EDUCATION FOR CITIZENSHIP ALMAZAN: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

"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"

Gloria Steinem

International Women's Day (IWD) is marked on March 8 every year. Countries around the world celebrate IWD to give credit to the economic, political and social achievements of women and to show respect to their contributions in the development of their countries. The IWD was first celebrated on 19 March 1911 in Germany following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. It's only in the beginning of the 20th century that the day was officially and internationally acknowledged due to the rapid industrialization and the social protest that it accompanied.

On this day women are usually given flowers and small gifts. It is also celebrated as an equivalent of Mother's Day in some countries. Children also give small gifts to their mothers and grandmothers. In countries like Portugal, it is customary, at the night of 8 March, for groups of women to celebrate the holiday with women-only dinners and parties. In 1975, the United Nations gave official sanction to and started financing International Women's Day.

Although, women are becoming more powerful in business, entertainment, politics and many more areas, there are still a lot of inequalities around the world which call for the mobilization of everybody to grant women the proper status they merit.

Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacity...
If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior...
If non-violence is the law of our being, the future is with women...

Mahatma Gandhi

Un 8 de marzo de 1857, un grupo de obreras textiles tomó la decisión de salir a las calles de Nueva York a protestar por las míseras condiciones en las que trabajaban.

Distintos movimientos se sucedieron a partir de esa fecha. El 5 de marzo de 1908, Nueva York fue escenario de nuevo de una huelga polémica para aquellos tiempos. Un grupo de mujeres reclamaba la igualdad salarial, la disminución de la jornada laboral a 10 horas y un tiempo para poder dar de mamar a sus hijos. Durante esa huelga, perecieron más de un centenar de mujeres quemadas en una fábrica de Sirtwoot Cotton, en un incendio que se atribuyó al dueño de la fábrica como respuesta a la huelga.

En 1910, durante la Segunda Conferencia Internacional de Mujeres Trabajadoras celebrada en Copenhague (Dinamarca) más de 100 mujeres aprobaron declarar el 8 de marzo como Día Internacional de la Mujer Trabajadora.

Actualmente, se celebra como el Día Internacional de la Mujer.