International Women's Day - 2024

International Women's Day originated through the labor movement in 1908, when 15,000 women in the garment industry marched in New York City to demand shorter hours, higher wages, suffrage and child labor.

After that, in 1909, the first Women's Day was announced by the American Socialist Party. A year later, at the International Congress of Working Women in Copenhagen in 1910, Clara Zetkin, a communist activist and advocate for women's rights, announced that Women's Day should be made an international day. 100 women from 17 countries unanimously approved the resolution at the conference. International Women's Day was officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977 when the United Nations celebrated the day. The theme of its first celebration was ``Celebrating the Past, Planning the Future''.

In the year 2011, the centenary of International Women's Day was celebrated. Accordingly, the year 2024 is the 113th year of Women's Day celebration. Unlike many other day celebrations, Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 as a single common day for all countries around the world. There is no division of ethnicity, language, culture etc., and all groups work together to overcome obstacles and challenges for women.

A national celebration of International Women's Day was held for the first time in Sri Lanka in 1978. Since then, this ministry has taken measures to empower women through a series of concurrent programs and a national celebration on various themes every year. The theme of 2024 International Women's Day is 'Rapid progress through women's investment', and at the same time, 'Strength for her - Progress for God' has been used as the national theme.

The National Celebration is scheduled to be held on March 08, 2024 at the Waters Edge Premises under the chairmanship of the Honorable President, and many concurrent programs will be implemented on the days before and after March 08 under the leadership of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Empowerment.

International Women's Day Celebration - 2024 Video Link 

- March 08, 2024 -