essay about 8 march

International Women’s Day: What is it and why do we need it?

International Women’s Day is observed on 8 March every year. Image:  Unsplash/ThisisEngineering RAEng

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This article was first published in 2022 and updated.

• 8 March is International Women’s Day – devoted to celebrating the achievements of women and seeking gender equality.
• The campaign theme in 2024 is #InspireInclusion , while the official theme of the UN observance of the day is ‘ Invest in women: Accelerate progress ’.
• It will take another 131 years to reach gender parity, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2023 .

Gender equality is central to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) – and a perennial item on the Secretary-General's annual priority list.

SDG5 calls for the world to " Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls " by 2030.

Empowering women can boost economies and help the peace process, believes António Guterres, but it needs to happen faster.

"We are promoting women's full and equal participation and leadership in all sectors of society, as a matter of urgency," he told the UN General Assembly, outlining the agency's priorities on 7 February 2024.

It will take another 131 years to reach gender parity , according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2023.

The continued fight for women’s rights is marked each year by International Women’s Day (IWD).

What is International Women’s Day and when did it start?

IWD takes place on 8 March every year.

It began life as National Women’s Day in the United States back in February 1909. The following year, at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Denmark, women’s rights activist Clara Zetkin called for an international women’s day to give women a greater voice to further their demands for equal rights.

It was unanimously approved by the female attendees from 17 countries, including Finland’s first three women MPs. International Women’s Day was marked for the first time in March 1911 – and the date was fixed as 8 March in 1913. The UN celebrated it for the first time in 1975 and in 1996 it announced its first annual theme: "Celebrating the past, Planning for the Future".

How is the day marked around the world?

International Women’s Day is celebrated as a national holiday by countries across the globe, with women often given flowers and gifts – and there are IWD events in major cities worldwide .

On 8 March 1914, there was a women’s suffrage march in London, calling for women’s right to vote, at which high-profile campaigner Sylvia Pankhurst was arrested.

In 2001, the internationalwomensday.com platform was launched to reignite attention for the day, celebrate women’s achievements and continue to call for gender parity.

On the centenary in 2011, sitting US President Barack Obama called for March to be known as Women’s History Month. He said: “History shows that when women and girls have access to opportunity , societies are more just, economies are more likely to prosper, and governments are more likely to serve the needs of all their people.”

The World Economic Forum has been measuring gender gaps since 2006 in the annual Global Gender Gap Report .

The Global Gender Gap Report tracks progress towards closing gender gaps on a national level. To turn these insights into concrete action and national progress, we have developed the Gender Parity Accelerator model for public private collaboration.

These accelerators have been convened in twelve countries across three regions. Accelerators are established in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico and Panama in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank in Latin America and the Caribbean, Egypt and Jordan in the Middle East and North Africa, and Japan and Kazakhstan in Asia.

All Country Accelerators, along with Knowledge Partner countries demonstrating global leadership in closing gender gaps, are part of a wider ecosystem, the Global Learning Network, that facilitates exchange of insights and experiences through the Forum’s platform.

Have you read?

In these countries CEOs and ministers are working together in a three-year time frame on policies that help to further close the economic gender gaps in their countries. This includes extended parental leave, subsidized childcare and making recruitment, retention and promotion practices more gender inclusive.

If you are a business in one of the Gender Parity Accelerator countries you can join the local membership base.

If you are a business or government in a country where we currently do not have a Gender Parity Accelerator you can reach out to us to explore opportunities for setting one up.

What is the theme of International Women’s Day in 2024?

Each year, there are effectively two different themes: one proposed as a campaign theme by the IWD website, which this year is #InspireInclusion , and the UN's official, which this year is " Invest in women: Accelerate progress ".

UN Women and the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs jointly publish an annual update on the progress towards SDG5.

In the latest – Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2023 – they reveal there's an "alarming" $360 billion annual deficit in spending on gender-equality measures.

UN Women has outlined areas that need joint action to ensure women are not left behind:

Investing in women: A human rights issue

"Gender equality remains the greatest human rights challenge. Investing in women is a human rights imperative and cornerstone for building inclusive societies. Progress for women benefits us all."

Implementing gender-responsive financing

"Due to conflicts and rising fuel and food prices, recent estimates suggest that 75% of countries will curb public spending by 2025 . Austerity negatively impacts women and crowds out public spending on essential public services and social protection."

Shifting to a green and caring economy

"The current economic system exacerbates poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation , disproportionately affecting women and marginalized groups. Advocates for alternative economic models propose a shift towards a green and caring economy that amplifies women’s voices."

Supporting feminist change-makers

"Feminist organizations are leading efforts to tackle women’s poverty and inequality. However, they are running on empty, receiving a meagre 0.13% of total official development assistance ."

What is the state of gender parity globally?

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2023 found that, although the global parity score has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, "the overall rate of change has slowed down significantly".

The index benchmarks 146 countries across four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival and Political Empowerment) and tracks progress towards closing gender gaps over time.

Of the four gaps tracked, Political Empowerment remains the largest, with only 22.1% closed – a 0.1 percentage point increase on 2022.

The gender health gap: It's more than a women’s issue. Here’s why

Why clear job descriptions matter for gender equality, buses are key to fuelling indian women's economic success. here's why, what is the gender pay gap.

The gender gap in Economic Participation and Opportunity remained the second largest of the gaps, with only 60.1% closed so far (up slightly from 58% in 2022). The pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis is having a disproportionate impact on women .

The gender pay gap is the “difference between the average pay of men and women within a particular group or population” according to the Fawcett Society, which campaigns for equal pay in the UK.

Each year, the charity marks Equal Pay Day in the UK, the day of the year at which women stop earning relative to men. In 2023, that date was 22 November.

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World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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Essay on Women's Day - 100, 200, 500 Words

On March 8, women from all nations, religions, and cultures are honoured for what they do and have to deal with daily. Women have a unique capacity for overcoming daily challenges with love and care, striving against all odds to improve the world and defend their loved ones through predation. Feminism and the women's rights movement were founded a century ago. Today, in many parts of the world, women are still fighting for their rights and upholding the movement's fundamental principles. It is crucial to uphold current values and further their agendas in order to create a fair and equal society free from gender discrimination. Here are a few sample essays on women’s day.

100 Words Essay on Women's Day

International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated annually on March 8. It is a day to recognize and celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women around the world. The theme for International Women's Day 2021 was "Choose to Challenge", encouraging individuals to challenge gender bias and inequality, and to create a more inclusive world. On this day, events and activities are organised worldwide to raise awareness about the ongoing struggle for gender equality and to pay tribute to the women who have made a significant impact in their communities and beyond. On International Women's Day, people often make pledges to support women's rights and gender equality, and to take action to create a more equal and just society for all.

200 Words Essay on Women's Day

History of women's day.

The first International Women's Day was held in 1911, organised by the International Socialist Women's Conference. The day was chosen to commemorate the 1908 strike of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union in New York, where women demanded better working conditions, pay and the right to vote. Since then, it has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration of the contributions of women to society.

Importance of Women's Day

International Women's Day is important because it helps to raise awareness about ongoing issues related to gender equality and women's rights. It is an opportunity for people to come together and take action to create a more equal and just society for all. Additionally, it serves as a reminder to acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of women in various fields, from politics to business, from education to healthcare, and many more.

Celebrations

On International Women's Day, events and activities are organised worldwide to raise awareness about the ongoing struggle for gender equality and to pay tribute to the women who have made a significant impact in their communities and beyond. People often make pledges to support women's rights and gender equality, and to take action to create a more equal and just society for all.

In conclusion, International Women's Day is a day to celebrate and recognize the achievements of women around the world. It serves as a reminder to acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of women in various fields. It's an opportunity to reflect on the progress made and the challenges that remain in achieving gender equality. It's also a call to action to work towards creating a more inclusive world for all women.

500 Words Essay on Women's Day

The importance of Women's Day cannot be overstated. It is an opportunity to raise awareness about ongoing issues related to gender equality and women's rights. It is a time to reflect on the progress made and the challenges that remain in achieving gender equality. It's also a call to action to work towards creating a more inclusive world for all women.

However, the need for International Women's Day is not limited to just one day a year. It is a reminder of the ongoing struggles that women face, not just in developing countries but also in developed countries. For example, the #MeToo movement, which began in 2017, brought to light the widespread issue of sexual harassment and assault faced by women in the workplace. The movement sparked a global conversation about the need for change and led to a renewed commitment to creating a safer and more equitable workplace for women.

Another example of the ongoing struggles that women face is the gender pay gap. Despite progress in recent years, women continue to earn less than men in many countries, including developed countries like the United States. This not only affects women's financial well-being but also their ability to achieve financial independence and security.

International Women's Day is not just about highlighting the struggles and challenges that women face but also about celebrating their achievements and contributions to society. It is an opportunity to honor the trailblazers who have broken down barriers and paved the way for future generations of women. It is also a time to recognize the everyday heroes, the women who work tirelessly to improve their communities and the lives of those around them.

Story Of Melinda Gates

One real-life incident of a woman who is a prime example of success is the story of Melinda Gates. Melinda Gates is an American philanthropist, businesswoman, and former general manager at Microsoft. Along with her husband, Bill Gates, she co-chairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is one of the largest private foundations in the world.

Melinda Gates began her career at Microsoft in the 1980s, where she worked as a product manager. She quickly climbed the ranks and became a general manager, overseeing the development of several successful products. Despite her success at Microsoft, she left the company in 1996 to focus on her family and her philanthropic work.

In 2000, Melinda and Bill Gates established the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which focuses on improving global health, reducing extreme poverty, and increasing access to technology. Under Melinda's leadership, the foundation has been instrumental in funding programs that have saved millions of lives, particularly in developing countries.

Melinda Gates is also an advocate for women's rights and gender equality. She has been vocal about the importance of investing in women and girls, and has worked to increase access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities for women around the world.

Melinda Gates is a prime example of success. Not only did she have a successful career at Microsoft, but she also dedicated her life to philanthropy and improving the lives of millions of people through her foundation. She is an advocate for women's rights and gender equality, and she is a role model for many women.

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Database professionals use software to store and organise data such as financial information, and customer shipping records. Individuals who opt for a career as data administrators ensure that data is available for users and secured from unauthorised sales. DB administrators may work in various types of industries. It may involve computer systems design, service firms, insurance companies, banks and hospitals.

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The invention of the database has given fresh breath to the people involved in the data analytics career path. Analysis refers to splitting up a whole into its individual components for individual analysis. Data analysis is a method through which raw data are processed and transformed into information that would be beneficial for user strategic thinking.

Data are collected and examined to respond to questions, evaluate hypotheses or contradict theories. It is a tool for analyzing, transforming, modeling, and arranging data with useful knowledge, to assist in decision-making and methods, encompassing various strategies, and is used in different fields of business, research, and social science.

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If you are intrigued by the programming world and are interested in developing communications networks then a career as database architect may be a good option for you. Data architect roles and responsibilities include building design models for data communication networks. Wide Area Networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), and intranets are included in the database networks. It is expected that database architects will have in-depth knowledge of a company's business to develop a network to fulfil the requirements of the organisation. Stay tuned as we look at the larger picture and give you more information on what is db architecture, why you should pursue database architecture, what to expect from such a degree and what your job opportunities will be after graduation. Here, we will be discussing how to become a data architect. Students can visit NIT Trichy , IIT Kharagpur , JMI New Delhi . 

Remote Sensing Technician

Individuals who opt for a career as a remote sensing technician possess unique personalities. Remote sensing analysts seem to be rational human beings, they are strong, independent, persistent, sincere, realistic and resourceful. Some of them are analytical as well, which means they are intelligent, introspective and inquisitive. 

Remote sensing scientists use remote sensing technology to support scientists in fields such as community planning, flight planning or the management of natural resources. Analysing data collected from aircraft, satellites or ground-based platforms using statistical analysis software, image analysis software or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a significant part of their work. Do you want to learn how to become remote sensing technician? There's no need to be concerned; we've devised a simple remote sensing technician career path for you. Scroll through the pages and read.

Budget Analyst

Budget analysis, in a nutshell, entails thoroughly analyzing the details of a financial budget. The budget analysis aims to better understand and manage revenue. Budget analysts assist in the achievement of financial targets, the preservation of profitability, and the pursuit of long-term growth for a business. Budget analysts generally have a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or a closely related field. Knowledge of Financial Management is of prime importance in this career.

Underwriter

An underwriter is a person who assesses and evaluates the risk of insurance in his or her field like mortgage, loan, health policy, investment, and so on and so forth. The underwriter career path does involve risks as analysing the risks means finding out if there is a way for the insurance underwriter jobs to recover the money from its clients. If the risk turns out to be too much for the company then in the future it is an underwriter who will be held accountable for it. Therefore, one must carry out his or her job with a lot of attention and diligence.

Finance Executive

Product manager.

A Product Manager is a professional responsible for product planning and marketing. He or she manages the product throughout the Product Life Cycle, gathering and prioritising the product. A product manager job description includes defining the product vision and working closely with team members of other departments to deliver winning products.  

Operations Manager

Individuals in the operations manager jobs are responsible for ensuring the efficiency of each department to acquire its optimal goal. They plan the use of resources and distribution of materials. The operations manager's job description includes managing budgets, negotiating contracts, and performing administrative tasks.

Stock Analyst

Individuals who opt for a career as a stock analyst examine the company's investments makes decisions and keep track of financial securities. The nature of such investments will differ from one business to the next. Individuals in the stock analyst career use data mining to forecast a company's profits and revenues, advise clients on whether to buy or sell, participate in seminars, and discussing financial matters with executives and evaluate annual reports.

A Researcher is a professional who is responsible for collecting data and information by reviewing the literature and conducting experiments and surveys. He or she uses various methodological processes to provide accurate data and information that is utilised by academicians and other industry professionals. Here, we will discuss what is a researcher, the researcher's salary, types of researchers.

Welding Engineer

Welding Engineer Job Description: A Welding Engineer work involves managing welding projects and supervising welding teams. He or she is responsible for reviewing welding procedures, processes and documentation. A career as Welding Engineer involves conducting failure analyses and causes on welding issues. 

Transportation Planner

A career as Transportation Planner requires technical application of science and technology in engineering, particularly the concepts, equipment and technologies involved in the production of products and services. In fields like land use, infrastructure review, ecological standards and street design, he or she considers issues of health, environment and performance. A Transportation Planner assigns resources for implementing and designing programmes. He or she is responsible for assessing needs, preparing plans and forecasts and compliance with regulations.

Environmental Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as an environmental engineer are construction professionals who utilise the skills and knowledge of biology, soil science, chemistry and the concept of engineering to design and develop projects that serve as solutions to various environmental problems. 

Safety Manager

A Safety Manager is a professional responsible for employee’s safety at work. He or she plans, implements and oversees the company’s employee safety. A Safety Manager ensures compliance and adherence to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) guidelines.

Conservation Architect

A Conservation Architect is a professional responsible for conserving and restoring buildings or monuments having a historic value. He or she applies techniques to document and stabilise the object’s state without any further damage. A Conservation Architect restores the monuments and heritage buildings to bring them back to their original state.

Structural Engineer

A Structural Engineer designs buildings, bridges, and other related structures. He or she analyzes the structures and makes sure the structures are strong enough to be used by the people. A career as a Structural Engineer requires working in the construction process. It comes under the civil engineering discipline. A Structure Engineer creates structural models with the help of computer-aided design software. 

Highway Engineer

Highway Engineer Job Description:  A Highway Engineer is a civil engineer who specialises in planning and building thousands of miles of roads that support connectivity and allow transportation across the country. He or she ensures that traffic management schemes are effectively planned concerning economic sustainability and successful implementation.

Field Surveyor

Are you searching for a Field Surveyor Job Description? A Field Surveyor is a professional responsible for conducting field surveys for various places or geographical conditions. He or she collects the required data and information as per the instructions given by senior officials. 

Orthotist and Prosthetist

Orthotists and Prosthetists are professionals who provide aid to patients with disabilities. They fix them to artificial limbs (prosthetics) and help them to regain stability. There are times when people lose their limbs in an accident. In some other occasions, they are born without a limb or orthopaedic impairment. Orthotists and prosthetists play a crucial role in their lives with fixing them to assistive devices and provide mobility.

Pathologist

A career in pathology in India is filled with several responsibilities as it is a medical branch and affects human lives. The demand for pathologists has been increasing over the past few years as people are getting more aware of different diseases. Not only that, but an increase in population and lifestyle changes have also contributed to the increase in a pathologist’s demand. The pathology careers provide an extremely huge number of opportunities and if you want to be a part of the medical field you can consider being a pathologist. If you want to know more about a career in pathology in India then continue reading this article.

Veterinary Doctor

Speech therapist, gynaecologist.

Gynaecology can be defined as the study of the female body. The job outlook for gynaecology is excellent since there is evergreen demand for one because of their responsibility of dealing with not only women’s health but also fertility and pregnancy issues. Although most women prefer to have a women obstetrician gynaecologist as their doctor, men also explore a career as a gynaecologist and there are ample amounts of male doctors in the field who are gynaecologists and aid women during delivery and childbirth. 

Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Are you searching for an ‘Anatomist job description’? An Anatomist is a research professional who applies the laws of biological science to determine the ability of bodies of various living organisms including animals and humans to regenerate the damaged or destroyed organs. If you want to know what does an anatomist do, then read the entire article, where we will answer all your questions.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs. 

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Photographer

Photography is considered both a science and an art, an artistic means of expression in which the camera replaces the pen. In a career as a photographer, an individual is hired to capture the moments of public and private events, such as press conferences or weddings, or may also work inside a studio, where people go to get their picture clicked. Photography is divided into many streams each generating numerous career opportunities in photography. With the boom in advertising, media, and the fashion industry, photography has emerged as a lucrative and thrilling career option for many Indian youths.

An individual who is pursuing a career as a producer is responsible for managing the business aspects of production. They are involved in each aspect of production from its inception to deception. Famous movie producers review the script, recommend changes and visualise the story. 

They are responsible for overseeing the finance involved in the project and distributing the film for broadcasting on various platforms. A career as a producer is quite fulfilling as well as exhaustive in terms of playing different roles in order for a production to be successful. Famous movie producers are responsible for hiring creative and technical personnel on contract basis.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook. 

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion. 

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article. 

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

Individuals who opt for a career as a reporter may often be at work on national holidays and festivities. He or she pitches various story ideas and covers news stories in risky situations. Students can pursue a BMC (Bachelor of Mass Communication) , B.M.M. (Bachelor of Mass Media) , or  MAJMC (MA in Journalism and Mass Communication) to become a reporter. While we sit at home reporters travel to locations to collect information that carries a news value.  

Corporate Executive

Are you searching for a Corporate Executive job description? A Corporate Executive role comes with administrative duties. He or she provides support to the leadership of the organisation. A Corporate Executive fulfils the business purpose and ensures its financial stability. In this article, we are going to discuss how to become corporate executive.

Multimedia Specialist

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications. 

Quality Controller

A quality controller plays a crucial role in an organisation. He or she is responsible for performing quality checks on manufactured products. He or she identifies the defects in a product and rejects the product. 

A quality controller records detailed information about products with defects and sends it to the supervisor or plant manager to take necessary actions to improve the production process.

Production Manager

A QA Lead is in charge of the QA Team. The role of QA Lead comes with the responsibility of assessing services and products in order to determine that he or she meets the quality standards. He or she develops, implements and manages test plans. 

Process Development Engineer

The Process Development Engineers design, implement, manufacture, mine, and other production systems using technical knowledge and expertise in the industry. They use computer modeling software to test technologies and machinery. An individual who is opting career as Process Development Engineer is responsible for developing cost-effective and efficient processes. They also monitor the production process and ensure it functions smoothly and efficiently.

AWS Solution Architect

An AWS Solution Architect is someone who specializes in developing and implementing cloud computing systems. He or she has a good understanding of the various aspects of cloud computing and can confidently deploy and manage their systems. He or she troubleshoots the issues and evaluates the risk from the third party. 

Azure Administrator

An Azure Administrator is a professional responsible for implementing, monitoring, and maintaining Azure Solutions. He or she manages cloud infrastructure service instances and various cloud servers as well as sets up public and private cloud systems. 

Computer Programmer

Careers in computer programming primarily refer to the systematic act of writing code and moreover include wider computer science areas. The word 'programmer' or 'coder' has entered into practice with the growing number of newly self-taught tech enthusiasts. Computer programming careers involve the use of designs created by software developers and engineers and transforming them into commands that can be implemented by computers. These commands result in regular usage of social media sites, word-processing applications and browsers.

Information Security Manager

Individuals in the information security manager career path involves in overseeing and controlling all aspects of computer security. The IT security manager job description includes planning and carrying out security measures to protect the business data and information from corruption, theft, unauthorised access, and deliberate attack 

ITSM Manager

Automation test engineer.

An Automation Test Engineer job involves executing automated test scripts. He or she identifies the project’s problems and troubleshoots them. The role involves documenting the defect using management tools. He or she works with the application team in order to resolve any issues arising during the testing process. 

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International Women's Day

March 8 is International Women's Day, but the global campaigns for equal rights for women continue all year round. Read more about #IWD in this article.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercise.

Preparation

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International Women's Day on 8 March is a day to celebrate the social, economic and political achievements of women, reflect on progress and demand gender equality. For over a hundred years, International Women's Day has put the spotlight onto issues affecting women all over the world. Today, International Women's Day belongs to everyone who believes that women's rights are human rights.

Why do we need an International Women's Day?

Across the world, less than 15 per cent of the world's countries have a female leader. Only 24 per cent of senior managers are women and 25 per cent of companies have no female senior managers at all. Women do the lowest-paid jobs and earn less money for the same work. This difference in pay is called the gender pay gap, and for young women in many places, including Britain and America, the gap is getting worse. Women are also more likely to do most of the housework and childcare. All of these problems affect women of colour even more than they do white women.

When it comes to healthcare and safety, women also face significant inequalities. An estimated 830 women a day die in childbirth. There are some shocking statistics for female murder too. Last year the UN found that 137 women a day were killed by their partner or former partner. Worldwide, over 50 per cent of female murders are committed by the victim's partner or family. When they have access to health education and care, women are also more likely to be ignored by doctors when they say they are in pain, and serious health problems are sometimes ignored for years. 

The history of Women's Day

In 1908, 15,000 women in New York went on strike because of low pay and terrible conditions in the factories where they worked. The following year, the Socialist Party of America organised a National Women's Day, and one year after that, there was a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, about equality and women's right to vote. In Europe, the idea grew and became International Women's Day (IWD) for the first time in 1911 and the United Nations declared 8 March International Women's Day in 1975. 

What happens on 8 March?

In some countries, children and men give presents, flowers or cards to their mothers, wives, sisters or other women they know. But at the heart of International Women's Day lies women's rights. Across the world, there are protests and events to demand equality. Many women wear purple, a colour worn by women who campaigned for women's right to vote. Recently, marches and protests have gained force thanks to the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements against sexual harassment. There is still a lot of work to be done for gender equality. But women's movements all over the world are ready to do that work and are gaining momentum.

What are you going to do to celebrate or demand change on 8 March?

• http://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/
• https://www.internationalwomensday.com/
• http://www.unwomen.org/en
• https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Events/WHRD/WomenRightsAreHR.pdf

MultipleChoice_MjMzMDA=.xml

How have things changed for women in your country? What still needs to change?

Language level

I do not think this myopic view of the role women play and how they are treated is neither accurate nor helpful.

Many womwn do not want to work in physically demanding jobs which is precisely why certain companies and organisations have a fewer number of females representing them.

Those more comfortable office jobs (your picture above is very appropriate by the way), are also by women who need a considerable amount of time off due to child care - which is why they are mostly paid less or not even employed as many managers need staff who are far more reliable and permanant in these roles.

As for your claim that women are more likely to be ignored when complaining of health issues ..................Where in god´s name did you get that from?

• Log in or register to post comments

Hi Petrichor11

The British Council is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. You can read more about our policy  here .

The research about women in pain was carried out by the BBC. You can read more about it  here .

LearnEnglish team

All over the world, gender gap is higher. In Portugal we still have a long way to go for equal rights.

In my country despite some improvements, in my opinion, there are a lot of things to do. Every day we see news when women are victims of their husbands or partners and in some cases killed. When we talk in terms of leadership in companies, 38% are occupied by women, according to research from 2022.

In my country, Venezuela the women have improve their access to education and they are more free to select choices for jobs and other things. However, still they need to fight for rights about abortion, because in this country still is a crime and the woman can go to jail.

I think we should fight abortion laws and guarantee the right to decide whether to give birth or not. We also need to guarantee that the law ensures healthcare for all women.

How have things changed for women in your country? What still needs to change? in my country, there is no difference between men and women. women also do everything and they also give votes and do business. women get whatever they want. there is no rule here every woman work and do our best

I think the role of the women today has changed a lot,even thoung we follow doing the same things in our homes, but we can do many things at the same time, in some cases better than men,I know there are jobs especifically to men because they require strength.

The role of women in my country has started to change positively.We see these changes in society,politics etc.Nowadays there are more women participating in politics than a few decades ago when the number of women participating was very small.A negative side is the old mentality about the role of women which has not completely disappeared as there aree still people who believe that men are more important and powerful than women.

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• UN Observances

History of Women’s Day

International Women's Day is celebrated in many countries around the world. It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political.

Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women's rights and participation in the political and economic arenas.

We invite you to learn about the history of women’s rights and the UN's contribution to the cause.

First key years of the movement

Officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977, International Women's Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century in North America and across Europe:

Movement in the United States

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.

But the first milestone in 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 congregate a few hundred people at their nation’s first women’s rights convention in New York. Together they demand civil, social, political and religious rights for women in a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. A movement is born.

Europe’s turn

The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark established a Women's Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women's rights and to build support for achieving universal suffrage for women.

First celebrations

A day for women is celebrated in a number of European countries and in the United States. But this celebration occurs on 19 March, in commemoration of the revolution of 1848 and of the “Commune de Paris”. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded women's rights to work, to vocational training and an end to discrimination on the job.

Russian women take the power

International Women's Day also became a mechanism for protesting World War I. As part of the peace movement, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with other activists.

Tired of war

As the First World War rages, a huge gathering of women is held in The Hague (The Netherlands) on 15 April. Participants include over 1,300 women from over 12 countries.

The right to vote in Russia

Against the backdrop of the war, women in Russia again chose to protest and strike for "Bread and Peace" on the last Sunday in February (which fell on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar). Four days later, the Czar abdicated and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote.

The celebration spreads

After World War II, 8 March started to be celebrated in a number of countries. In 1975, during the International Women's Year, the United Nations began celebrating 8 March as International Women's Day. 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. Since then, the United Nations and their agencies have worked tirelessly to secure gender equality worldwide with great outcomes achieved: in 1995 the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a historic roadmap signed by 189 governments, focused on 12 critical areas of concern; and the inclusion of Goal 5 “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Why 8 March?

19 March, the last Sunday of February, 15 April, and 23 February are among the key dates for the International Women’s Day movement. But where, then, did the 8th of March come from? Ask Julius Cesar and Gregory XIII! Before the Revolution, Russia had not yet adopted the Gregorian calendar, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to mitigate the errors of the Julian calendar, which owes its name to the Roman emperor, who had chosen it 46 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. The Gregorian calendar is used today in the large majority of countries. In 1917, 23 February in Russia thus corresponded to 8 March in the other European countries. It’s as simple as that!

Did you know?

• The fact that Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8th is strongly linked to the women’s movements during the Russian Revolution (1917).
• New Zealand was the first self-governing nation to allow women to vote.
• In the first known campaign of its kind, the Egyptian Society of Physicians went against tradition by declaring the negative effects of female genital mutilation. This was in 1920.

Women of the world, unite!

Chronology of the UN's role in the fight for women's rights

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Decolonization Is Women’s Work

March 8, 1950—international women’s day—marked the embrace of a feminist battle against imperialism.

The 12-day Asian Women’s Conference in Beijing saw attendees from across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and South America and “forged a movement for all women to fight against colonialism and demand equal rights with full sovereignty,” gender studies scholar Elisabeth B. Armstrong writes. Pictured above is the Korean delegation for the conference. Courtesy of Sophia Smith Archives, Smith College.

by Elisabeth B. Armstrong | March 8, 2023

It was 1950, and the world was in flames: In Vietnam, Iran, Madagascar, Algeria, West Africa, South Africa, Tunisia, Malaya, Burma, and Cuba, wars of counterinsurgency were being waged against colonial powers that refused to leave. Women, with weapons in their hands and the courage to hide soldiers, grow food for the frontlines, and pass messages across their battlefronts, took part in fighting these wars for independence. At the same time, they sought peace, freedom, and women’s rights.

On March 8, International Women’s Day, they erupted in protests to demand an end to imperialism—the starting point for imagining decolonization as a global culture.

Today, corporate sponsors have sought to commodify International Women’s Day and turn it into women’s access to rule like capitalists. But this 1950 fight for decolonization built a culture that—if you look closely—still fuels the revolutionary spirit, and promise, of the day.

International Women’s Day began as a way to join working-class women’s struggles for basic rights to livelihood with middle-class women’s fight for the vote. At the International Socialist Women’s Congress, held in Copenhagen in 1910, German activist Clara Zetkin proposed holding an international women’s day in March. These meetings and demonstrations incited protests, including the Russian Revolution in 1917. From 1922 onward, the day was mostly celebrated as a holiday in the USSR and socialist countries to honor women’s rights gained under socialism.

The need for a decolonial agenda around International Women’s Day arose from the Global South, during the anti-imperialist Asian Women’s Conference held in Beijing, China, in December 1949. There, attendees found solidarity and carried that spirit back home in countless manifestations of anticolonial feminist activism. During those 12 days in Beijing, women from across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and South America forged a movement for all women to fight against colonialism and demand equal rights with full sovereignty. Many women from colonized countries had already joined their countries’ battles to crush colonial occupation. They had their own slogans: Bury the corpse of colonialism! If anyone is oppressed, no one is free! And they demanded that women from colonizing countries dismantle their countries’ war machines.

Women at the conference gathered at the National Art Academy tables. Courtesy of Sophia Smith Archives, Smith College.

Attendees took that charge with them when they got back home. Just two weeks after returning from Beijing, for instance, Jeanette Vermeersch, a parliamentarian and member of the French Communist Party, addressed the French parliament to call for the withdrawal of France from Vietnam: “The Vietnamese people are fighting a just war,” she said, “a war in the defense of your aggression. You are fighting an unjust war, a colonial war, a war of aggression.”

Through networks of anti-imperialist and socialist women’s groups, the message of the Asian Women’s Conference traveled around the world. It would be a global, coordinated refusal of imperialism. The conference resolution spread: Celebrate International Women’s Day, a day for working-class women’s struggles, like never before.

When International Women’s Day arrived, it joined together women from all around the world in the anticolonial struggle for their full emancipation, as women from colonizing countries like France and the Netherlands demanded an end to imperialism in solidarity with women from Vietnam, Indonesia, Tunisia, and beyond. This included the demand that women hold equal rights to fully enfranchised men, not the truncated rights of colonized men with negligible rights to vote, apartheid rules of unfree movement, fettered access to jobs, and stolen lands.

The day punctuated ongoing insurgencies by people who were geographically far from each other, but were bound by common occupiers of colonial nations.

In Mar del Plata, Argentina, leftist women’s groups—such as the Union of Argentine Women and the Women’s Cultural Group—held the Congress for Peace in dozens of cities around the country to evade the authorities (who had banned their activities) and fight for a decent standard of living and political rights. In Brazil, women chose to protest the high-level U.S. economic delegation visiting Rio de Janeiro. They printed 100,000 leaflets and covered the city with 20,000 posters under the name “Protect Brazilian Petrol” to condemn the economic treaty signed with the United States. Their slogans sought peace and an end to U.S. interference in the Brazilian economy—its own form of neoimperialism—and protested the high cost of living.

Across the world, in Damascus, the Union of Syrian Women led a demonstration of women and children to the parliament to condemn war. Their protests were not without cost. Amine Aref Kassab Hasan, who had recently returned from the Beijing conference, was beaten and arrested, along with two other women and a 5-year-old girl. In Homs, another delegate of the Asian Women’s Conference, Salma Boummi, along with five other women and girls were arrested for a similar protest for peace. But in the face of the Syrian government’s violent response, 13 Syrian women’s organizations presented a memorandum to the Constituent Assembly to demand women’s equal rights, particularly equal pay for equal work. Though they were beaten back, the movement pressed onward.

Anticolonial leaders of the women’s movement, like Celestine Ouezzin Coulibaly (familiarly known as Macoucou) and Baya Allouchiche, took the lead in organizing working-class women in their countries, but also in their regions of North Africa and West Africa, respectively.

The Mongolian delegation at the conference. Courtesy of Sophia Smith Archives, Smith College.

In Ivory Coast, Coulibaly toured Sudan, Upper Volta, and Ivory Coast to spread the word after attending the Beijing conference. She described the solidarity of women she witnessed, and she told of the success won by communist women in the People’s Republic of China, who drove out an army that had far greater armaments supplied by the Americans. After touring the region, Coulibaly led demonstrations of thousands of women on International Women’s Day in Grand Bassam, the French colonial capital of Ivory Coast, in protest of police repression and the murder of women who, in December 1949, had demanded the release of political prisoners who fought for independence from French colonial rule.

Like Coulibaly, after Allouchiche returned from the Asian Women’s Conference, she galvanized women in Algeria to join the anticolonial struggle. She toured Algeria and Morocco, spending 12 days in the radical province of Oran, where women were not yet organized. She described a world of solidarity among women, one that refused to buckle under the yoke of colonialism nor the yoke of patriarchy. She dared them to imagine: “the sun that has risen in Beijing will shine for us too!” Her speeches held in the month of February tipped the balance toward solidarity and a wage strike among dockworkers. Only a week before International Women’s Day 1950, over 300 Algerian women joined the strike on the docks of Oran to protest poor working conditions and to refuse to load ships with soldiers and supplies for the colonial counterinsurgency frontlines of Vietnam.

Global anticolonial solidarity required resistance in colonial centers. Delegates from the Netherlands, the United States, France, and England who attended the conference in Beijing took direction and brought colonized women’s struggle home. On the same day as the protests in Syria, Lebanon, Ivory Coast, Argentina, Brazil, and Algeria, Dutch women supported dock workers who refused to load ships with American armaments bound for the Dutch occupation of Indonesia by laying in the road and blocking the trucks from reaching the docks. In Enshede, Dutch women connected Dutch peoples’ high cost of living to the priority given in the national budget for military purposes over the needs of the working population of the Netherlands. Bread not Barracks , they shouted.

Formal colonialism fell in the decades after the 1949 Asian Women’s Conference. But economic colonialism continues today. Economic blockades have human rights consequences and debt packages dictate national policies. But women’s struggles for decolonization, peace, and equal rights hasn’t ebbed. If we turn our heads to Latin America, one memorable slogan from strikes held on International Women’s Day—“What they call love, we call unpaid work!”—draws the connections between the debt bondage and the need for women to provide structural networks of care. Femicide, drug trafficking, border policing, and U.S. intervention in Central America and Mexican economies have fueled endemic murders of women and girls. We see inspiration, too, from women in Mexico reacting to this, to join their internationalist call against systemic femicide, for “Ni Una Mas!” (Not One More).

International Women’s Day in 1950 revived the fight for anticolonial, anti-imperialist solidarity on the terms of the people most oppressed. Our regional and national women’s struggles are still global, still marked by economic and political colonialism in new forms. Survival for many is still precarious—we have a strong tradition in International Women’s Day to imagine an alternative future without inequity.

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• International Women's Day Speech

International Women's Day Speech In English For Students

Celebrating Women, whether professionally or personally, is a sense of commitment to each and every Woman in one's life. Every year on March 8, International Women's Day is commemorated. In much of the country, the Day has been declared a National holiday. Women from all walks of life gather together around the country, spanning cultural and ethnic divides, to commemorate their battle for peace, justice, equality, and progress. International Women's Day is all about valuing oneself and realising one's full potential. Aside from that, Women need to summon the fortitude to overcome all obstacles in all areas of life in order to achieve significant progress. It is a common misconception in society that Women's problems are unimportant.

Vedantu salutes all the Women out there who are doing wonders all around the Globe and making their Nation proud. Vedantu provides one of the top-notch speeches and essays with the exact formal format in a very comfortable language. Students or anyone who wants to know about International Women’s Day or preparing to deliver a speech on the occasion of International Women’s Day can refer to the content from Vedantu.com.

International Women's Day Speech in English For Students

An Organizer, Administrative Leader, Director, Recreator, Partner, Daughter, Health Officer, Teacher, an Artist- a Woman has various roles to play in her life. To celebrate the importance and significance of Women in every person’s life every year, International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8th March. Women’s Day recognizes and celebrates Women in every field. A Woman has a positive mind and a fierce nature to excel in their respective fields. 

A Women's Day speech in English of 500 words and a short speech on Women's Day of 200 words are given below. 

Women's Day Speech

Greetings to everyone present here. As we all know we are here to celebrate the presence of Women in society and to celebrate their achievements, to celebrate International Women’s Day.

International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8th March every year around the world and it’s the Day dedicated to celebrating Women’s achievements in various Social, Political, and Cultural Fields. 

You must be wondering why Women’s Day is celebrated on 8th March? Well, there is a brief History around it that goes back 109 years. It was in 1909 when a political party of America celebrated 15,000 Women who protested against various issues like low pay scale, equal opportunities, and lack of voting rights in New York city. Originally it was called National Women’s Day and as the news spread annual celebration was done across the world but it was Russia who set the March 8th date. It was in 1975 that the United Nation recognized International Women’s Day and from 1996 International Women’s Day became a theme to celebrate Women in society. 

Now as we know when and who established it now naturally the next question that arises is what is the significance of Women’s Day?. The main aim of Women’s Day is to celebrate the achievements of Women in various fields and the roles they play which could be that they are an Artist, a Teacher, an Administrator, a Politician, or Scientist. It is also important to raise awareness about Women’s rights and gender parity. We can all agree that no country has achieved gender equality yet there are few places where the concept of gender equality does not even exist. Around the world, Women are not given equal opportunities. There are countries where they are denied to raise a point about their lives and how they are treated. Girl child abuse is common in many places where many crimes like child marriages, gender-based are done and all this discrimination a Woman faces is on the basis of one chromosome. 

For ages, men have had more privileges in every aspect of life in society, which could be good pay scale, social status, or voting rights percentage but now we are living in the 21st century and the world is slowly moving towards gender balance. It’s moving towards equality for both men and Women which could include equal pay scale, social status, and equal voting rights for Women. This change is necessary and it is required around the world because we all are humans and equal opportunities and respect should be given to everyone. 

So it is important to have a Day that reaches out and helps in solving all the discriminations that are happening against Women. As we all know how important Women are. They play various roles which could be a caring mother, a daughter, and so on. On this Day, it’s important to show the Women in your life how much you care about them and how much you love them. 

Educational institutions are now open to celebrate Women’s Day. It’s a sign of progress and they are teaching students to honor and respect a Woman. 

I want to conclude my speech by saying that International Women’s Day is dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women in social, cultural, and political fields. The Day formed by Women helps in bringing attention towards the forgotten Women’s rights and gender parity in a few places around the world. It should be considered a Day where everyone acknowledges the value and the importance of Women in our lives and all around the world. Thank you. 

Short Speech on Women's Day

We are here to celebrate the presence of Women in society and to celebrate their achievements. We are here to celebrate International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8th March every year around the world. It is considered to be an important point in the movement of Women’s rights. It is the Day when Women in our lives are recognized for their achievements in their respective fields, which could be an Artist, a Teacher, in Health Care, or an Administrative Leader. 

Celebration of Women’s Day totally ranges from being a public holiday in countries like Afghanistan to being a protest against the injustice done on Women in a few places. To summarize. It’s the Day to celebrate Womanhood around the world. 

As we all know there are few countries where Women are not given equal opportunities and their only role is considered to take care of the house. However, this needs to change because every Woman deserves to shine and equal opportunity should be given to a Woman as it’s given to a Man. 

For ages, Men have had more privileges in every aspect of life in a society which could be pay scale, social status, or voting rights percentage. We are living in the 21st century and the world is slowly moving towards gender balance. It’s moving towards equality for both men and Women which could include equal pay scale, social status, and equal voting rights for Women. This change is necessary and it is required around the world because we all are humans and equal opportunities and respect should be given to everyone. 

I want to conclude my speech by saying that International Women’s Day is dedicated to celebrating the achievements of Women in social, cultural, and political fields. The Day formed by Women helps in bringing attention towards the forgotten Women’s rights and gender parity in few places around the world. It should be considered a Day where everyone acknowledges the value and the importance of Women in our lives and all around the world. 

 10 Lines on International Women's Day Speech

International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8th March every year around the world.

It’s the Day dedicated to celebrating Women’s achievements in various social, political, and cultural fields.

The history of why Women’s Day is celebrated goes back to 109 years.  

In 1909 when a sociopolitical party of America celebrated 15,000 Women who protested against various issues like low pay scale, equal opportunities, and lack of voting rights in New york city.

In 1975 the United Nations recognized International Women’s Day and from 1996 International Women’s Day became a theme to celebrate Women in society. 

It is also important to raise awareness about Women’s rights and gender parity.

Female foeticide, child marriage, not giving oppurtunities to study, Child abuse, and rapes are the crimes committed against girl child and Women. 

The Day formed by Women helps in bringing attention towards the forgotten Women’s rights and gender parity in few places around the world. 

It is important to have a Day that reaches out and helps in solving all the discriminations that are happening against Women.

Women’s Day should be considered a Day where everyone acknowledges the value and the importance of Women in our lives and all around the world.  

About Women Empowerment

Empowering Women is a big responsibility, but it's also vital for gender equality. Furthermore, society benefits when Women are treated with respect and are not treated as second-class citizens. Women used to be limited in their houses and were not allowed to leave the house for employment before, but now things have drastically changed.

Their only source of income comes from their domestic obligations. However, civilization has evolved throughout time. Furthermore, this generation has high regard for Women and places a high value on them.

In many sectors, Women are now offered equal opportunities at work and are permitted to compete with, and sometimes even outperform, males. Women have begun to recognise their skills and abilities, and they are ready to walk out of their homes and contribute to the prosperity of their families and society as a whole.

Women are undoubtedly turning the world's attention to them. Also, it was previously impossible, but it is now doable, and they are doing so now. Women are achieving incredible heights and even travelling to space, as can be seen.

Furthermore, they are joining every field and succeeding in all of them, demonstrating their abilities. The most efficient approach to enhance communities, corporations, and countries is for Women to participate.

Furthermore, Women's participation strengthens peace accords, strengthens society, and makes economies more dynamic.

FAQs on International Women's Day Speech

1. How to conclude an International Women’s Day speech in a concise manner?

Make a solid first impression.

This suggestion may be used in any speech, not just those for Women's Day. A great introduction interests the listener and provides them with a sense of your speech's direction. You can try several starting techniques depending on the circumstances of your speech.

Include facts to back up your claims.

When crafting a speech about gender equality in school, work, and other areas, you should include relevant facts. Being as informative as possible is usually a good idea. This demonstrates that you completed your homework and are thus credible.

Keep an eye on the structure.

The structure of a speech is quite important. Unlike something written, your audience won't be able to go back to what you said if they get lost.

2. Why is Women's Day celebrated?

International Women's Day is a time to celebrate progress toward gender equality and Women's empowerment, as well as to critically reflect on those achievements and seek more momentum toward gender equality throughout the world. It's a Day to celebrate Women's outstanding achievements and to unite as a force to advance gender equality throughout the world. Empowering Women is a big responsibility, but it's also vital for gender equality. Furthermore, society benefits when Women are treated with respect and are not treated as second-class citizens. Women used to be limited in their houses and were not allowed to leave the house for employment.

3. When is Women's Day celebrated? 

On March 8th, we commemorate International Women's Day around the world to highlight Women's accomplishments in numerous sectors. This event honours the achievements of female individuals who have excelled in their respective disciplines. Women have undoubtedly contributed greatly to the well-being of society and the country since then. Moreover, Women's Day holds a great deal of significance, and it has become a yearly tradition. Furthermore, this commemoration is a show of respect, love, and concern for Women in our lives and in society.

In addition, Women's Day is also being observed in schools and universities. This will teach respect and care for Women in the minds of future generations, beginning with their youth.

4. How did Women’s Day come into consideration?

International Women's Day originated from the efforts of labor organizations across North America and Europe at the start of the twentieth century. The Socialist Party of America established the inaugural National Woman's Day on February 28, 1909, in remembrance of the 1908 garment workers' strike in New York, during which Women protested against poor working conditions. On the final Sunday in February in 1917, Russian Women opted to protest and strike under the slogan "Bread and Peace" (which fell on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar). Their campaign eventually resulted in the implementation of Women's suffrage in Russia.

5. How was International Women’s Day adopted by the United Nations?

The United Nations Charter became the first International accord to recognize the ideal of gender equality in 1945. In 1975, during International Women's Year, the United Nations commemorated the first official International Women's Day on March 8th. Two years later, in December 1977, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution declaring a United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace, to be marked by the Member States on any day of the year in line with their historical and national traditions.

The Radical Reason Why March 8 Is International Women’s Day

A s people around the world celebrate International Women’s Day — an annual March 8 observance — countries from Kyrgyzstan to Cambodia will officially honor women’s rights and achievements across the political, economic, social and cultural spheres. The day has been designated as an official United Nations observance since 1975, which was International Women’s Year, and is a national holiday in many parts of the world .

But the day’s origins go much further back than 1975 — and are more radical than what we might expect from a day so widely celebrated.

Centering around the socialist movements of the early 20th century, here’s more on the history of how International Women’s Day (IWD) came to be:

How did International Women’s Day start?

The impetus for establishing an International Women’s Day can be traced back to New York City in February 1908 , when thousands of women who were garment workers went on strike and marched through the city to protest against their working conditions. “Like today, these women were in less organized workplaces [than their male counterparts], were in the lower echelons of the garment industry, and were working at low wages and experiencing sexual harassment,” says Eileen Boris, Professor of Feminist Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara.

In honor of the anniversary of those strikes, which were ongoing for more than a year, a National Women’s Day was celebrated for the first time in the U.S. on Feb. 28, 1909, spearheaded by the Socialist Party of America.

Led by German campaigner and socialist Clara Zetkin , the idea to turn the day into an international movement advocating universal suffrage was established at the International Conference of Working Women in 1910. Zetkin was renowned as a passionate orator and advocate for working women’s rights , and her efforts were crucial to the day’s recognition throughout much of Europe in the early 1910s.

The most consequential International Women’s Day protest

Although International Women’s Day had started with action from the women’s labor movement in the U.S., it took on a truly revolutionary form in Russia in 1917.

Just as Zetkin’s idea was spreading through Europe, Russia (where International Women’s Day was established in 1913) was facing unrest for other reasons too. It was against the backdrop of a country exhausted by war, widespread food shortages and escalating popular protest that the nation’s 1917 International Women’s Day demonstration was held on Feb. 23 of that year — the equivalent of March 8 in the Russian calendar, indicating the significance of the date of the commemorations today.

Though it wasn’t Russia’s first International Women’s Day, historian and activist Rochelle Ruthchild of Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies points to the differences between earlier protests and this demonstration, which took place in the then-capital Petrograd and involved thousands. “Women were mostly the ones on the breadline, and were the core protesters,” she says. “In fact, male revolutionaries like [Leon] Trotsky were upset at them, as these disobedient and misbehaving women were going out on this International Women’s Day, when they were meant to wait until May ,” referring to the annual worker’s protests on May 1.

Despite the initial directives from revolutionary leaders , the protests that began on March 8 grew to daily mass strikes of workers from all sectors demanding bread, better rights and the end to autocracy. A week later, the Tsar abdicated, signaling the downfall of the Russian Empire and paving the way for socialism and the formation of the Soviet Union in 1922.

“You could argue that these demonstrations sparked the abdication of Tsar Nicholas and the end of the Romanov dynasty,” Ruthchild says. “This was probably the most consequential of any International Women’s Day demonstrations of any time.”

Suffrage and International Women’s Day

Russian women demanded — and gained — the right to vote in 1917 as a direct consequence of the March protests and after more than 40,000 women and men again took to the streets demanding universal suffrage. This made Russia the first major power to enact suffrage legislation for women, a year earlier than Britain and three years earlier than the United States. In fact, suffragettes in the U.K. and their counterparts in the U.S. both looked to Russia as an example, and held what they saw as the country’s progress and liberation of women up as a mirror to their own governments, warning that they were lagging behind.

“Women’s movements, be it suffrage or labor rights, have always had an international connection,” says Boris. British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst visiting Russia in June 1917 and the creation of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom during World War I are examples of these early 20th century global links.

However, the celebration of International Women’s Day itself did not hold as much weight in the U.S. through the 20th century as it did in other countries, largely due to its political associations with the Soviet Union and socialism amid increasing Cold War tensions. The fact that an official U.N. day observance was only established in 1975 underlines this point, and may go some way to explaining why the day still isn’t as widely recognized in the U.S. today as it is elsewhere, though it is no coincidence that March is the nation’s Women’s History Month.

“I think it’s really interesting that all over the world, people observe this day that actually originated in the U.S.,” says Ruthchild, “but the U.S. doesn’t observe it to the same degree.”

‘Many more steps to take’

In the century since it was first established, International Women’s Day has come to be marked just as frequently with celebration as it is with protest, but the day’s legacy remains steeped in the struggle for women’s rights — an element that has gained renewed relevance in recent months, particularly as the #MeToo movement has taken on global dimensions.

Looking to the history of International Women’s Day today in Russia, Ruthchild points out the “irony” of recent developments in laws affecting Russian women; for example, last year Vladimir Putin signed a controversial amendment to a law that decriminalized some forms of domestic violence. “How did a society which touted women’s liberation turn so quickly into a society that has reacted so strongly against notions of women’s equality and women’s rights?” she says.

And Russia is by no means the only country where women continue to face challenges to their rights. “Certainly, there are people and leaders in the U.S. who would like to turn back the clock too,” says Ruthchild. In the time since President Trump’s election in 2016 and the Women’s March in early 2017, American women have been mobilized to action by conversations surrounding sexual harassment , equal pay , threats to reproductive healthcare and more.

International Women’s Day doesn’t seem likely to lose its radical flavor any time soon.

“Days like IWD are a time to celebrate the gains that have been made and to measure how far we have come,” Boris says, “but also to see that there are many more steps to take and to rededicate to the struggle ahead.”

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International Women’s Day

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This International Women’s Day, 8 March 2024, join the United Nations in celebrating under the theme Invest in women: Accelerate progress .

The world is facing many crises, ranging from geopolitical conflicts to soaring poverty levels and the escalating impacts of climate change. These challenges can only be addressed by solutions that empower women. By investing in women, we can spark change and speed the transition towards a healthier, safer, and more equal world for all.

An additional $360 billion is needed per year to achieve gender equality.

Closing gender gaps in employment could boost GDP per capita by 20 per cent. 

Closing gaps in care and expanding services with decent jobs could spark almost 300 million jobs by 2035.

If current trends continue, more than  342 million women and girls could be living extreme poverty  by 2030. To ensure women’s needs and priorities are considered, governments must prioritize gender-responsive financing and increase public spending on essential services and social protection.

Policymakers must also value, recognize, and account for the vital contribution women make to economies worldwide through paid and unpaid care work.  Women spend around three times more time on unpaid care work than men and if these activities were assigned a monetary value they would account for more than 40 per cent of GDP .

Investing in women and championing gender equality turbocharges a future where everyone in society can thrive, creating a world of boundless opportunity and empowerment for all.

Anne Hathaway's call to action on #IWD2024

Accelerating economic empowerment

Why investing in women is a human rights issue

Five things to accelerate women’s economic empowerment

Unpacking the care society: Caring for people and the planet

New report shows how feminism can be a powerful tool to fight climate change

Invest in women, accelerate progress.

Economic justice — Get the facts

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Everything you need to know about pushing for pay equity

Facts and figures: Economic empowerment

What is gender-responsive budgeting?

Gender bonds: A promising solution to accelerate SDG5

Gender bonds: A toolkit for the design and issuance of gender bonds in Africa

Global voices of empowerment.

Kenya and Zimbabwe invest in preventing violence against women and girls

EntreprenHER programme empowers women entrepreneurs in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa

Haitian women and girls empowered by UN Women amid humanitarian crisis

Investing in women’s safety and economic empowerment in Rwanda

Women farmers in Malawi tackle climate change and gender inequalities through greenhouse programme

Grants and training programmes empower women entrepreneurs in Cambodia and Viet Nam

Women learn new skills and push back against ethnic and gender prejudice in Thailand

Women rise from poverty and gain economic independence through Oasis Centres in Jordan

Ukrainian entrepreneur uses flower business to bridge gender gaps during wartime

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News and media.

On International Women’s Day, UN Women calls on investing in women as the best solution to face growing crises

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Un secretary-general's message on international women's day.

What does 8 March mean to you?

Last updated on Monday, 25/03/2024

8 March has been celebrated as International Women’s Day since the mid-70s and has acquired a variety of meanings since then. Read seven personal reflections of the Day expressed through visual and textual mediums below.

Since the mid-70s, each year on 8 March the world ‘celebrates’ International Women's Day. Nowadays, this event does not only serve as a moment of reflection, but it has also acquired a different meaning for each individual throughout the years. For many, the term “woman” does not fully cover what is brought forward on this day, others feel empowered while some question whether it should be called a celebration. This is why we decided to portray these individual definitions of 8 March by asking FLINTA (Female, Lesbian, Intersex, Non-binary, Transgender, Agender) people to give their answers in a photograph with the purpose of inciting us to question ourselves the same.

You are able to do everything

Victoria Faby (23), France

"I am a young Spanish journalist and internationalist interested in human rights, gender, childhood, and social communication. I have experience in advocating the rights of women and girls with disabilities from an intersectional point of view, and thanks to my volunteering in Romania with the European Solidarity Corps, I have developed new skills related to youth participation. Moreover, I have had the opportunity to work and learn at the UN with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 2019 and 2022."   (Miriam)

"I am a 23-year-old Journalism graduate from Turkey, currently living in Patras, Greece. Participating in international projects since 18 made me explore the world. I have an experience in online journalism and news writing, thanks to having worked at the faculty newspaper as a reporter for over three years and being in the 2021 UNESCO Youth Newsroom. My internship at Turkey's largest fact-checking organisation helped me gain a wider knowledge of fact-checking methods and media literacy. Politics, social movements, and human rights are my main areas of interest in journalism. My plans for the near future are to do a master's degree in Middle Eastern Studies and do my profession by focusing on this region." (Melike)

This article reflects the views of the authors only. The European Commission cannot be held responsible for it.

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Essay on “International Woman’s Day-March 8” Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

International Woman’s Day- March 8

International Women’s Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women’s groups around the world. When women on all continents, divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represent sat least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.

Interactional Women’s Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the century- old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men.

History of the Day

The idea of an International Women’s Day first arose at the turn of the 20 th century. Following is a brief chronology of the most important events; 

1909: In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Women’s Day was observed across the united States on 28 February. Women Continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that Month till 1913.

1910: The socialist International’, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women’s Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women’s  rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over  100   women from 17 countries. No fixed date was selected for the observance.

1911: Because of the decision taken at Copenhagen in the previous year, international Women’s Day was marked for the first time (19 March) in Austria. Denmark , Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job.

1913: As part of the peace movement brewing on the eye of World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women’s Day on the last Sunday of February 1913. Elsewhere in Europe. On or around 8 March of the  following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with their sister.

1917: With two million Russian soldiers dead in the war, their women again chose the last Sunday in February to strike for “bread and peace”. Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women continued to strike. The rest is history: four days later, the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar.

Since those early years, International Women’s Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women’s movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women’s conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point for coordinated efforts to demand women’s rights and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women’s rights.   

Women at Global Level

Women community though equal to men in population, it is a concern to note that, yet in this modern sophisticated world, she is treated as the second citizens or subordinates to men. Though various efforts are being made to improve the status of women. They have not taken their maximum use and remain backward.

Women do not have an equal status with men. Serious efforts are being made throughout the world and various schemes programmes have been launched to minimize the gender inequality. Even then the gender bias exists and it varies from country to country and even within a country.

In the second half of the 20 th century, countries like USA, France and Hungary have 2.9%, 3.8% and 5.4% illiterate women respectively. The figures for India are 60.7% , Turkey 83.3% Iraq 95.8% and Algeria 98.2%. of the 100 million children world wide between the ages of 6 and 11 who do not attend school, 70% are girls. Of the one million illiterate adults an estimated two third are women. 

Presently, women produce 50% of the world’s food supply, account for 60% of working force and contribute upto 30% of the official labour force but receive  only 10% of the world economy and more surprisingly own less than 1% of world’s real estate. In Nepal, women work 21 more hours each week than men, and in India 12 hours. In Kenya 8 to 14 year old girls, spend 5 hours more on household chores than boys.

The gender inequality is an obstacle for development. A strategy to remove or at least to reduce inequality is very essential.

Empowerment of Women

In recent years, the empowerment of women is recognized globally as a key element to achieve progress in all areas. In the last twenty- five years, there has been a global efforts with a strong support from the United Nations to understand the discrimination and restore the status of women. The United Nations General Assembly declared the International Year of Women in 1975 followed by the International Women’s Decade.

Women have largely remained backward in the advances of science and technology. Various macro indicator related to their education, employment, health and participation in economic activities attest that gender inequalities and women’s vulnerability stand stark , despite numerous initiatives.      

Gender Mainstreaming

‘Gender’ refers to the social roles, responsibilities  and behaviors that are believed to belong to men and women; for example, “men as income earners” and “women as child care givers”. Gender roles are created by a society and are passed over from one generation to the next. Because gender roles are socially learned, they can be changed to achieve equity and equality for women   and men. For instance,  we can change the gender roles of “ women as child care- givers” to “ women as income earners,” and men as income earners” to “ men as child care – givers,” or, better yet, “ men and women as income earners and child care – givers.”

‘Gender Mainstreaming’ is a process that entails mainstreaming a gender perspective at various stages like programme / policy formulation, assessment of needs of target groups, review of existing policies and guidelines,  allocation of resources, implementation of  programmes, impact assessment, re-allocation of resources and so on. A gender sensitive budget can be the culmination of the is process.

The concept of bringing gender issues into the mainstream of society was clearly established as a global strategy for promoting gender equality in the Platform for Action adopted at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing (China) in 1995. It highlighted the necessity to ensure that gender equality is a primary goal in all areas of social and economic development. The ultimate goal of mainstreaming is to achieve gender equality.

As a nodal department  for women, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has been undertaking advocacy in support of gender mainstreaming and pursuing dissemination of concepts and tools of gender. Forty two gender Budgeting cells have been set up in various Departments / Ministries.

Women in India

In India, the principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Constitution which not only grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women. Form the Fifth Five Year Plan  onwards. There has been marked shift in the approach to women’s advancement in different spheres.

The National Commission for Women was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1990 to safeguard the right and legal entitlements of women. The 73 rd and 74rd Amendment (1993) to the Constitution of India have provided for reservation of seats in the local bodies of Panchayats and Municipalities for women, laying a strong foundation for their participation in decision making at the local levels.

Constitutional Provisions

The commitment to gender equity is well entrenched at the highest policy making level – the Constitution of  India. A few important provision for women are :

Article -14     – Equal Rights and Opportunities in Political, Economic and Social Spheres.

Article -15   – Prohibits discrimination on grounds of sex.

Article – 15(3) – Enables affirmative discrimination in favour of women

Article 39   – Equal means of livelihood and equal pay for equal work.

Article 42   – Just and Humane conditions of  work and maternity relief.

Article 51(A)(e) – Fundamental Duty to renounce practices, derogatory to dignity of women.

The National Policy for Empowerment of Women 2001 envisaged introduction of a gender perspective in the budgeting process as a operational strategy. These provision are effected and supplemented by legal frame work. A few laws and legislations are:

Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.

Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, The Commission of Sate (Prevention) Act, 1987, Protection of women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

The Pre- Natal Diagnostic Technique (Regulation and prevention of Misuse ) Act, 1994.

Status of Women

After Independence the Constitution of India gave equal rights to men and women in all walks of life. But even today one cannot day that all women in India enjoy equal rights with men in all matters.      

There are many reasons for this (1) The customs and traditions prevalent for centuries, (2) The high percentage of illiteracy among women, (3) Ignorance of their rights , (4) Patriarchal society, (5) Economic system, (6) Acceptance of the theory of Karma of fatalism, (7) Unchecked male domination in all walks of life.

In spite of  all these problems mentioned above , one could see that the condition of Indian women ahs improved a lot. There are now adequate educational facilitates for girls and women. Special incentives and reservations are there to encourage them to study. Even in employment there are special reservations. We can now see women employed in all field not only in clerical jobs but also in IAS, IPS and Indian Air Force. There are Chief Ministers who are women. We had a lady Prime Minister.

The year 1995 was declared as the International Year for Women throughout the world. The women were made aware of their status and place in society. There   have been many movements in our country as well as in other countries for  the advancement of women. Recently there was a world met of women at Beijing, the capital of China. Women are now no longer in slumber. They are awake and moving fast. They are asserting their rights. As far as India is concerned, it has already agreed to treat women as equal with men in all respects. The difference, whatever now exists, is sure to vanish in the coming decades when women also get equally educated and liberate themselves from superstitions and irrational traditions.

Women and Education

“There cannot be educated people without educated women. If general education has to be limited to men or to women, that opportunity should be given to women, for then, it would most surely be passed on to the next generation” (University Education Commission, 1948).

“Empowering women is a prerequisite for creating a good nation. When women are empowered, society with stability is assured. Empowerment of women is essential as their thoughts and their value systems lead to the development of a good family, good society and ultimately a good nation” (President APJ Abdul Kalam, 2006).

These quotations very aptly describe the importance of women’s education which holds the key to the future progress of a nation.

Education is a significant factor in changing women’s role and status in the society. Realization has dawned in India that without education women cannot be empowered. India has taken several steps towards empowering women through education. Years of neglect and discrimination against the women cannot be turned around in a day.

However, careful planning on the part of the government to raise educational levels across the country with cooperation of the civil society will result in the empowerment of women. It will raise their self- awareness and allow them to participate in decision making process at home and outside. It will also result in skill development and make women economically independent. They will then be able to contribute to the family kitty. They will serve as role models for their children .  

There is a saying that if you educate a boy, you educate an individual but if you educate a girl, you educate a family, careful planning on the part of the Government to raise educational levels across the country with the cooperation of the civil society will result in the empowerment of women.

International Women’s Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike.

The growing international women’s  movement. Which has been strengthened by four global united Nations women’s conferences, has helped make the commemoration  a rallying point for coordinated efforts to demand for women’s rights and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly, International   Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of  women’s rights.           

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‘Panama Papers’ trial starts. 27 people charged in the worldwide money laundering case

Lawyers and court workers leave the Supreme Court during a recess for the trial of the “Panama Papers” money laundering case in Panama City, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Agustin Herrera)

The Supreme Court stands in Panama City, Monday, April 8, 2024 as the trial starts for those charged in connection with the worldwide “Panama Papers” money laundering case. (AP Photo/Agustin Herrera)

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PANAMA CITY (AP) — The trial of 27 people charged in connection with the worldwide “Panama Papers” money laundering started Monday in a Panamanian criminal court.

Those on trial include the owners of the Mossack-Fonseca law firm that was at the heart of the 2016 massive document leak.

The Panama Papers include a collection of 11 million secret financial documents that illustrate how some of the world’s richest people hide their money.

The repercussions of the leaks have been far-ranging, prompting the resignation of the prime minister of Iceland and bringing scrutiny to the leaders of Argentina and Ukraine, Chinese politicians and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among others.

The often-delayed trial opened Monday, with lawyers Juergen Mossack, Ramón Fonseca and other former representatives, lawyers or ex-employees of the firm facing money laundering charges.

Mossack was present in the courtroom, and said “I am not guilty of such acts.”

Lawyers for Fonseca said he was in a hospital in Panama.

The case centers on allegations the firm set up shell companies to acquire properties in Panama with money from a sprawling corruption scheme in Brazil known as the Car Wash , or Lava Jato in Portuguese.

Fonseca has said the firm, which closed in 2018, had no control over how its clients might use offshore vehicles created for them. Both Mossack and Fonseca have Panamanian citizenship, and Panama does not extradite its own citizens.

The two were acquitted on other charges in 2022.

The records were first leaked to the German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung, and were shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which began publishing collaborative reports with news organizations in 2016.

U.S. federal prosecutors have alleged that Mossack Fonseca conspired to circumvent American laws to maintain the wealth of its clients and conceal tax dollars owed to the IRS. They alleged the scheme dates to 2000 and involved sham foundations and shell companies in Panama, Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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U.S. Employers Added 303,000 Jobs in 39th Straight Month of Growth

The March data increased confidence among economists and investors that robust hiring and rising wages can continue to coexist while inflation eases.

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Monthly change in jobs

+303,000 jobs

+300,000 jobs

March ’23

March ’24

By Talmon Joseph Smith

Another month, another burst of better-than-expected job gains.

Employers added 303,000 jobs in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Labor Department reported on Friday, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent, from 3.9 percent in February. Expectations of a recession among experts, once widespread, are now increasingly rare.

It was the 39th straight month of job growth. And employment levels are now more than three million greater than forecast by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office just before the pandemic shock.

The resilient data generally increased confidence among economists and market investors that the U.S. economy has reached a healthy equilibrium in which a steady roll of commercial activity, growing employment and rising wages can coexist, despite the high interest rate levels of the last two years.

From late 2021 to early 2023, inflation was outstripping wage gains, but that also now appears to have firmly shifted, even as wage increases decelerate from their roaring rates of growth in 2022. Average hourly earnings for workers rose 0.3 percent in March from the previous month and were up 4.1 percent from March 2023.

Wage growth continues to slow

Year-over-year percentage change in earnings vs. inflation

+4.1% in March

+3.2% in Feb.

Consumer Price Index

Avg. hourly earnings

“The vanishingly few areas to criticize this labor market are melting away,” said Andrew Flowers, the chief labor economist at Appcast, a recruitment advertising firm.

Some have worried that as the booming labor market recovery gave way to a milder expansion, job growth would mostly narrow to less cyclical sectors like government hiring and health care. Gains in health care — including hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities and outpatient services — led the way in this report. But job growth, for now, remains broad-based.

The private sector added 232,000 jobs overall. Construction added 39,000 jobs in March, about twice its average monthly gain in the past year. Employment in hospitality and leisure, which plunged during the pandemic, continues to bounce back and is now above its February 2020 levels.

The “continued vigor,” said Joe Davis, the global chief economist at Vanguard, has come from “household balance sheets bolstered by pandemic-related fiscal policy and a virtuous cycle where job growth, wages and consumption fuel one another.”

President Biden declared the report a “milestone,” noting that the economy has created 15 million jobs since he took office and began a set of programs meant to boost growth. “We’ve come a long way, but I won’t stop fighting for hard-working families,” he said in a statement.

Hiring jumped across industries

Change in jobs in March 2024, by sector

+88,000 jobs

Education and health

Leisure and

hospitality

Construction

Manufacturing

Leisure and hospitality

Business services

Data analysts note that better-than-expected gains in business productivity and work force participation have added fuel, too. Recent data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows corporate profits at a record high.

Officials at the Fed, which rapidly raised interest rates in 2022 and early 2023 to combat inflation, have expressed cautious optimism that they are approaching their goals of low unemployment and more stable prices.

Inflation has fallen drastically from its peak of 7.1 percent, according to the Fed’s preferred measure . But it ticked up in February to 2.5 percent, still a half-percentage point away from the Fed’s target. And some worry that rising oil prices or geopolitical chaos could upend the delicate state of affairs.

Reasons for caution go beyond global events.

Guy Berger, director of economic research at the Burning Glass Institute, which studies the labor market, noted that though layoff rates are near record lows, other data on hiring was “consistent with an unemployment rate just under 5 percent” based on past business cycles.

And some labor economists believe that elevated borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, which were steered higher by the Fed, are poised to crack certain parts of the economy the longer businesses have to live with them.

Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at the advisory firm Oxford Economics, said that the strong job growth need not deter the Fed from lowering interest rates — something it is projected to do three times this year — and adding a layer of insurance to the ongoing business expansion.

“The Fed does not need to see a weak labor market to begin cutting rates but will be guided by readings on wage growth and inflation, which we expect to show more progress toward the central bank’s objectives in the next few months,” she wrote in a research note.

Even as narratives about the U.S. economy among top experts have waffled between jubilant relief and stubborn concern that the best of this business cycle was finished, in the aggregate the labor market has consistently been vibrant since 2022; almost uneventfully so.

But the underlying details do provide insights into potential shifts that may affect the mix of hiring and commercial activity going forward.

Employment growth in sectors like professional and business services, finance and information remains soft. Daniel Zhao, the lead economist at the career site Glassdoor, pointed out that these three sectors collectively added just 10,000 jobs in March — a fresh indication of how white-collar employers have grown much more picky since their hiring spree during the pandemic.

“Companies are hiring selectively, prioritizing quality over quantity,” said Tom Gimbel, the chief executive of the LaSalle Network, a Chicago-based staffing and recruiting firm.

The upside is that those workers are the most likely to be high earners in the first place; homeowners with low-cost, fixed-rate mortgages shielding them from rental inflation, and investors whose portfolios have been on an eye-popping bull run since fall.

Lower-wage earners, for their part, are experiencing a job market less hot than a couple of years ago, when switching jobs in search of better pay and benefits frequently garnered double-digit percent raises. The market is, however, still providing opportunities for earnings growth not seen since the late 1990s, according to key Fed measures .

In an interview with Bloomberg in March, Liz Everett Krisberg, the head of the Bank of America Institute, noted a crucial overarching reality for households: The monthly median value of savings and checking balances is more than 40 percent higher than in 2019 for all income levels tracked by the bank.

Delinquencies are on the rise for subprime borrowers of cars and credit cards. But the overall percentage of household disposable income going to debt payments is still below its prepandemic low .

Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, has been among the more bullish financial commentators since recession concerns grew in 2022.

But a year ago, when the regional banking system began to tremble a bit from interest rate shocks, he grew more worried. Mr. Zandi advised his son, an entrepreneur, that he was unlikely to get a line of credit because bank lending was probably about to tighten.

“He knocked on JPMorgan Chase’s door and they gave him a line of credit within two hours,” Mr. Zandi said with a laugh. “And, you know, it was a pretty sizable line.”

That turn of events is emblematic of a little-noticed shift in business conditions. Since the middle of last year, when economic growth greatly exceeded forecasts, the share of banks tightening lending to small businesses has eased substantially. That trend is in line with an emerging conviction among business leaders that a downturn is not imminent, and a potentially elongated expansion makes betting on upstart firms more attractive.

Frustration with the cumulative rise in prices over the last three years continues to agitate consumer sentiment. But consumers and businesses, in many ways, are still in healthy shape overall, said Daniel Alpert, a senior fellow in financial macroeconomics at Cornell Law School and a founding managing partner of Westwood Capital, an investment bank.

“Were it not for the post-pandemic inflation spike and high interest rates,” he said, this economy “would be hailed as one of the greatest turnarounds in history.”

Talmon Joseph Smith is a Times economics reporter, based in New York. More about Talmon Joseph Smith

Friday had April’s showers, but its winds seemed to say March

Peak wind gust in the district fell just short of 50 mph.

Friday in D.C. combined the warmth of spring, the showers of April and winds perhaps more appropriate to March. Afternoon gusts in the 30 to 40 mph range seemed common.

More than once, what may have seemed a merely breezy day in April offered moments when the wind unleashed gusts of prodigious, clutch-your-cap power with little warning.

Such gusts seemed were strong enough to stagger pedestrians, making them wonder whether they could reliably remain upright — in the physical sense.

As of 5 p.m., Washington had recorded a peak wind of 35 mph and, for a brief moment, a peak gust that packed a 49 mph punch, offering a rough shove to those on the streets. Both wind and gust — the strongest here this month — blew across the city from the southwest.

In fact, only one day here this March — a month that has long been identified with wind — experienced a gust as high as 49 mph. That was March 10, the last previous day with so strong a gust.

The strength of the wind and the seeming unpredictability of the gusts may have made put their meteorological stamp Friday. They may have prevented notice of the presence of pleasant springtime warmth.

The winds were obviously of springtime. Temperatures remained warm from midnight through early evening.

Not only did Friday afternoon seem pleasantly warm, but the morning seemed warm as well. The afternoon’s high reached 69 degrees, two degrees warmer than Washington’s average high for April 12. Unlike some days in the first half of spring, the morning also seemed warm.

The coolest temperature recorded in the early part of the day was 60. That was 13 degrees above the average Washington low for the date.

Friday morning seemed well enough supplied with rain and drizzle to uphold the reputation of April. Almost a fifth of an inch of rain was measured in the morning.

On a warm Friday in springtime, atmospheric forces provided winds that may have been reminiscent of March. The precipitation of the morning helped the day hold on to its identity as part of April.

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