International Women's Day: The History, The Celebration and Aarki’s Contribution.


international womens day

International Women’s Day has developed into a truly global celebration of gender equality and women’s empowerment. It’s a day when women are recognized for their achievements and contributions to society without regard to nationality, ethnicity, culture, economic status, or political views.

The holiday is celebrated by the United Nations (UN), and in some countries, like Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine, this day is declared a national holiday.

But how did it begin? Here are some details about this day.

The History

The earliest observance of Women's Day, then called "National Woman's Day," was on February 28, 1909, in New York. This was in honor of the event in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City calling for equal rights in terms of work and voting rights.

A year later, as explained on the International Women’s Day website, a leader of the “Women's Office” for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, Clara Zetkin, suggested the idea of having an International Women’s Day, which was then approved by 100 women from 17 different countries.

Furthermore, as explained by this BBC article, the conference did not affix an exact date for International Women’s Day and the standardized date started in 1917 when Russian women went on strike. “Four days into the women's strike, the Tsar was forced to abdicate and the provisional government granted women the right to vote,” writes the BBC.

The official status of "International Women's Day" was adopted by the UN in 1975, and since then it has been celebrated annually by the UN as the International Day for the Struggle for Women's Rights and International Peace.

The Celebration

Every year on March 8 the world unites to support, inspire, and motivate women across all fields of work. The purpose of this is to focus on various themes such as equality, innovation, the importance of education and career opportunities.

Digital advertising professionals are no exception. Various women’s organizations have been founded to support women’s rights and equality and here are some numbers to show the advancement:

  • Women hold 31% of computing jobs, according to a study by CEB. And the good news is this number is set to continuously increase until the year of 2020
  • Furthermore, the Women in Games International mentioned on their website that:
    • 72% of game industry employees say that diversity in terms of gender is somewhat or very important to game content
    • 37% of developers felt the game industry has become more diverse in the past 2 years
    • 63% of industry professionals have not perceived inequality in the workplace

Aarki’s Contribution

To acknowledge and give credit to women in the mobile tech industry, Aarki is supporting women’s organizations and their initiatives on different business conferences and networking events.

This month, Aarki is pleased to join Women In Games International to sponsor their 11th Annual GDC Party. Meet us on March 20, at WIGI & Aarki GDC 2018 Networking Party to show support and to have fun! Stay tuned to our blog for more event updates.

Want to support your female colleagues?
Make a difference, make everyday International Women's Day.

 

Topics: Company News