International Women's Day Themes
Since 1975, the United Nations has celebrated March 8th as International Women’s Day. While the United Nations designates a particular theme each year , there is no global theme for the day and each country, organization or individual can choose a different theme or focus depending on their contexts. Reproductive health, women’s empowerment, violence against women, education, equality, domestic workers, musical celebrations, multimedia, women in conflict areas, and trafficking have all been themes and types of women’s day celebrations the world over.
If you and/or your organization are planning to host your own International Women’s Day event, register it here to truly be part of a community of men and women who are celebrating women.
The UN theme for this year is “Women and men united to end violence against women and girls.” Below you can see a list of themes for the past few years:
- 2009: Women and men united to end violence against women and girls
- 2008: Investing in Women and Girls
- 2007: Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls
- 2006: Women in decision-making
- 2005: Gender Equality Beyond 2005: Building a More Secure Future
- 2004: Women and HIV/AIDS
- 2003: Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals
- 2002: Afghan Women Today: Realities and Opportunities
- 2001: Women and Peace: Women Managing Conflicts
- 2000: Women Uniting for Peace
In reviewing some of the past themes of International Women’s Day, I was wondering what the improvement in women’s situations has been after this call for change and empowerment was recognized over thirty years ago. By the year 2015, the UN has set out the third Millennium Development Goal of “promoting gender equality and empower women”. The indicators pertain to education, agricultural labor and political representation. It seems we have a long way to go:
- Worldwide, 774 million adults lack basic literacy skills, as measured by conventional methods. Some 64% of them are women, a share virtually unchanged since the early 1990s. (1)
- In developing countries, 1 in 61 women die during pregnancy and childbirth; in least developed countries, 1 in 17 die. (2)
- An estimated 529,000 women die a year – at least one woman every minute – from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, leaving behind children who are more likely to die because they are motherless. (3)
- Approximately 80 percent of transnational trafficking victims are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors. The majority of transnational victims are females trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. (4)
- Trafficking in women and girls for forced labor and sexual exploitation grew rapidly between 1995 and 2005, largely as a result of war, displacement, and economic and social inequities between and within countries. (5)
- International research consistently finds that women are more likely to be beaten, raped, or killed by a current or former partner than by any other person, with most studies estimating that 20 to 50 percent of women experience partner violence at some point in their lives. (6)
- Seventy-two percent of the world’s 33 million refugees are women and children. (7)
International Women’s Day is a powerful statement about the importance of equality amongst all people, but the work and themes of a day have to extend far beyond a day of activism and awareness to make 2015 a realistic goal for real change in women’s empowerment.
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1) UNESCO (2007) EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008. Education for All by 2015: Will we make it? Paris: UNESCO. http://www.efareport.unesco.org
2) UNICEF (2007) The State of the World’s Children 2007. “Table 8: Women.” New York: UNICEF. http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/report/report.php
3) WHO (2005) The World Health Report 2005: Make Every Mother and Child Count. “Chapter 1: Mothers and Children Matter – So Does Their Health.” Geneva: WHO. http://www.who.int/whr/2005/chapter1/en/index.html
4) U.S. Department of State (June 2007) Trafficking in Persons Report, p. 8. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State. http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/global_issues/human_trafficking/traffick_report.html
5) Ellsberg, M. & Heise, L. (2005) Researching Violence Against Women: A Practical Guide for Researchers and Activists, p. 18. Washington, DC: WHO & PATH. http://www.path.org/files/GBV_rvaw_complete.pdf
6) Ellsberg, M. & Heise, L. (2005) Researching Violence Against Women: A Practical Guide for Researchers and Activists, p. 12. Washington, DC: WHO & PATH. http://www.path.org/files/GBV_rvaw_complete.pdf
7) UNHCR (2006) UNHCR Statistical Yearbook 2006 (provisional). Geneva: UNHCR. http://www.unhcr.org/statistics.html
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