International Women’s Day 2020 Date: History, Significance and Theme to Mark IWD on March 8

International Women’s Day (IWD) is observed annually on March 8. It is a significant day to remember the historic movements fought by female ancestors for the rights of women. International Women’s Day honours the achievements of women throughout history and all across the globe. Women belonging to different backgrounds and cultures band together to fight for gender parity and women’s rights. International Women’s Day 2020 is fast approaching. Ahead of the global event know the history, IWD significance and theme associated with Women’s Day 2020. In this article, we have given a detailed description of why International Women’s Day is observed globally.

International Women’s Day History and Significance

International Women’s Day has a long history. The first glimpse was seen on February 28, 1909, when National Woman’s Day was observed in New York City, organised by the Socialist Party of America. On March 19, 1911, IWD was marked for the first time, attended by more than a million people in Australia, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The monumental annual celebration spread across the world. However, it was Russia who unknowingly set the March 8 trend. In 1913, Russian women observed their first International Women’s Day to revolt against the difficulties caused by WWI. The following year, Germany observed IWD on March 8, and now it is always held on March 8 across the world.

Purple is the internationally recognised colour to symbolise women. Historically, the combination of purple, green and white to signify women’s equality originated from the Women’s Social and Political Union in the UK in 1908. Purple signifies justice and dignity, green symbolises hope and white represents purity. However, white is no longer used due to “purity” being a controversial concept.

International Women’s Day 2020 Theme

Every year, International Women’s Day is associated with a different theme for individuals to observe the historic event. The theme for International Women’s Day 2020 is “I am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights.”

International Women’s Day marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. It is all about celebrating how long women have come and look into the challenges that we still not to overcome.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 27, 2020 04:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).