By: Mario Tama
Getty Images News
Mar. 8 is International Women's Day as declared by the UN.
The theme for this year's commemoration is "Make It Happen." While there have been a number of articles published about gender equality, awareness itself is not enough experts said. Nonetheless, Mar. 8 will be a day for women around the world to celebrate their achievements.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said in a statement, "To be truly transformative, the post-2015 development agenda must prioritize gender equality and women's empowerment. The world will never realize 100 per cent of its goals if 50 per cent of its people cannot realize their full potential."
This year, International Women's Day will underscore the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, inked by 189 countries about 29. The platform sets the agenda for the future of achieving women's rights and a roadmap to getting there.
These are some areas of concern for the UN:
- Women and the environment
- Women in power and decision-making
- The girl child
- Women and the economy
- Women and poverty
- Violence against women
- Human rights of women
- Education and training of women
- Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women
- Women and health
- Women and the media
- Women and armed conflict
According to the UN, "The Platform for Action imagines a world where each woman and girl can exercise her freedoms and choices, and realize all her rights, such as to live free from violence, to go to school, to participate in decisions and to earn equal pay for equal work."
Internationalwomensday.com is a global hub to recognize women. In 2014, full of online discussion of pressing issues, from #yesallwomen to #rapecultureiswhen to #whyistayed, which help inform the public and give voice to survivors.
"But raising awareness is only the first step - in order to create an equal world for women, we need real policy change, and lots of it. Legislative changes won't be popular with everyone, not even with all women. But the international community is finally starting to see that awareness is simply not enough," the UN said.