International Women’s Day

Dear ladies,

Today is International Women’s Day. Many of you will have know of International Women’s Day but some may not.

International Women’s Day has been observed since in the early 1900′s, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.

Stuttgart (Germany) 1907,  the first Socialistic Women’s Conference was  held.  In 1908 a great unrest and critical debate was occurring amongst women. Women’s oppression and inequality was spurring women to become more vocal active in campaigning for change.
15.000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. In Europe, similar events occurred also to express women’s solidarity. Women demanded “bread and roses”; it was all about women surviving as well as demanding a better quality of life.

In 1909 In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman’s Day (NWD) was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate NWD on the last Sunday of February until 1913. The date changed and March 8 became the National Women’s Day. The first International Women’s Day in The Netherlands was held May 12 1912; voting rights for women was the main issue. 

Between 1907 and now, a lot happened. History describes this in detail. Now, International Women’s Day is an official holiday in many countries in the world. This century show a significant change and attitude shift in women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. In 1975 The United Nations designated March 8 as International Women’s Day. Numerous large scale events are organized to honour women’s advancement and reminding the world of the continuing action that is required to ensure the progress of women in all aspects of life: professional, social and personal.

Now more than ever  in society many people spread the word about diversity, progress for women in organizations, career development and opportunities and moral. Even better, not only more people are active in spreading the word, more organizations – men and women – are active to promote women and create possibilities for us in finding our way in the workplace to find top positions.

Things are not going fast enough for a lot of us; nevertheless things are improving. We have more women in executive positions than before, more possibilities to grow than before and much more opportunities to organize our visibility than we could think of in the past.  Unfortunately, despite all that, we are still not paid equally comparing to our male counterparts, we are still not present in equal numbers in board positions and in general, we still have a lot to fight for in terms of being treated equal to men.

The biggest improvement that we have made over the years is that now these days we have a choice to be who we are and what we want to achieve. Let’s face it, this should be without saying and unfortunately it isn’t. But we are working on it and times will change. You as a member of EuropeanPWN are proof of that!  We are working towards creating careers for ourselves, we are managing our own businesses and we have goals which  we want to achieve. Of course, at times we think we are going too slow, but remember, we are are making progress and we should never forget that.

I want to congratulate you with all of the results which you have created in the past and I want to remind you to celebrate yourown successes. Find your momentum now for many more results to come! EuropeanPWN has a mission to support you and as members of this network, we will support each other where we can.

Enjoy your day and celebrate your success!

Caroline van Leuven
President EuropeanPWN Amsterdam