Around the world, International Women’s Day (IWD) marks a celebration of the economic, social, cultural and political achievements for women.

The first IWD was held on 19 March 1911 in Germany, Austria, Denmark and further European countries. German women selected this date because in 1848 the Prussian king had promised the vote for women. Subsequently over one million leaflets calling for action on the right to vote were distributed throughout Germany before IWD in 1911. Now IWD is always celebrated on 8 March and is an occasion marked by women’s groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. Women in every country, often divided by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate this important date that represents equality, justice, peace and development.

International Women’s Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women seeking to participate equally in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for “liberty, equality, fraternity” marched on Versailles to demand women’s suffrage.

The idea of an International Women’s Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies.

Until women are fully represented at senior leadership levels of public, professional and economic life, women do not have equal rights nor an equal voice.

From IWD.

“We are a nation of minorities and in a nation of minorities, it is important that you don’t cherry pick rights. A right is a right and that is what this vote tonight is all about.”

Yay for Canada.

While looking for information on Global Compact, I found an interesting article corporate responsibility (via). It discusses corporate cupability, and the costs of maintaining responsible business interests inthe developing world. It’s a pretty balanced perspective, all-in-all, emphasizing the need and necessity for business to take responsibility for its own actions, while admitting the difficulties inherent in doing just that.

What’s interesting is that the article talks about DeBeers, a company well known for its exploits in the blood-diamond industry. DeBeers joined in 2000, 4 years ago . . . a quick google search showed the most recent article on DeBeers human rights abuse to be in 2002. A report by Amnesty Int’l highlights problems that date from 2001.

Which is not to say that DeBeers isn’t doing a bang up job of enforcing minimum standards of human rights in the countries it exploits. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the whole situation is that at the end of 2002, all documentation of these problems seems to stop (even at the Global Policy Forum. Tin-foil hat? Of course not. Maybe the problem dried up before I bothered to look, but the most likely answer is that the world got distracted by other problems.

And yes, DeBeers is still a participating member of the Global Contract. Maybe a subject for the weekend, if I have some more time.