.
Our own history, as taught in most high schools across the nation, avoids references to the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in the development of both unions and progressive politics. Since the real history of women's struggles, internationally and here at home, are usually obfuscated or telescoped into ritual mentions of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony's fight for suffrage, small wonder we don't know the names or hear about the activism of women like Zetkin, or her friend,
Rosa Luxemburg.
Enter, the United Nations. Since its inception, the U.N. has been a driving force in promoting global women's rights.
The U.N. sponsors International Women's Day events and year-round programs, each year with a different theme.
This year's theme is tied into an anniversary celebration and assessment:
The year 2015 marks the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Considered the most comprehensive blueprint on advancing women’s rights, the 1995 Beijing roadmap was adopted by 189 governments. But 20 years on, the commitments made are only partially fulfilled.
From 9-20 March, the 59th Commission on the Status of Women will review global implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and take stock of where women stand in the world today. From the political to the economic spheres, progress has been made, but not enough.
Today, only one in five parliamentarians is a woman. Approximately 50 per cent of women worldwide are in paid employment, an increase from 40 per cent more than 20 years ago, with wage inequality persistent. At the present rate of progress, it will take 81 years for women to achieve parity in employment. The pandemic of violence against women and girls affects one in three women worldwide, despite being recognized as a gross human rights violation and a barrier to global development. In 2000, the groundbreaking UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security recognized the need to increase women’s role in peacebuilding in post-conflict countries. Yet, from 1992 to 2011 only 4 per cent of signatories to peace agreements and 9 per cent of negotiators at peace tables were women.
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If we are going to reach Planet 50:50 before 2030, we have a lot of work to do.
Let's do it.