Today, International Women’s Day is celebrated worldwide on the 8th of March.
Made official by the United Nations in 1977, the International Women’s Day is originated by women factory workers and suffragettes at the beginning of 20th century, who fought for better working conditions and right to vote.
This is a day that marks an important event worldwide, an opportunity to evaluate how women fare in today’s society. Traditionally speaking, groups and women’s rights associations organize demonstrations to celebrate women’s victories, gained rights and make their demands heard, to continue the progress on the betterment of women’s lives around the world.
The International Women’s Day is still an extreme topic today. For as long as inequality continues to exist between men and women, the 8th of March will need to be celebrated.
Celebration
In nearly 30 countries around the world, more particularly in Africa and in Post-Soviet states, the 8th of March is decreed as a national holiday. Women would typically receive flowers and post cards on this day in celebration.
Where are we now, on women’s right to vote?
Today, women have the right to vote and to be nominated practically everywhere around the world. However, this took over a century for women to achieve this.
Women’s right to vote in a glance.
1893 New Zealand
Women obtain the right to vote, but were not candidate eligibility until 1919.
1918 Canada
Most provinces recognized women’s voting rights between 1916 – 1922, except for Quebec (1940)
1919 USA
Restricted voting rights for women until the Voting Rights Act in 1965
1928 United Kingdom
Voting rights are given to all women above 21 years old
1931 Portugal
Only women with a secondary school education were allowed to vote ; men were only required to be literate. Voting rights were given to all women in 1974
1971 Switzerland
First country to vote in voting rights for women by a male-only electoral council.
1984 South Africa
Voting rights were given to black women
2006 United Arab Emirates
Right to vote is limited until 2010
2011 Saudi Arabia
Women’s voting rights and candidate eligibility were only given to those with university education. Women voted for the first time in a municipal election in 2015.
For more than a century, feminists have been fighting for women’s equal rights. To this day, women still earn an average of 20% less salary than men who hold the same professional position, nor is she equally considered as her male counterpart.
Since the dawn of men, women have been giving life to this world, but the road to gender equality is still long to this day.
Translated by Kailing Huang
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