La Festa della Donna – International Women’s Day - March 8th 2013

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 on March 8th and you are a women you may just get presented with a bunch of Mimosa. 

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.

In 2011 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 2013 is "The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum"   

Many other organisations develop their own themes that are more relevant to their local contexts. For example, the European Parliament's 2013 theme is "How women weather the economic crisis . The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day by the United Nations  is “Women and Men United to End Violence against Women and Girls.” The theme was chosen to draw attention to the Secretary-General’s wider “UNiTE to End Violence Against Women” campaign which runs through 2015, the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

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.

If you are interested in finding out more about the history just click on any of the links that I used in my research.

International Women's Day,   International Women's Day 2013,   European Parliament Theme 2013
Some of the information quoted here is from my own earlier posts such as 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 the photos used in the post are ones I took myself last year in the locality of our home in Marta.

The photos are  All rights reserved by LindyLouMac Photo Collection

Thankyou for all your messages of support concerning David and his health problems. He has now been back in hospital for a second stretch of a month and waiting for his operation when he is fit enough, hopefully not much longer now.