Beyond International women’s day celebrated on March 8 every year, women’s contributions are celebrated throughout the entire month of March referred to as women’s history month. The seeds of celebrating women were first planted in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York demanding shorter working hours, better pay, and the right to vote. The following year saw the first National Womans Day. Clara Zetkin, a communist activist and advocate for womens rights, suggested the creation of an international day by bringing her idea to an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen in 1910. International Womens Day was first celebrated in 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland It got officialized in 1975 when the United Nations started celebrating the day. The first theme adopted in 1996 was Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future. International Womens Day since then become a date to celebrate how far women have come in society, politics, and economics. The date got fixed in 1917 following the Russian women’s strike demanding the right to vote. The strike began on 8 March and this became the date that International Womens Day is celebrated. It was only in March 1980 when then-US President Jimmy Carter declared that March 8 was officially the start of National Women’s History Week. Congress in agreement then declared the entire month of March Women’s History Month, in 1987 according to BBC News. In that spirit of recognizing women’s impact on different levels, it can be noted that the past few years were historical, especially in leadership. Notable events were when; Kamala Harris became the first female, first black, and first Asian-American US vice-president in 2021. In the same year, Tanzania swore in its first female president, Samia Suluhu Hassan. Estonia, Sweden, Samoa, and Tunisia got female prime ministers for the first time in history. In January 2022, Xiomara Castro was sworn in as Honduras first female president. Moreover, in 2020, Sudan criminalized female genital mutilation. In 2021, New Zealand approved paid bereavement leave for women (and their partners) who have a miscarriage or stillbirth. In Rwanda, action continues to be taken against sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Rwanda stays at the forefront in the battle to close the gender gender gap. The Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum ranked Rwanda seventh out of 156 countries in 2021, closing 80.5 percent of the gender gap. The same report ranked Rwanda second in Sub-Saharan Africa after Namibia. However, the progress may be marred by discouraging biases. Breaking them, as called 2022’s International Women’s Day theme, “breaking biases”, may be one sustainable way to reach real gender equality. Leaving women behind means underutilizing a key segment of the potential workforce, especially since women make up the majority of the population in African countries. Leaving them behind could be detrimental to the entire continent’s development. “There is a vital link between gender, social equity, and climate change and without gender equality, today, a sustainable future, an equal future, remains out of reach,” according to UN Women. This goes in line with the United Nations theme for this years observance, “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.” Paul Kagame says it right, “Equality is a right, not a favor.” We must challenge ourselves to do even more and better to ensure that the next generations of our daughters and granddaughters inherit a nation where their aspirations have no limits.”
