Do you know there is such a thing as International Women's Day?
There are many different 'National Women's Day', the first was observed in the United States, February 28th, 1909 following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America.
German Socialist Luise Zietz proposed the establishment of an annual 'International Woman's Day, 100 women from 17 countries agreed with the idea in order to promote equal rights for women.
On 18 March 1911, International Women's Day was marked for the first time, by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland....they demanded to be given the right to vote and to hold public office.
In 1913 Russian women joined force and marked their first International Women's Day and from there on it just snowballed adding many more countries each year.
The theme for this years International Women's Day is 'The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum'. The United Nations have their own theme which is 'A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence Against Women'.
In many countries such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cuba, Russia, Uganda, Zambia, to name but a few, the day is an official holiday.
All over the world women celebrate this day differently.
In Italy the men give the women yellow mimosas (I'll take the kind with the champagne in it....Grazi).
In Russia and Albania women receive mimosas and chocolate.
In Portugal they celebrate by having 'women only' dinners and parties.
If you would like more information on International Women's Day or would like to know of any fundraising events connected to it you can check out this website http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
And this Friday, don't forget to celebrate the wonderful women in your life.
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