International Women’s Day: How to celebrate women’s success and make a call to action

HOUSTON – Happy International Women’s Day!

This special day, marked on March 8 every year, helps celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political successes of women all over the world. As more women achieve their goals and break more barriers, the day also marks a call to action for gender equality.

According to the timeline on its website, 15,000 women marched for oppression, voting rights, and inequality on the streets of New York City in 1908. A year later “National Women’s Day” was first celebrated, which women continued to celebrate on the last Sunday of February until 1913.

In 1911, International Women’s Day was honored for the first time in Copenhagen, Denmark, with more than one million women and men attending rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote and hold office.

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is called “#ChooseToChallenge’, which signifies the responsibility for one’s own thoughts and actions every day, according to the campaign’s website.

Individuals and organizations are invited to send an image of themselves raising their hand to show commitment to challenge inequality, bias, question stereotypes and to help forge an inclusive world. You can submit an image through the website here.

Another way to celebrate women is to donate to a female-focused charity such as Dress for Success and Equality Now. To see a list of charities, click here.