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International Women’s Day (IWD) is a holiday celebrated annually as a focal point in the women’s rights movement. IWD gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women. 

IWD is an official holiday in many countries worldwide, including Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Germany (Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania only), Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Zambia. 

In some countries, such as Australia, Cameroon, Croatia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Chile, and Ghana, IWD is not an official public holiday, but is widely observed, nonetheless.Several countries, including Algeria, France, Italy, Spain, and Uruguay, have squares or other public spaces named after 8 March in reference to International Women’s Day. Regardless of legal status, in much of the world, it is customary for women and men to give their female colleagues and loved ones flowers and gifts on the day. In some countries (such as Bulgaria and Romania) it is also observed as an equivalent of Mother’s Day, where children also give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers. 

In the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, huge Soviet-style celebrations were held annually. After the fall of Communism, the holiday, generally considered to be one of the major symbols of the old regime, fell into obscurity. International Women’s Day was re-established as an official “important day” by the Parliament of the Czech Republic in 2004 on the proposal of the Social Democrats and Communists. This has provoked some controversy as a large part of the public as well as the political right see the holiday as a relic of the nation’s Communist past. 

IWD is widely celebrated in France as the Journée internationale des droits des femmes (literally “International Women’s Day”).In Italy, the holiday is observed by men giving yellow mimosas to women. This originated with communist politician Teresa Mattei, who chose the mimosa in 1946 as the symbol of IWD at the request of Luigi Longo. Mattei felt that the French symbols of IWD, violets and lilies of the valley, were too scarce and expensive to be used in poor, rural Italian areas, so she proposed the mimosa as an alternative. 

In the United States, since the 1980’s actress and human rights activist Beata Pozniak worked with the Mayor of Los Angeles and the Governor of California to lobby members of the US Congress and proposed the first official IWD bill in the history of US Congress. In 1994, per Pozniak’s suggestion H. J. Res. 316 bill was introduced by Representative Maxine Waters, to recognize March 8 as International Women’s Day. 

In Pakistan, the first Aurat Marches were begun by women’s collectives in parallel with the Pakistani #MeToo movement on International Women’s Day. The first march was held on 8 March 2018 in Karachi. 

 

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