International Women's Day

March 8th - International Women's Day is a day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.

In addition to being a day of celebration, IWD is also a day of advocay and awareness-building. With female CEOs and prime ministers; young women welcomed into university; the opportunity for women to work and have a family -today's women have real choices. So have women achieved equality - at least in the "developed" nations?

Internationalwomen'sday.com states,

"With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are often still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men".

Corroborating that statement, is a Canadian News Wire release from late January, 2009:

The number of women in top executive jobs at Canada's largest publicly traded companies is at its highest level, but remains at 7.2 per cent, according to a new report. The fourth annual Rosenzweig Report on Women at the Top Levels of Corporate Canada found that 36 women now hold top officer jobs in Canada's 100 largest publicly-traded companies; up from 31 last year. On a percentage basis of top jobs, women now hold 7.2 per cent of the positions and men 92.8; last year it was 5.8 per cent and 94.2 respectively. However, more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of Canada's biggest public companies do not have women executives at the top paid ranks.

Unquestionably, women have made great advances in equality over the past 100 years. Recognizing this, the tone and nature of International Women's Day is shifting more to being a celebration of the positives, rather than a reminder of the negatives.

However, there is still more work to be done. According to the United Nations, women do 2/3 of the world's work yet earn only 5% of the world's income and own less than 1% of the world's real property. Women often lack resources that might help move them out of poverty. This includes capital, land, and borrowing opportunities. Advocating for equality for all women and girls remains a priority for the United Nations. The United Nations Development Fund for Women continues to work for women's empowerment and gender equality.

More times than not, when women live in poverty, so do their children. With just over two weeks until International Women's Day 2009, please take a moment to share with us your plans for this important day, and your thoughts on how we can work together to improve the lives of women and children.

Now celebrated annually in dozens of countries throughout the globe, International Women's Day (IWD) was first celebrated in 1911. A list of 333 IWD events taking place in 33 countries, as well as a history of IWD can be found on www.internationalwomensday.com.