March 08, 2011 marked the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day. A century later this observance is marked the world over with reflections, speeches and special events including a customary speech by the UN Secretary-General.

Since the event was first observed in 1911 the conditions of women have improved significantly in some places and marginally in others. Women in most countries have earned the right to votes and on the surface it appears as though women have made significant advances in education politics and governance, business, science and industry.

However statistics obtained from the UN Report titled “The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics”, indicate that while there has been some progress there also remains a lot to be accomplished before women can achieve parity with men in the areas of education, business and politics.

Figures from the report show that in the area of education women continue to be persistently disadvantaged since they account for two thirds of the world’s 774 million adult illiterates – a proportion that is unchanged over the past two decades. Gender differences in tertiary education also persists with women predominant in the fields of education, health and welfare, social sciences, humanities and art, while they remain severely underrepresented in the fields of science and engineering.

The lack of a gender balance is also obvious in decision-making positions in Government. Women continue to be underrepresented in national parliaments occupying on average only 17% of parliamentary seats. Some other startling figures show that of the 150 elected Heads of States in the world only 7 are women. In the private sector, while there are some 500 large corporations across the world there are only 13 women Chief Executive Officers.

Reflecting on 100 years of the women’s movement in light of these statistics would be reason enough to ask “What has changed?”, “What are we celebrating?” I put these questions to women from Asia and Latin America respectively. (Listen to podcast below)

In response to the questions I would argue that while progress has been slow, some strides have been made. If we think back to the suffrage movement and to a time and place when women could not work, attend school or even run for office then we do have something to celebrate, even if it’s a small victory!

Reflections on International Women’s Day by Rashmi  (India) and Lilly Ann (Columbia) http://aleste.podbean.com/mf/web/rzbxw9/Women_s_Day_Podcast2.mp3