Celebrate International Women’s Day

Sunday, March 8 is a special day, and not just because many of us will be moving our clocks ahead one hour to “spring forward” for more daylight hours in the evening. Sunday, March 8 is International Women’s Day, a day to celebrate women’s achievements and assess what still needs to be done.

This year’s theme is #EachforEqual, including equal rights, equal pay and equal opportunities. For example, did you know that this year’s Equal Pay Day is March 31? It’s the date that symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.

An article on payscale.com looking at gender and pay shows that women still made only $0.79 for every dollar men made in 2019. “In other words, the median salary for men is roughly 21 percent higher than the median salary for women,” the article states.

In addition, their study found that “when men and women with the same employment characteristics do similar jobs, women earn $0.98 for every dollar earned by an equivalent man. In other words, a woman who is doing the same job as a man, with the same qualifications is still paid two percent less.”

Besides wages, International Women’s Day lists a number of missions, including “To assist women to be in a position of power for making informed decisions about their health.” One example listed under health and inequality states that “the disempowerment and discrimination against women and girls in our global society often puts them at a greater health risk than men.” According to the World Health Organization, that can include:

  • unbalanced power relationships between men and women
  • social circumstances that lessen education and paid employment opportunities
  • an exclusive focus on women’s need to reproduce
  • potential or actual experience of physical, sexual and emotional abuse
  • poverty, such as malnutrition and an unsafe cooking environment
  • problems accessing information

This link between gender and health has also been highlighted by the Jean Hailes’ Women’s Health Survey 2019, which found almost one in six (16%) women surveyed felt they have experienced discrimination in accessing healthcare.

Yes, there have been advances over the years, but women still have work to do to make the future better for our daughters and granddaughters. March 8 is a day to celebrate YOU, the strong women who fight for equality every day!

Want to read more about International Women’s Day? Check out the official website here!

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