The International Women's Day (IWD) is being celebrated every year on March 8. The day has been observed since the early 1900s and was established by Socialist International, in their meeting in Copenhagen in 1910.
Earlier, it used to be called the International Working Women's Day. The day marks the celebration of women all across the globe for their achievements in all aspects of society and civilization including social, economic, cultural and political arenas.
The year, the theme for International Women's Day is #PressforProgress. "We can't be complacent. Now, more than ever, there's a strong call-to-action to press forward and progress gender parity," The International Women's Day organisation said on its website.
"A strong call to #PressforProgress. A strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive," the website added.
On this occasion of International Women's Day, IBTimes Singapore has handpicked the best inspirational quotes by some of the eminent powerful women from around the world.
- "We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better." - J. K. Rowling, British author
- "We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back." - Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist, Nobel Prize laureate
- "Let's be very clear: Strong men - men who are truly role models - don't need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful. People who are truly strong lift others up. People who are truly powerful bring others together." - Michelle Obama, Former First Lady of United States
- "Power's not given to you. You have to take it." - Beyonce, American singer, songwriter
- "I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own." - Audre Lorde, American writer, and civil rights activist
- "You can be whatever size you are, and you can be beautiful both inside and out. We're always told what's beautiful and what's not, and that's not right." - Serena Williams, Tennis player
- "On my own I will just create, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn't, I'll create something else. I don't have any limitations on what I think I could do or be." - Oprah Winfrey, Media mogul
- "In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders." - Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO
- "In too many instances, the march to globalization has also meant the marginalization of women and girls. And that must change." – Hillary Clinton, Politician
- "The minute you start caring about what other people think is the minute you stop being yourself." - Meryl Streep, American actress
