International Womens Day is traditionally a day of activities, thousands of voices coming together to share their experiences that saw them suppressed, oppressed, denied access to, dismissed and demoralised because of their gender.

The first National Woman’s Day was observed in the United States on 28 February. The Socialist Party of America designated this day in honour of the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York, where women protested against working conditions.

The International Women’s Day date was moved to March 8 in 1913. … The dayaimed to help nations worldwide eliminate discrimination against women. It also focused on helping women gain full and equal participation in global development. International Men’s Day is also celebrated on November 19 each year.

It was actually started by the Socialist Party in the United States in 1909 and was observed in New York, but it wasn’t until Clara Zetkin, a German feminist, pushed for it to be a holiday in 1910 that it really took off across Europe.

It was first celebrated in 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The centenary was celebrated in 2011, so this year we’re technically celebrating the 109th International Women’s Day. Things were made official in 1975 when the United Nations (UN) started celebrating the day.

In 1928, Australia’s first International Women’s Day was held in Sydney. Organised by the Militant Women’s Movement, women called for equal pay for equal work, an 8 hour working day for shop girls and paid leave. The next year the event spread to Brisbane.

International Women’s Day is a day dedicated to honoring the achievements of women throughout history and all across the globe, and is typically a day for women from all different backgrounds and cultures to band together to fight for gender parity and women’s rights.

The National Women’s Party suggest wearing purple on International Women’s Daysince “Purple is the color of loyalty, constancy to purpose, unswerving steadfastness to a cause.” It is also the color of dignity and self-respect and signifies bipartisanship.

What are Womens Rights?

Womens’ Rights are Human Rights

The right to live a life free from violence and slavery; the right to be educated; the right to earn a fair and equal wage; the right to own property; the right to expression and freedom to vote. … These are human rights, and human rights are inherent to all – without discrimination

Gender inequality underpins many problems which disproportionately affect women and girls, such as domestic and sexual violence, lower pay, lack of access to education, and inadequate healthcare.

What are considered women’s issues?

The definition of ‘women’s issues’ varied but included women’s sexual and reproductive health, child-care leave, domestic violence, ‘equal pay for equal work’, marital law, welfare policies and education.

Right now women face a crisis of confidence to represent and negotiate their true value.

Australia was the second country in the world to give women the right to vote (after New Zealand in 1893) and the first to give women the right to be elected to a national parliament, yet we have only had one female Prime Minister. Julia Gillard.

Women have historically been excluded from large parts of public and political life in Australian society. For example, women were not elected to the Commonwealth Parliament until 1943. It wasn’t until 1965 that Australian women won the right to drink in a public bar. (The Pub Test) During the 1960s women working in the public service and in many private companies were forced to resign from their jobs when they got married.

While we’ve come a long way in the last 100 years, there are still many areas in Australian society in which women and girls experience unequal treatment.

So if you would like to take part in our IWD 2021 Podcast.

Voice of our Village

Read this article and Click below.

You will be asked:

What do you choose to challenge, why and how will you do that?

We are looking for any issue, your personal experience or reason and a strategy that will help other women support that challenge.

If you don’t know what issues women face, we’ve listed a few here. We’ve included some Google links for research, we encourage you to talk to friends, ask questions and share your experience.

Your story is important, and needs to be told. We also have this little 15 minute podcast to get you inspired.