March 8th is International Women's Day (IWD), an event that kicked off on 8th March, 1911 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
I love that it is an International celebration, rather than just a national one. There's a real sense of unspoken connection with women from all walks of life, all languages and all countries.
In some countries, International Women's Day is even an offical holiday - Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother's Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.
At a business level, events such as conferences, talks, business breakfasts, networking events, marches are held
around the world. At a local level, women's groups hold fashion parades and informal get togethers.
If you can't get together with other women, treat yourself to some "you" time. Dip into some of the excellent books for business women to give you some inspiration.
International Women's Day is a great time to stop and reflect on how far we have come from days gone by. It's also a time to reflect on how much we still have to catch up in some areas of business and life, especially in some countries.
- Are you doing anything special to celebrate IWD at your business or for yourself?
» How To Make Your Workplace Women Friendly from SmallBizMentor
Hot on the heels of International Women's Day, I read an interesting discussion about how to attract women to apply for jobs, without breaching anti discrimination laws. If you specifically need a woman for a job, and can justify this,... [Read More]
Tracked on: March 9, 2008 1:15 AM | Permalink to Trackback