On International Women’s Day

Special thanks to Paul Harrison, managing partner of Carve Consulting (http://www NULL.carveconsulting NULL.com/), a London-based firm specializing in helping companies use online tools to reach employees and customers, for passing along a blog entry (http://www NULL.bltog NULL.co NULL.uk/index NULL.php/2009/03/02/get_ready_to_celebrate_international_wom) about International Women’s Day (IWD),  an annual event which occurs on March 8.

According to the International Women’s Day 2009 website (http://www NULL.internationalwomensday NULL.com/), the day is for celebrating the economic, political, and social achievements of women, past, present, and future. In China, Russia, Vietnam, and several other countries, IWD is a national holiday (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day).

The IWD website, which contains assorted information categories, is worth exploring; there are tabs for various topics, including Business/Finance, Media/Arts, and Work.

But one link on the homepage, “Lots of useful global gender facts,” is especially interesting.

Consider some of these facts:

• Of 1.2 billion people living in poverty worldwide, 70 percent are women
• 80 percent of the world’s 27 million refugees are women
• Women own around only 1 percent of the world’s land
• Women are 2/3 of the 1 billion+ illiterate adults who have no access to basic education
• Women comprise 21 of the 37 million people living below the poverty line in the US
• Only 21 percent of all news subjects (people interviewed or whom the news is about) are female
• Women do two-thirds of the world’s work but receive only 10 percent of the world’s income

Although women have made tremendous personal and professional progress since the first IWD in 1911, clearly there is room for further change. If anyone asks about the need for International Women’s Day (IWD), wondering what has yet to be achieved, you’ll want to share these and other facts (http://www NULL.internationalwomensday NULL.com/facts NULL.asp) found at the site.

Paula Santonocito
Career Editor, SingleMindedWomen.com