International Women's Day has been observed in various forms since
the early 1900's and has grown to become a global day of recognition
and celebration across developed and developing countries alike. The
United Nations holds an IWD conference on March 8th each year to
coordinate international efforts for women's rights and participation
in social, political and economic processes and many smaller
conferences and meetings are also held on this date. In some
countries IWD has even become a national holiday.

In this edition of our newsletter, two of our three female IYPF
Directors say a few words about what International Women's Day means
to them and what they will be doing to support it.

Sarah-Jo Dawson, IYPF President

Being brought up in the UK, I felt very fortunate to be able to
pursue my childhood dream of becoming a chemical engineer. Sure,
there was still some stigma attached to "going to work in a man's
world" and yes, only a quarter of my Master of Engineering course
population was female, but really I didn't feel any barriers to doing
this. I was lucky to be supported by my parents, friends and teachers
and to live in a time and place where diversity policies are the norm
and Discrimination Law is in place and, usually, respected.
Throughout my working life to date, I have genuinely felt that I
could do whatever I wanted to and that being a woman did not
interfere with this. Perhaps it is also this attitude that has
allowed me to progress my career in the direction I've aimed for. I
am however acutely aware that this is not the case for everyone. In
some parts of the world, discrimination is still rife, and I feel
that it is the duty of the fortunate few like myself to speak up
against this.

I am also very passionate about women voting. In some parts of the
world, women still do not have this basic human right. Even in the
UK, all women over 21 have only had the vote since 1928. Yet, still
some women here don't use this right (indeed only 61% of the total
population eligible to vote in the UK 2005 General Election did so!).
Ladies of the IYPF, if you have this right, please, please use it and
use it for good!

For International Women's day, I attended a conference, actually on
14th March, called "Climate for Change: Women in Science, Engineering
and Technology - Having and Environmental Impact", organised by the
UK Resource centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology
(http://www.setwomenresource.org.uk/).



Kate Plant, IYPF Vice-President

In the last few decades great strides have been made in improved
legislation and changing attitudes towards gender equality. These
changes have opened up many choices that were not available to women
of previous generations.

One immutable difference will however always remain between the
genders. Women will always be the ones whom, quite literally, "grow
the next generation". We therefore come across the "age old"
question, how can women continue to take advantage of career options
now available to us if we also desire to grow a family?

Some employers, in an effort to retain staff, are leading the way to
enable women to continue in both avenues. For example, a mother´s
room in the workplace (a "pumping room" designed to allow mothers to
return to work while continuing to breastfeed) would have been
unheard of a generation ago. However, sadly most women are not so
fortunate to be employed by such a company. Examples of the minimum
legislative requirements for maternity and paternity leave for
various countries follows (refer to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_leave; accessed 2007/03/05 @
8pm):

· Australian employer´s provide 1 year of unpaid parental leave;
*Finland provides 105 days at 80% paid leave, followed by a share of
158 days with father; and unpaid maternity leave until child turns 3;

· Within the United States, employers provide only 12 weeks of unpaid
maternity or paternity leave; and
· In India the Central Government provides 135 days (90 days) or 12
weeks with the State Governments of 100% paid maternity leave and 15
days for the Central Government

In summary, there continues to be an ongoing disparity in the working
world when it comes to a country´s maternity and paternity leave -
worldwide. Interestingly, even in the "considered" developed
countries (e.g. United States), the rights of these women are treated
as a burden on employers rather than assets to our world.

This International Women´s Day, I plan to attend a gathering of women
and plant a tree to celebrate those women who´ve accomplished "where
we´ve come". Also, to our past generations and every woman around
the world: thank you for your experiences each day!