What Is International Women’s Day?

picture of women smiling from all over the world

What Is International Women’s Day?

International Women’s Day is an annual global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality.

Marked annually on March 8th, International Women’s Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year to:

celebrate women’s achievements
raise awareness about women’s equality
lobby for accelerated gender parity
fundraise for female-focused charities

The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is ‘Choose To Challenge’. A challenged world is an alert world. And from challenge comes change. So let’s all #ChooseToChallenge.

International Women’s Day has occurred for well over a century with the first gathering held in 1911. Learn more about the day’s timeline.

Purple, green and white are the colors of International Women’s Day. The colors originated from the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in the UK in 1908.

Purple signifies justice and dignity.
Green symbolizes hope.
White represents purity, albeit a controversial concept.

International Women’s Day is not country, group, nor organization specific. No one government, NGO, charity, corporation, academic institution, women’s network, or media hub is solely responsible for International Women’s Day. The day belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. Gloria Steinem, world-renowned feminist, journalist and activist once explained “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist, nor to any one organization, but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.” So make International Women’s Day your day and do what you can to truly make a positive difference for women.

The purpose of the International Women’s Day website is to support the supporters, and in doing so it provides a platform to help forge positive change for women.

How will you celebrate women everywhere this year on International Women’s Day?

Best,

Manal