Ever heard of International Women’s Day? Most Americans haven’t, but women in Russia, Iraq, Vietnam and many other countries celebrate March 8 by sharing gifts, celebrating hard-won rights and motivating women and girls to fight injustice. Now it’s our turn.

Victoria Faykin will never Forget international women’s Day in 1978. a young teenager at the time, living in rostov, russia, she received a flower and a lottery ticket from a boy in her eighth-grade class to commemorate the day. to her surprise and delight, Victoria’s lottery ticket won a payout of 25 rubles, a considerable sum given that a woman’s monthly salary in russia back then was about 100 rubles. “we need to buy you something with this money so you’ll remember this day for the rest of your life,” she recalls her mother saying. three decades later, after immigrating to the United States with her husband and her own two daughters, Victoria, now 43, still has the crystal vase they bought with her winnings. “the memory of that day is still with me,” she says.

March 8 is just another square on the calendar to most women in the United States, but in Russia, Armenia and several other countries, it’s a national holiday where men shower the women in their lives with flowers and gifts, and women honor one another as friends, colleagues and mothers. In some regions of the Middle East, women mark international Women’s Day (IWD) by showing their solidarity in a continuing struggle for basic civil rights. and in nations such as Australia, it’s a day to honor women’s achievements. It’s also a day to remind ourselves of future challenges, such as fighting the poverty and violence against women that prevail throughout the world.

Some global businesses now celebrate the holiday: Accenture, Cisco and Nortel have used IWD to launch their own women’s initiatives. “the day is a recognition of the incredible impact women make in our society,” says Laila Worrell, a senior executive in Accenture’s New York city office and mom of Caroline, 6, Lexa, 4, and Emma grace, 21 months. Last year, the global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company observed the day in 26 countries with training seminars and workshops on workplace agility. “it’s inspirational, motivating and empowering to explore different models of success and how women achieve them,” says laila.

It’s About Our Rights
For women who live in a society where their freedom is curtailed, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, IWD is an important reminder of the work to be done. Zainab al-Suwaij has celebrated IWD in Iraq for as long as she can remember, including under Saddam Hussein’s government-controlled women’s union. “even in Iraq it was—and is—an important day,” says Zainab, 37, executive director of the American Islamic congress, a Washington, DC–based civil rights group dedicated to tolerance and the exchange of ideas, especially between Muslims and people of other faiths. “For women who live under a regime or a society where their rights are not fully obtained, the day becomes a symbolic way to express themselves and demand their rights.”

Zainab has helped organize demonstrations to observe the day, such as a massive campaign on iwD in 2004 to protest a move by conservative parties to abolish civil family law and replace it with islamic law that would have stripped women of rights, equal inheritance rights among them. Zainab, mom of Haitham, 14, and Danya, 9, says organizers held countrywide protests and collected more than 200,000 signatures from women opposing the move. when the proposal to abolish civil law failed to garner enough votes, it was a victory for all the women who stood up for their rights. that same year, when Iraqi leaders were drafting a new government, Zainab worked with other iraqi women to guarantee that no less than 25 percent of the country’s new Parliament would be female. “it’s the highest percentage among the arab countries,” she says proudly.

For some American women, it can take traveling to other parts of the globe to find out about IWD. Holly Barnes Higgins discovered this when she spent a year in southern Afghanistan in 2005. “the celebration of this day provided a rare opportunity to feel alive, even vital to the community,” says Holly, 39, who was working on an economic development project supported by the Washington, DC–based United States agency for international Development (USaiD). “other than the Muslim holiday Eid and maybe their own wedding day, afghan women have so few chances to feel this way.” Usually they can’t even gather in a women’s center because of security threats. But on IWD, says Holly, women were allowed to use the provincial office of the national Security Directorate—and hundreds celebrated their gender. “I kept asking myself why I hadn’t heard of this day before I came here,” Holly remembers.

Politics Aside
This global holiday actually originated right here in the United States. In 1909, National Women’s Day took root on the lower east Side of New York City, initiated by socialist women fighting for the right to vote and for an end to sweatshops and child labor. The following year, at an international socialist women’s conference in Copenhagen, it was suggested that this be an annual international holiday. A year later, it was observed as International Women’s Day in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where women rallied for the right to work and  vote. Six years after that, in 1917, IWD became a part of Russian history when women there led demonstrations for “bread and peace” that forced the czar to abdicate and the interim government to grant women the right to vote.

“The day has a rich history of strong women fighting for others,” says Marilyn J. Boxer, PhD, professor emerita of history at San Francisco State University and author of When Women Ask the Questions: Creating Women’s Studies in America. “today, it’s used as a way to recognize the achievements of notable women in the past and to motivate women and girls in the present.” But the day’s socialist roots and communist origins may be a major reason it hasn’t enjoyed more mainstream popularity here, says Joanne l. Goodwin, director of the women’s research institute of Nevada at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Goodwin surveys her classes to see what her students think will be the greatest challenges women will continue to face in their lives. By far the most prominent issues of concern for young women: combining work and family, followed by violence against women and poverty. “American women have benefited greatly from legal changes over the past forty years,” she says.

Diana Blaszczyk, a 24-year-old public relations professional from New York City, moved to the United States nine years ago from Debica, Poland, where IWD was a national holiday until 1993. It’s still celebrated today, but unofficially, Diana says, with men bestowing gifts on their women. “You don’t have to be a mother or have a significant other to claim this day,” she says. “You can still be proud of who you are and what you are trying to accomplish. That’s why the world still needs an international women’s Day—a day for all women.”

Corporate Appeal
The global business world seems to agree, seizing upon the theme of IWD to engender loyalty among female employees. When Glenda Stone moved from Australia to the UK and founded the women’s networking firm aurora, she was surprised that few events were planned for the day there. So she convinced companies like Cisco, HSBC and Deloitte to cosponsor IWD events in England. Ten years later, Stone has become a key player in raising the day’s profile among companies abroad. Companies sponsoring IWD events in the United States include IBM and Shell, both of which sponsored working Mother Media’s International Women’s Day web seminar.

The networking equipment firm Cisco has observed the day for the past two years by recording video messages from various international female employees and posting them on Aurora’s IWD website (internationalwomensday.com) as well as its own intranet. the video was accessible to 11,000 employees in Cisco’s European markets alone.

Networking equipment maker Nortel connects to the IWD theme set each year by the United Nations. The day is now observed in 25 countries via Nortel, with a host of activities—from panel discussions about gender equality and empowerment of women to the ability to network socially through a company-specific Facebook site.

Diana Guerrero, 43, a process and quality engineer in the company’s Richardson, TX, office, appreciates all the networking opportunities nortel provides on the day. But as someone who didn’t know about IWD until her employer began observing it, she tries to keep the focus on the contributions of other women. “it’s easy to take things for granted in the United States,” says Diana, mom to Julian, 6. “But we can’t forget that there are still places where women can’t take even their freedom for granted.”

For the past four years, Accenture has used IWD to spotlight its global female workforce. Last year, the company observed the day in 49 cities among 26 countries. Participants in Amsterdam, Beijing, Madrid, Mexico City, New York city, Rome and Sydney, among others, connected via the company’s website or at local on-site meetings in development and training sessions. “we had a large number of in-office meetings, workshops and role-model celebrations. it’s one way we visibly acknowledge and recognize the contributions of our women,” says Armelle Carminati, 47, Accenture’s managing director of human capital and diversity and mom to constance, 16, Heloise, 14, and apolline, 11. “Promoting women’s careers is not only about opening doors but also about growing confident and independent women.” this year’s theme, “Stretch yourself,” will encourage female employees to reach beyond their comfort zone and think differently about the next step in their career.

At Accenture, laila heard of the day through her company about four years ago and has since helped organize events
in her office. among the many events that continue to inspire her: speakers talking about their varying—and often winding— paths to success. “it’s important to recognize the struggles we all face as women—the conflict between the different parts of ourselves,” says Dr. Boxer. “we need to continue working together until all women everywhere attain equal human rights.”