8 March 2016 is the 106th International Women’s Day (IWD). Besides sharing your greetings to all women that you love and expressing thankfulness to those who love you, there are 10 things you should know about this special day.
While IWD is now largely aimed at inspiring women across the world and celebrating their achievements, its roots are in movements struggling for better pay and voting rights.
The first National Women’s Day was marked on 28 February 1909 in the United States after a declaration by the Socialist Party of America.
During an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen the following year, Clara Zetkin, leader of the “Women’s Office” for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, suggested the idea of an International Women’s Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day. The idea was met with no disagreement.
1911 saw IWD honoured for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19. Over a million people attended gatherings campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public offices and end discrimination (歧视).
On the eve of World War I campaigning for peace, Russian women celebrated their first IWD on the last Sunday in February 1913. In 1965, it was declared as a non—working day in the USSR.
IWD was changed to 8 March that same year and has remained the global date for the event ever since.
In 1975, the United Nations gave official permission to IWD and began sponsoring it.
The United States now names the whole month of March as “Women’s History Month”.
IWD is also an official holiday in 15 countries including China, Ukraine and Vietnam.
Over the past few years Google have marked the occasion with a “Google Doodle”, changing their logo on the search engine’s homepage to reflect the occasion.
【小题1】What might be the possible title of the passage?【小题2】What was the original aim of IWD?
【小题3】In which year was the idea of an International Women’s Day suggested?
【小题4】Since when has IWD been celebrated on the same day?
【小题5】How many countries set IWD as an official holiday?
