100th International Women's Day

March 8th was the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. Today in Sydney was the annual march. It was the best turnout for years. Above: my colleagues Maxine and Kathy.

International Women's Day 2011 - 100 Years of IWD

Here's a tribute to my women friends - without them life would be very much diminished.

 For a century women have used International Women’s Day to celebrate the achievements of women and also to draw attention to issues which are of concern to them.

The late 1800s and early 1900s was a period of great unrest, women’s oppression and inequality become the catalyst for women to became extremely vocal and actively engaged in campaign for equal rights to men. It was the time of the suffragettes.

In 1910 an international meeting representing 17 countries was held in Copenhagen. The delegates at this meeting voted to hold an annual International Women's Day in order to honour an increasing number of women's groups working for rights for women and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women and in 1911 the first International Women’s Day was held.

One of my favourite scenes in movies is the sufragette song from the Mary Poppins movie. It does not appear in the recent stage production - a huge diappointment.  Mary Poppins, a Disney movie, was made in 1964 - the year after the Equal Pay Act in the United States. The UK had an Equal pay Act introduced in 1970. In 1972, women in Australia achieved equal pay, for doing the same work as men.