Source: Metro
On the eve of the 101st International Women’s Day on March 8th, Metro looks at its origins and investigates why it continues to be relevant today. International Women’s Day is a global celebration of female strength and achievement which also provides the perfect moment to rally for equal rights across the world.

And, if you’re in any doubt as to whether we still need such an occasion, it might be worth contemplating a few choice facts.

We live on a planet in which women perform 66 per cent of the world’s work and produce 50 per cent of its food but earn ten per cent of overall income and own one per cent of property.

Women hold only 19 per cent of the world’s parliamentary seats and just 16 of the world’s 188 directly-elected leaders are female. Violence against women causes more deaths and disabilities among the global female population aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, road traffic accidents and war.

It is estimated that one in five women worldwide will become a victim of rape or attempted rape and one in four will experience domestic violence

It may be tempting to assume that these kinds of injustices don’t affect women in Britain but as a country we still have a very long way to go to achieve sexual equality. At the current rate of progress it would take 200 years to achieve an equal number of women in parliament.

It would also take 73 years before we had a balance of the sexes in the boardrooms of Britain’s top 100 FTSE companies.

So International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to raise awareness about the issue of sexual equality, both at home and abroad, and to campaign to make changes happen. Charities such as ActionAid and Women’s Aid have come together under the banner We Are Equals to lead the call for a fairer world.

And, as I discovered, it’s certainly not just women who are fighting for female empowerment. I spoke to 27-year-old communications consultant Chris Jackson, who ran 12 marathons in as many months to raise money for Women For Women International.

He wanted to draw attention to the crisis in the conflict-ridden eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic Of Congo. There, rape and sexual violence against women and men is used with horrific frequency as a weapon of war.

Chris told me: ‘I went to the Congo a few years ago because I’d always been interested in the area, and had spent some time working in nearby Uganda.

‘It was really shocking speaking to different women and hearing what had happened to them, and realising that no one back in the UK really knew or cared about what was going.

‘It was heartbreaking. I thought “I could go and do a marathon and no one would really notice”.

‘So I wanted to do something to make people wonder, “What the hell is it that’s going on to make this guy do this?”

‘Given how bad the economy is in the UK, it’s easy to get wrapped up in everything closer to home.

‘But when you have a day like International Women’s Day, it gives people a chance to remember that there are other things going on.

‘The help you give doesn’t always have to be monetary – by making people know you’re aware of issues, it puts pressure on governments so they act properly.

‘The day will hopefully make a lot of people aware of issues that they wouldn’t necessarily have known about.’

Soccer Am presenter Max Rushden, one of the 22,373 people who have so far signed up to the Women’s Aid Real Man campaign to end violence and controlling behaviour against women, explained what he thought of International Women’s Day.

‘It seems strange to me that there even has to be an International Women’s Day and in particular why anti-violence charities are so necessary,’ said the 32-year-old.

‘But if you look even very briefly at the facts, there’s still discrimination in the workplace.

‘Even more seriously, women are subjected to serious abuse that most of us can’t even begin to imagine.

‘I have never thought twice about supporting all these campaigns and I’m proud to do so.’

So ultimately, whether you’re a man or a woman, ready to run 12 marathons or not, today is a great opportunity to start demanding a fairer world.