This week is International Women’s Week. The International Women’s Day is every year on the 8th of March, also known as 8M. The week that surrounds it marks a week of celebrating, educating, and generating awareness around gender issues and equality in our society. The first Women’s Week event dates back to 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland in which over one million people came together to recognize women. Since then, events have only grown and have taken off in countries all across the world.

Feminism in the Nordic Countries

Feminist movements really took off in the mid 1800’s, but it wasn’t until the 1970’s that the feminist movement developed in the Nordic countries. Since then, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Greenland have shown their continuous support for gender equality. It was through social events, political activism and even artistic creation that has helped the Nordic countries be global leaders in gender equality at home, in the workplace, and in public.

For instance, the Nordics were one of the first countries to win voting rights for women. Additionally, Iceland has been ranked as one of the top countries that has gained wage equality for similar work. There have been a variety of legislations put in place to fight for at least a 40% presence of women in business management positions but parliament as well. Overall, the Nordic countries have been able to significantly close the gender gap that other countries have been fighting for for centuries.

Historic Trailblazer

A very important woman that needs mentioning is Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the world’s first democratically elected female president. In 1980, Finnbogadóttir won the plurality vote with 33.8% of the votes ahead of her four male counterparts. She spent 16 years in office, and although not the longest serving President of Iceland, she is the only woman to be president in Iceland. Throughout her presidency, Finnbogadóttir advocated strongly for girls education and has continued to be a role model for all women. Currently, she is active in her role as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

However, as significant progress that has been made, there is still much more that needs to be done in order for total equality. To contribute to the movement, it is important to listen and educate oneself about the issues surrounding gender equality globally. And this is where the International Women’s Week and the global marches come to play.

International Women's Week 2021

Every year the UN decides on a specific theme to focus on, in previous years themes varied from: Women and Human Rights, Women in Decision-making, Investing in Women and Girls, and Equality for Women is Progress for All. This year, the theme is #ChooseToChallenge.

This is in aim to advocate for not only women, but everyone, to choose to challenge and call out gender biases and inequalities happening all around us. This will help to create an inclusive world.

Show your support. Raise your hand high to show you’re in and that you commit to #ChooseToChallenge and call out inequality.

Official Website: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

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Written by Benji Raskin