From being able to legally vote and continuing to combat discrimination in the workplace, women have come a long way within the past century, making their voices heard and forging toward the future with independence, strength, compassion, and wisdom.
International Women’s Day is all about appreciating and honouring all the women who have contributed to the progression towards gender equality from the past, present, and even the future, as we continue blazing a trail for the generations of women to come.
This International Women’s Day, Acorn Stairlifts celebrates all of the amazing women in the world that have made a difference, not just from their multiple contributions throughout the course of history, but through the ways in which they touch peoples’ personal lives on a daily basis as well.
Read on to learn about the history behind International Women’s Day and how you can join in on celebrating all of the wonderful women in your life and all over the world.
When is International Women’s Day?
International Women’s Day is on 8 March every year.
This year, in 2024, International Women’s Day falls on a Friday.
What is the Theme for International Women’s Day 2024?
Every year in December, the theme for International Women’s Day is determined by UN Women.
The theme for International Women’s Day 2024 is “Invest in women: Accelerate progress.”
Revolving around achieving gender equality for a more prosperous future for all, the theme stresses the importance of investing in our women, increasing gender-equality measures, and implementing gender-responsive financing.
These are the five targeted areas of interests that require our joint action and attention, as stated by the UN:
- Investing in women, a human rights issue: Time is running out. Gender equality is the greatest human rights challenge, benefiting everyone.
- Ending poverty: Due to the COVID pandemic and conflicts, 75 million more people have fallen into severe poverty since 2020. Immediate action is crucial to prevent over 342 million women and girls living in poverty by 2030.
- Implementing gender-responsive financing: Conflicts and rising prices may lead 75% of countries to cut public spending by 2025, negatively impacting women and their essential services.
- Shifting to a green economy and care society: The current economic system disproportionately affects women. Advocates propose a shift to a green economy and care society to amplify women's voices.
- Supporting feminist change-makers: Despite leading efforts, feminist organisations receive only 0.13% of official development assistance.
Some ways that you can participate in the IWD celebration this year include donating to a charity that invests in the funding of gender equality or supports a better world for women, showing the women in your life how much you support and appreciate them, and promoting gender equality and raising awareness by participating in #InvestInWomen.
How Did International Women’s Day Start?
Although the first official International Women’s Day was declared and recognised by the UN in 1975, the history behind International Women’s Day actually goes back much further.
In fact, it originated back in 1908 in New York City during a women’s rights march where 15,000 people advocated for better wages and voting rights. This led to the recognition of the first Women’s Day in the United States in 1909.
German advocate for women’s rights, Claire Zetkin, saw a global vision of what this day could be, suggesting that the commemorated event be taken to the 1910 International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen.
Other countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany followed suit in celebrating this day in 1911 when they joined in on the occasion as well.
Now, every year on March 8, International Women’s Day is celebrated on a global scale.
Get Inspired—Words of Wisdom from Women
If we’ve learned anything throughout history, it’s that when a woman talks, you should be listening.
Get inspired by the wise words of these strong, influential women that exemplify the beauty and empowerment of what it means to be a woman.
International Women’s Day Quotes
“The women of today are the thoughts of their mothers and grandmothers, embodied and made alive. They are active, capable, determined and bound to win. They have one-thousand generations back of them... Millions of women dead and gone are speaking through us today.”
“This is for the powerful women, the badly behaved women, the women who shaped history with their hands, the women who fought tooth and nail so girls today can read, write, vote, be employed. We are indebted to their sacrifices and it is a reminder that nothing ever comes easy, it must be fought for. For all the women who come after us, for all the little girls growing up in this world, we owe it to them to keep fighting.”
“There’s something so special about a woman who dominates in a man’s world. It takes a certain grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness, and the nerve to never take no for an answer.”
“We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored.”
“You could make a case that, along with the technological revolution, the most provocative upending destabilising thrilling change in the course of human history is that we’re finally in it… We’re here now, women are in the world, and we will not be bullied.”
Meryl Streep
“I want to build a community where women of all races can communicate and... continue to support and take care of each other. I want to give women a space to feel their own strength and tell their stories. That is power.”
“Friends. Sisters. Mothers. Professors. When women affirm women, it unlocks our power. It gives us permission to shine brighter.”
“I say, It’s the fire in my eyes, And the flash of my teeth, The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.”
-Maya Angelou
To read Maya Angelou’s full poem of “Phenomenal Woman,” click here.
To learn more about the history of women’s rights, the contributions that women have made throughout history, and more about the influential women themselves, check out these resources:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/indepth/sport/women-who-changed-new-zealand-sport/
https://digitalnz.org/stories/5b45cdc9fb002c059cbb7ddb
https://interactive.unwomen.org/multimedia/timeline/womensfootprintinhistory/en/index.html#front1
https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2021/3/compilation-women-leaders-we-admire
https://www.nzedge.com/news/trailblazers-125-kiwi-women-changed-world/
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/womens-suffrage/brief-history
