Maya Angelou, an award-winning American poet and author, was once quoted for saying:

“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!” The media is full of heroes every day, but today is the day that the world celebrates our she-roes: it’s International Women’s Day!

Women's Day

In some countries, Women's Day is a political event.

International Women’s Day is a global day to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.  The first IWD was launched by a woman named Clara Zetkin (German) in 1911. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, IWD is a national holiday. However, the plight of women and the hardship they still face in many countries is highlighted by many organisations – see below.

Global issues facing women include:

  • Females in developing countries on average carry 20 litres of water per day over 6 km
  • Globally, women account for the majority of people aged over 60 and over 80
  • Pregnant women in Africa are 180 times more likely to die than in Western Europe
  • 530,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth each year
  • Of 1.2 billion people living in poverty worldwide, 70% are women
  • 80% of the world’s 27 million refugees are women
  • Women own around only 1% of the world’s land
  • AIDS sees women’s average life expectancy reduced to 43 in Uganda and Zambia
  • Women are 2/3 of the 1 billion+ illiterate adults who have no access to basic education
  • Read Fakhria Ibrahimi’s account of the plight of women in Afghanisaton
  • Official  International Women’s Day site – see how you can help bring about change in the world.

    Photograph by web/graphic designer Melanie Cook, used with permission. Thank you!