International Women’s Day is here and women across the world are aiming to bring attention to their accomplishments and obstacles.
This year’s theme is #BalanceforBetter and hopes to provide “a unified direction to guide and galvanize continuous collective action,” organizers of Women’s March say on their website.
“Balance is not a women’s issue, it’s a business issue. The race is on for the gender-balanced boardroom, a gender-balanced government, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance of employees, more gender-balance in wealth, gender-balanced sports coverage… Gender balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive,” organizers said.
Why we observe International Women’s Day: It started in the early 1900s as an annual celebration recognizing women’s economic, political and social achievements. The day also serves to highlight the ongoing struggle for gender equality worldwide.
The first International Women’s Day took place in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, according to the International Women’s Day website.