International Women's Day 2013

Did you know March 8th is International Women's Day? International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future and has been observed since the early 1900's. In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day (NWD) was observed across the United States on 28 February, 1909. In 1913 following discussions, International Women's Day (IWD) was transferred to 8 March and has remained the global date for International Women's Day. Over the years, IWD has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration. For many years the United Nations has held an annual IWD conference to coordinate international efforts for women's rights and designated 1975 as 'International Women's Year.' I was surprised to learn that IWD is now an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia with men honoring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother's Day with children giving small presents to their mothers and grandmothers. To read more about the history of IWD and events taking place you might want to check out “this website”:http://www.internationalwomensday.com.