Int'l Women's Day today

International Women's Day will be observed today (Saturday) across the country as elsewhere in the world with the theme 'Rights, Equality, Empowerment/Development of Women and Girls'.

Different women, social and political organisations have taken separate programmes to observe the day.

On the eve of the day, Chief Adviser (CA) Prof Muhammad Yunus on Friday issued a message expressing the hope that the country's womenfolk will move forward in line with the developed world to materialize the dream of building a developed Bangladesh.

Highlighting the contribution of women to the recent students-people movement, Dr Yunus said women were at the forefront in the mass uprising in July-August that students, workers and masses organized in search of the country's democratic transformation.

Marking the day, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs has taken elaborate programmes.

The Jatiya Press Club (JPC) will hold a discussion at its Zahur Hossain Chowdhury Hall here at 11:00 am on Saturday with JPC President Hasan Hafiz in the chair.

On the occasion of International Women's Day, a rickshaw rally will be organized by the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) from the city's Banani Beltola area to Karail ground at 11:30 am on Saturday.

Members and players of BLAST youth and women's football teams will participate in it.

A colorful rally will be held at the initiative of Bangladesh Jatiyotabadi Mohila Dal on the same day.

The rally will start from in front of the BNP central office around 11:00 am and end at the same venue after parading different city streets.

BNP National Standing Committee member Begum Selima Rahman will be present as the chief guest there while the party's senior joint secretary general Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed will speak on the occasion as the main discussant.

International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year.

After the Socialist Party of America organised a Women's Day on 28 February 1909 in New York, the 1910 International Socialist Women's Conference suggested a Women's Day to be held annually.

After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, 8 March became a national holiday there.

The day was then predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations.