International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year. It commemorates the movement for women’s rights.
While the first observance of a Women’s Day was held on February 28, 1909 in New York, March 8 was suggested by the 1910 International Woman’s Conference to become an “International Woman’s Day.” After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8 became a national holiday there. The day was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations in which Nigeria is a part of.
Year after year, themes are given to this special day
OFFICIAL UN THEMES FROM 2010 TILL DATE.
Year UN Theme
2010 Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All
2011 Equal Access to Education, Training, and Science and Technology: Pathway to Decent Work for Women
2012 Empower Rural Women, End Poverty and Hunger
2013 A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence Against Women
2014 Equality for Women is Progress for All
2015 Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!
2016 Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality
2017 Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030
2018 Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives
In a message in support of International Women’s Day 2017, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres commented on how women’s rights were being “reduced, restricted and reversed”. With men still in leadership positions and a widening economic gender gap, he called for change “by empowering women at all levels, enabling their voices to be heard and giving them control over their own lives and over the future of our world”.
This is a flash to history, there has been the need to protect the rights of women to make their voices heard and to ensure they are celebrated, many of these issues are a continuous campaign, for instance, the issue of violence against women addressed in 1999, 2007, 2009 and 2013. Together we can achieve these goals, it begins with you and I and we hope that soon and someday, the main aim of this day is achieved.
Dear girls, ladies and women, look ahead, there are neither limitations nor restrictions, you can function as much as you desire. We have females in top positions, a number of influencers, professors, teachers, singers, presidents, senators and so on. Let us be challenged to do better and believe in our abilities, I believe we have strong hearts, we should be strong beings inside and out, we should speak and ensure our voices are heard. There is a revolution, we all should be a part of it.
All of us at The Press Club, UNILAG celebrate women out there. So much love.
Happy IWD Fam.
Source
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day
