Saba observes Women's Day

Ivorcia Brown of the Ministry of Gender Affairs in Nevis shared a motivational message with a riveted audience Tuesday morning to celebrate International Women’s Day at Wesleyan Holiness Church in The Bottom.

“Women play a key role in moulding our society and should always know their worth and value, and continue to strive to be the best version of themselves,” Island Council Woman Monique Wilson said afterwards.

International Women’s Day is a global celebration which aims to inspire women across the world. This year’s International Women’s Day, which is observed on March 8, was mainly aimed at inspiring women across the world and celebrating their achievements.

It began as a movement campaigning for better pay and voting rights. The first National Women’s Day was held February 28, 1909, in the United States.

In 1920, at the International Conference of Working Women in Denmark, Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, proposed the idea of International Women’s Day, which was unanimously approved.

Russian women, campaigning for peace as World War I approached, observed their first International Women’s Day on the last Sunday of February 1913.

In 1965, the official date for International Women’s Day was changed to March 8, which has remained the event’s date ever since.

In 1975, the United Nations gave official sanction to International Women’s Day and began sponsoring it. The United States designated the entire month of March as Women’s History Month.

Women’s Day is generally observed worldwide and is an official holiday in a number of countries, among which are Afghanistan, Angola, Cuba, Mongolia, Russia, Uganda, Ukraine and Vietnam. In some countries it’s a day off for women only, such as in China, Macedonia, Madagascar and Nepal.

Despite official holiday status, many of these countries generally rank poorly in international women’s rights issues.

The World Economic Forum predicted in 2014 that it would take until 2095 to reach world gender parity. In 2015, the estimates showed a slowdown in the already snail’s pace of progress, which means the gender gap may not be closed until at least 2133.

During Women’s Day it was stressed that everyone -men and women alike- can pledge to take a concrete step to help achieve gender parity more quickly; whether to help women and girls achieve their ambitions, call for gender- balanced leadership, respect and value difference, develop more inclusive and flexible cultures, or root out workplace bias.

“Each of us can be a leader within our own spheres of influence and commit to take pragmatic action to accelerate gender parity,” it was stated.

The Daily Herald.