Today 8th March 2022 Zambia Joins the rest of the world in celebrating International Women’s day under the theme “gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”. #Breakthebias
In order for us to look forward we have to look back and appreciate were the women’s movement has come from for us to understand how far it has come and how much further it needs to go.
The movement as we know it dates back to 1908 in New York City against the backdrop of bad working conditions, 15,000 garment workers held a demonstrations and demanded better pay and shorter hours.
On 19th March 1911 over a million people from Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland protested at different locations and marked International women’s day for the first time. The protest were held to demand equal rights for women and “Suffrage” the right to vote.
In 1914 International Women’s day was held on March 8th were women in Germany strongly protested for the right to vote and at Trafalgar square in London were Sylvia Pankhurst was arrested.
In 1975 The United Nations recognized March 8th as IWD and stared creating themes for each year’s celebrations.
This year, in recognition of brave women and girls who stand on the shoulders of the 15000 garment workers of New York City, we celebrate and honor the contribution of women and girls leading the charge on Climate Change Adaptation and their contribution to a sustainable future. Women like Greta Thunberg, Vanessa Nakate, Nisreen Elsaim, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Tessa Khan, Rachel Kyte, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and so many other strong women working to make this world a better place.
