Int’l Women's Day being observed today

International Women's Day (IWD) is being observed on Wednesday (March 8) — to celebrate women’s social, economic, cultural and political achievements.

This year, the theme of the day by United Nations is "DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality". The purpose of this subject is to acknowledge and appreciate the contributions that women and girls are making to technology and online learning.

Purple color is associated with “justice and dignity”, while green represents “hope” and white stands for “purity”.

The colors were assigned by the United Kingdom (UK) in 1908 by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).

The day has been observed for nearly a century, with the first celebration taking place in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland in 1911.

Globally, there is a lot of activity on this day as people join together to celebrate women’s accomplishments or to march for women’s rights.

History

Women’s persecution and inequality prompted them to become more vocal and involved in the movement for reform in 1908. Around the same time, 15,000 women marched through New York City, demanding shorter work hours, higher pay and the right to vote.

In 1909, the first National Woman’s Day was celebrated across the United States, according to a declaration by the Socialist Party of America.

Until 1913, women continued to commemorate national Woman’s Day on the last Sunday of February.  

In 1910, Copenhagen hosted the second International Conference of Working Women.

Clara Zetkin—German Marxist theorist and activist—proposed the concept of International Women’s Day.

Clara recommended that every year on Women’s Day a celebration be held in every country to honor women’s fight for their demands.

Following this over 100 women from 17 countries—representing unions, socialist parties, working women’s organizations and the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, unanimously approved Zetkin’s proposal.

This is how International Women’s Day came to existence.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has issued a special message on International Women's Day.

Prime Minister said that International Women's Day is a day to recognize the key role of women in the society at the international level and acknowledge their services in the evolution of human civilization.

He stated: “History is a witness that the development of human society was not possible without the constructive role of women”.

Be it Fatima Jinnah in Pakistan Movement or Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan, Ms. Benazir Bhutto Shaheed or Malala Yousafzai, women are the development of Pakistan, and the central role in evolution cannot be denied at any cost, the prime minister added.

Shahbaz Sharif said that our religion of Islam gave equal rights to women hundreds of years ago.

Describing heaven under the mother's feet and the daughter as the mercy of the home, Islam encourages women to play a positive role in every sphere of life without compromising their dignity.

He said: “The current human society is full of examples of women's services in every field,” adding that in the world of the 21st century, women are engaged in the development of human civilization alongside men.

In every field women can be seen performing their domestic responsibilities well as well as taking leadership roles in every field which is a welcome development, PM appreciated.

The former chief minister said: “The government of Pakistan is always trying to provide women with their fair rights. Almost half of Pakistan's population is female.”

Today, the capable daughters, mothers and sisters of the nation are engaged in the service of the country and the nation in a dignified manner.

“The whole society has to work together to ensure women's empowerment, their protection and fair rights, in which the civil society, media and the government should cooperate not only for women's rights and their protection,” Shehbaz stated that one has to make a commitment, but one has to actively participate in awareness in this regard.

Shahbaz Sharif further added that my promise to the talented women of our country as of today is that our government will continue to take measures for the fair rights of women, their protection and providing them equal opportunities for education and development. You are the pride of the nation and Pakistan needs your skills and services to progress.