So, after a little research it appears that the roots of International Women’s Day can be traced back to the early 20th Century, amid the growing movements for women’s suffrage and labour rights.
On 8th March, in 1908, women workers in the needle trades marched through New York City’s Lower East Side to protest against child labour, sweatshop working conditions, and demand women’s suffrage. Beginning in 1910, the 8th of March became annually observed as International Women’s Day.
However, the first milestone in the US was much earlier, in 1848. Indignant over women being barred from speaking at an anti-slavery convention, Americans Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott gathered together a few hundred people at the first women’s rights convention in New York. Together they demanded civil, social, political and religious rights for women in a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. A movement was born.
In 1975, the United Nations began celebrating 8th March as International Women’s Day and this is when it was embraced in the UK.
Since its inception, International Women’s Day has fostered a strong sense of solidarity between women across the world. Its foundations are Community, Connection and Collaboration.
International Women’s Day is now the focal point in the women’s rights movement. It gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women.
Purple, green and white are the colours of International Women’s Day. Purple signifies justice, dignity and being loyal to the cause. Green symbolizes hope and white represents purity. The colours originated from the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in the UK in 1908
How do, and can we celebrate International Women’s Day?
About International Women’s Day
- We can celebrate women’s achievements.
- We can educate and raise awareness about equality.
- We can call for positive change, advancing women.
- We can lobby for accelerated gender parity.
- We can fundraise for women-focused charities.
For 2024, the theme is ‘Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress’. It is aimed at tackling economic disempowerment. In other words, economic empowerment can be defined as the process of assisting individuals, primarily women from low-income backgrounds, in obtaining the education, training, and job-related skills they require to support themselves and their families.
It’s a day and an opportunity to celebrate women’s accomplishments, inclusively. Both locally with the fantastic women we have the pleasure of working with day in day out but also those who we know about who influenced historical events that have made the World a better place.
“There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” —Michelle Obama.
Over the past few days here at Guardian Angel Carers we have celebrated the woman in our business and you can see these posts via our social media links: