There is no man without woman and no family or nation can prosper without women as its backbone. As a kid, the first lesson that an Economics student learns is that the mother rocking the cradle is a worker too. It is a woman, who takes care of the home when the man is out at work. It is she, who teaches the first words and helps him stand on his feet. In today’s world, many women have carved a niche for themselves and some have created histories.

Be it Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Srimavo Bandarnaike, Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams or P T Usha. The list is endless. As we celebrate the International Women’s Day on March 8, we salute all those women.History of International Women’s Day Since the beginning of 1900’s, the day has been observed. Thanks to the Socialist Party of America, in 1908, 15,000 women  arched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. The first National Woman’s Day (NWD) was observed across the US on February 28, 1909 and until 1913, women continued to celebrate the day on the last Sunday of February.

Clara Zetkin, leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party (Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen . Zetkin proposed that Women’s Day should be celebrated on the same day across the globe to enable women to press for their demands.For the first time, Austria, Denkark, Germany and Switzerland celebrated the day on March 19, 1911. Over one million women and men attended IWD rallies and campaigned for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. But, a tragic fire on March 25 in New York City snuffed out the lives of more than 140 working women, mostly Italian and Jewish immigrants. This ghastly act drew the attention to working conditions and labour legislation in US. Subsequently, the women’s ‘Bread and Roses’ campaign took shape.

Campaigning for peace on the eve of World War I, women from Russia celebrated the first International Women’s Day on the last Sunday of February 1913. Following deliberations, the International Women’s Day was shifted to March 8 and since then this day has remained the global date for International Women’s Day. The following year, European women held rallies seeking peace and expressing solidarity.

United Nations has also held annual IWD conferences every year to coordinate international efforts for women’s rights and participation in social, political and economic processes. The UN designated the year 1975 as ‘International Women’s Year’. Taking a cue from the UN, many women’s organisations and governments across the globe have observed Women’s Day on March 8. On this day, large-scale events are held to honour women’s progress and  achievements  in all social and political spheres.

A Holiday On this day, men honour their mothers, wives and sisters with flowers and gifts. In some schools, students honour their teachers too by making special cards and giving flowers. This day is an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos,  ova,Mongolia, Montenegro, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia. However, in China,Madagascar and Nepal, it is a holiday for women only.

Many women have broken many maledominated spheres. They are there everywhere. Be it sports, space, Army or elected bodies.They have conquered everything from earth to the skies. It is annoying that at some places women are not paid at par with the men.According to UN, globally education, health and violence against women is worse than that of men. In India, the women have been asking for 33 percent reservation in elected bodies. But unfortunately, the Bill has not been tabled in Lok Sabha. The theme for this year is ‘Equal access to education, training and science & technology: Pathway to decent work for women’.

As a tribute to womanhood, Air India has announced a special fare for all women passengers travelling on its domestic network on March 8. The economy class tickets have been priced at Rs 99 (plus tax) and those wishing to travel executive class can pay Rs 1,199 (plus tax). On the other hand, Jet Airways has opened its doors wide by giving a 5 percent discount on base fare and fuel surcharge (excluding applicable taxes) to every group that has at least one woman traveller. Jet is offering a similar discount of 5 percent for booking done for First Class, Premiere or Economy travel on all routes. For travel between February 25, 2011 and March 31, 2011, ticket must be booked between February 18, 2011 and March 31, 2011 on www.jetairways.com.

Speaking to the media, an Air India official said that the national carrier had always provided equal opportunities to women who constitute nearly 19% of the workforce in key areas of activity, including specialised technical areas and senior management. Three Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) - Mijwan, Seva Sadan Society and Prem Seva Mahila Mandal - working for empowerment of underprivileged women have been allowed by Jet Airways to raise funds in-flight. On the basis of a lucky draw, 10 women travelling from March 1 - 31, 2011 would be  entitled to jewels. But, on March 8, all women guests would be receiving chocolates. The airlines is screening a film on a host of ‘Modern Day Heroines’ during the flight.

We pay our respects to few of India’s famous women: Sarojini Naidu Sarojini Naidu, popularly called Bharatiya Kokila (The Nightingale of India) was a child prodigy,freedom fighter and poet. Born on February 13, 1879, in Hyderabad, she became the first Indian woman to become the resident of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. Sarojini Naidu had the privilege of working along with Gopal Krishna Gokhale,  Rabindranath Tagore, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Annie Besant, C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. At a time when inter-caste marriages were not allowed, Sarojini fell in love with Dr. Muthyala Govindarajulu Naidu at the age of 17 and married him two years later after finishing studies. They were married by the Act (1872), in Madras in 1898. Fluent in Urdu, Spanish, Telugu, English, Persian and Bengali, Sarojini was blessed with four children - Jayasurya, Padmaja, Randheer, and Leelamani.She passed away on March 2, 1949, in Lucknow.Indira Gandhi Daughter of India’s illustrious first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi,1980 until her assassination in 1984, a total of 15. Born on 1917 November 19,  till date, Indira Gandhi remains the country’s only woman premier. In 1975, she declared an emergency in order to ‘rule by decree’ and has been the only Indian PM to be jailed so far.

Married to Feroze Gandhi in 1942, Indira began assisting her father as a personal assistant in the 1950s during his tenure as premier. After Nehru’s death in 1964, Indira was nominated as member of the Rajya Sabha and became a Minister of Information and Broadcasting in Lal Bahadur Shastri’s cabinet.After the sudden demise of Shastri, the then Congress Party President K. Kamaraj made Indira Gandhi the Prime Minister. In 1971, during a war with Pakistan, Indira led the nation in creation of an independent Bangladesh. Due to instability, she was compelled to impose state of emergency in 1975. She and her party lost the elections in 1977 due to the alleged authoritarian excesses during emergency. Sheled her party to victory in the 1980 elections and in June 1984, she ordered the Indian army to enter the Golden Temple to flush out terrorists. Her own security men killed her on October 31, 1984 in retaliation for this operation. She had the intuition that her end was near.

Pratibha Patil Pratibha Devisingh Patil born on December 19,1934 in Nadgaon village of Jalgaon District, Maharashtra, became the first woman to hold the office of the President of the country. She was sworn as the 12th President on July 25, 2007 after she defeated her nearest rival Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.She took political baptism at the age of 27, and entered the Maharashtra State Legislature from the Jalgaon Assembly constituency. Until 1985, she successfully won four times as an MLA from the Edlabad (Muktai Nagar) constituency. She was a Member of the Rajya Sabha from 1985 to 1990 and in 1991 was elected to the 10th Lok Sabha from the Amravati constituency. She has not lost an election.Meira Kumar, daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister and prominent Dalit leader, Babu Jagjivan Ram and freedom fighter, Indrani Devi was born on March 31, 1945. A five time Member of Parliament, Meira Kumar was elected unopposed as the first woman Speaker of Lok Sabha on June 3, 2009. In 2009, Meira Kumar was briefly inducted as member of the cabinet as Union Minister for Water Resources. A former diplomat and lawyer Meira Kumar was Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2004–2009. Taking a plunge in politics in 1985, Meira Kumar was elected from Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh defeating political heavyweights like Ram Vilas Paswan and Mayawati. She was a member of the eighth, eleventh and twelfth Lok Sabha’s from Karol Bagh constituency in Delhi. She was reelected with a record majority from her father’s former constituency of Sasaram in Bihar in 2004 and 2009.

Apart from being a poetess, Meira Kumar is a keen sportswoman and holds medals for rifle shooting too.Kiran Bedi born on June 9, 1949 was the first woman to join Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972.During her tenure as the DCP traffic in Delhi,she earned the nickname of Crane Bedi. She even towed away Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s car for a parking violation, during the PM’s tour of United States at that time. Kiran Bedi was instrumental in brining about many changes in the areas of narcotics control, traffic management, and VIP security. Winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1994, Kiran Bedi during her tenure as Inspector General of Prisons, in Tihar Jail instituted a number of reforms. She began a number of measures such as detoxification programmes, yoga, vipassana meditation, redressing of complaints by prisoners and literacy programmes. She was awarded the ‘Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship’ for her work at Tihar Jail. She sought voluntary retirement during her appointment as Director General of India’s Bureau of Police Research and Development.

Founder of two NGOs - Navjyoti for welfare and preventive policing in 1987 and the India Vision Foundation for prison reformation, drug abuse prevention and child welfare in 1994, Kiran Bedi was the host and TV judge of the popular TV series ‘Aap Ki Kachehri’ telecast on Star Plus. Many films have been made on her, but a film ‘Yes Madam, Sir’, directed by Australian director, Megan Doneman, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival is yet to be released in India.

Apart from these, there are many more women like Lata Mangeshkar, melody queen Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank; Indra Nooyi, Chairperson & Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo Incorporated; Kalpana Chawla, one of seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; Sunita Williams, NASA astronaut; Aishwarya Rai & Sushmita Sen,Beauty Pageant winners; Margaret Thatcher, Former British Premier; Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State; Angela Merkel, German Chancellor. The list is endless and every woman would like to imbibe the qualities of Mother Teresa and Princess Dianna.

It is essential to say now that women are walking shoulder to shoulder with man, protect the girl child who knows she is Saina Nehwal or Kareena Kapoor in the making. Jai Ho Stree  Shakti. Every year across the globe, organisations,women’s groups and governments choose different themes that highlight global and local gender issues. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, United Nation has declared some global themes.

They are as follows:
* 2011: Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women
* 2010: Equal rights, equal opportunities:Progress for all
* 2009: Women and men united to end violence against women and girls
* 2008: Investing in Women and Girls
* 2007: Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls
* 2006: Women in decision-making
* 2005: Gender Equality Beyond 2005:Building a More Secure Future
* 2004: Women and HIV/AIDS
* 2003: Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals
* 2002: Afghan Women Today: Realities and Opportunities
* 2001: Women and Peace: Women Managing Conflicts
* 2000: Women Uniting for Peace
* 1999: World Free of Violence against Women
* 1998: Women and Human Rights
* 1997: Women at the Peace Table
* 1996: Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future
* 1975: First IWD celebrated by the United Nations