International Women's Day 2018

International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women's Day, is celebrated on March 8 every year. It commemorates the struggle for women's rights.

The UN theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March 2018, is “Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives”.

This year, International Women’s Day comes on the heels of unprecedented global movement for women’s rights, equality and justice. This has taken the form of global marches and campaigns, including #MeToo and #TimesUp in the United States of America and their counterparts in other countries, on issues ranging from sexual harassment and femicide to equal pay and women’s political representation.

Echoing the priority theme of the upcoming 62nd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, International Women’s Day will also draw attention to the rights and activism of rural women, who make up over a quarter of the world population, and are being left behind in every measure of development.

The International Women's Day 2018 campaign theme is #PressforProgress. 

The website argues: "We can't be complacent. Now, more than ever, there's a strong call-to-action to press forward and progress gender parity.

"A strong call to #PressforProgress. A strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive."