International Women’s Day 2024: Date, Theme, History And Significance

International Women’s Day 2024: Women across the world have to overcome several challenges in different industries. From gender bias to disproportionate pay scales to restricted opportunities, women have struggled and managed to overcome several hurdles.

On International Women's Day, women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political.

Here’s all you need to know about International Women’s Day 2024.

International Women’s Day is celebrated every year on March 8 across the world.

The United Nations officially recognised International Women’s Day in 1977 following several labour movements in North America and Europe during the 20th century.

This day is celebrated in several countries to recognise the achievements of women regardless of their nationality, divisions, culture, ethnic, political, economic, and linguistic capabilities.

"The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women's rights and participation in the political and economic arenas," the UN said.

This year’s International Women’s Day theme is 'Invest in women: Accelerate Progress'.

Women’s well-being and achieving gender equality in different life aspects is crucial to creating successful economies and a healthy planet.

However, the UN has underlined a key challenge: The alarming $360 billion annual deficit in gender-equality measures by 2030.

The organisation further highlighted five key areas that need joint action:

• Investing in women, a human rights issue: Gender equality is the greatest human rights challenge that needs to be addressed to benefit everyone.

• Ending poverty: According to the UN, 75 million people have fallen into poverty due to the pandemic and immediate action is necessary to save 342 million women and girls from poverty by 2030.  

• Implementing gender-responsive financing: The increasing prices and conflicts worldwide may result in 75% countries restricting public spending by 2025, which may adversely impact women being able to access essentials.

• Shifting to a green economy and care society: The current economic system is imbalanced which affects women and, hence, there is a need to adopt a green economy and care society to amplify women’s voices.

• Supporting feminist change-makers: Feminist clubs and organisations record only 0.13% of official development assistance.

International Women’s Day is important to celebrate women’s contributions across industries worldwide. Even today, women have to struggle through the challenges of pay discrimination, fewer education, healthcare, and leadership opportunities, and equal respect in certain geographical regions.

This day is a reminder that the fight for gender equality is not over and that effective measures are required for a balanced society.