Sylvie Paillard
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Women from all over the Howe Sound are invited to the Howe Sound Women's Centre International Women's Day celebration at Totem Hall Wednesday (March 8).
The potluck event encourages participants to bring dishes from their country of origin and enjoy the entertainment of music and dancers from 6:30 to 9 p.m.
As occurs every year, the women's centre is putting on the celebration for women only, according to centre coordinator Melany Crowston.
"It is the one time of the year and the one event of the year that women get together and celebrate together," she said. "This is the only event of the year that partners, husbands, fathers, etc. stay at home and care for the kids. They take on that responsibility to support their wives, mothers, sisters, so that they can participate in this celebration together."
Every year on March 8, millions of women and men around the world celebrate International Women's Day. Women on all continents, often divided by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political, differences come together to celebrate the event. The celebrations have grown and often stretched over a week, with March 8 being the highlight.
This year in Canada, International Women's Week will be celebrated from Sunday, March 5 to Saturday, March 11. The Can-adian theme for this year's celebrations is Beyond Laws: The Right to Be Me.
"The theme addresses women's rights, diversity and the need to put words into action," states the Canadian Women's Day website. "Laws guarantee women and men equal rights, opportunities and responsibilities in all aspects of Canadian life. In spite of the strong legal foundations, a gap remains between laws and the reality of women's lives. For example, many issues persist, such as violence and poverty."
Putting women and women's rights to equality on the global agenda is the moving force behind the women's day celebrations. The idea began at the beginning of the century in America and Europe and was focused on the movement for women's rights and achieving universal suffrage. International Women's Day really took hold between 1913 and 1917 when women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity.
In Dec-ember 1977 the UN General Ass-embly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace. Since those early years, much progress has been made for women in developed and developing countries alike, states the website. In many countries, provisions guaranteeing the enjoyment of human rights without discrimination on the basis of sex have been included in constitutions; legal literacy and other measures have been introduced to alert women to their rights and to ensure their access to those rights; the world community has identified violence against women as a clear violation of women's rights, and incorporating gender perspectives into regular programs and policies has become a priority at the United Nations and in many member states.
Over the years, International Women's Day evolved into an occasion to highlight the progress made, to celebrate the gains in the fight for women's rights and to consider future steps to improve women's equality.
