International Womens Equality Day (26 August) History, Significance, Theme and Observation

International Women's Equality Day Quick Facts

International Women's Equality Day Brief

Women's Equality Day is celebrated every year on '26 August'. New Zealand is the first country in the world to introduce women's equality in the year 1893. In India, women had the right to vote since independence, but the legal right to contest elections in panchayats and municipal bodies was achieved through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment through the efforts of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The result of this is that today women have more than 50 percent participation in the Panchayats of India.

International Women's Equality Day History

Women's Equality Day was started by New Zealand in the year 1893. On 26 August 1920 in the United States, women got the right to vote for the first time through the 19th Constitutional Amendment. Earlier there women had the status of second class citizens. Since 1971, 26 August was celebrated as 'Women's Equality Day' due to the efforts of Bella Abzug, a woman advocate who constantly struggled to get equal status for women.

More info about International Women's Equality Day

Status of women in India:

India gave women the right to vote equal to men since independence, but if we talk about real equality, then even after so many years of independence in India, the condition of women is worth noting. Being a woman, she is forced to face inequality in her home and in the society. Be it being a daughter, wife, mother or sister at home or being a girl child in the society. One can read the news like molestation and rape of girls in newspapers every day, but in the midst of all these women who are being harassed in their own home just because she is a woman.

Women today are giving competition to men on every front. Whether it is a matter of running the country or handling the house, even the responsibility of the security of the country is also being fulfilled very well. Women have fulfilled every responsibility with full dedication, but even today they have not been able to achieve equality in most of the cases.

While Indira Gandhi has been the Prime Minister and Pratibha Devi Singh Patil as the President in the country, while in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee is taking over the reins of the state, Bahujan Samaj Party also has a woman Mayawati. Congress President Sonia Gandhi has already been included in the world's most powerful women.

Female Literacy Rate in India:

Women are still behind men in literacy rate. According to the 2011 census, there has been an increase of 12 percent in the literacy rate of women, but in Kerala, where the female literacy rate is 92 percent, the female literacy rate in Bihar is still 53.3 percent.

Women Empowerment in India:

Information on the National Charter for Children is obtained by the Department of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Women and Child Development. Users can find out about various rights of a child like right to life, existence and liberty, right to play and leisure, free and compulsory primary education, information about parental responsibility etc., protection of children with disabilities Information is also provided for etc.

Important Days of August Month - (National Days and International Days):