March 8th marks International Women’s Day (IWD), the annual civil awareness day, observed worldwide by companies, organisations and governments such as the UN. The earliest recorded observance of IWD was in New York, 1909, organised by the Socialist Party of America.
IWD 2016 will be celebrated globally through a number of different themes, with the UN pressing, ‘Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality’, Google sharing their #OneDayIWill IWD Doodle, and the IWD foundation pushing #PledgeForParity, with leaders from across the world – including influential figures such as Richard Branson, Fiona Dawson, Deborah Gillis and Mark A. Weinberger – pledging, “to take concrete action to help accelerate gender parity”.