La Festa della Donna – International Women’s Day - March 8th 2012

Italy takes part in International Women’s Day, La Festa della Donna when women of all ages celebrate this special day dedicated to them with celebratory dinners or just get together with other female friends and are often presented with bunches of bright yellow Mimosa, the recognised symbol of the day here.


If you happen to be in Italy today and you are a women you may just get presented with a bunch of Mimosa and as an added bonus if you are in a mood for exploring a museum or two, entrance is free for women today!

International Women’s Day is recognised and celebrated in many countries around the world and the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements. Although originally a Socialist political event, the day grew in the culture of many countries, primarily in Eastern Europe. In many regions, the day has lost its political flavour, and become simply an occasion for men to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day. In other regions, however, the original political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.


Last year year March 8th marked the centenary of one of the events that is thought to have been the birth of International Women’s Day. When in March 1911 more than one million women and men attended rallies in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination.





Every year the United Nations choose a different worldwide theme for Women’s Day and many events take place not just today but throughout March, marking the economic, political and social achievements of women. Their theme for March 8th 2012 “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty”.


Many other organisations develop their own themes that are more relevant to their local contexts. For example, the European Parliament's 2012 theme is "Equal pay for work of equal value". Whilst the International Women’s Day Website has chosen "Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures" as its 2012 theme.

On this day Festa della Donna International Women’s Day, let us give thanks to all those women who came before us and helped to grant us the freedom we all have in modern society.
Women are powerful these days and can help to to effect change and make a difference in other women’s lives around the world where they do not have the same freedoms that we enjoy.

Some of the information quoted here is from my own post from 2011 La Festa della Donna 2011 and the rest including the banner is quoted from the website for International Women’s Day


We have many Mimosa trees in the locality and these photos are ones I have taken in the last week. To enlarge photos just click on them.
The photos are All rights reserved by LindyLouMac Photo Collection