The first International Women’s Day events were held in March 1911.  Meetings, events 

and protests were held across Europe with the largest demonstrations attracting more than 

30,000 people.  Women and men came together to talk about the need for women to have 

basic rights afforded to them – the right to vote, the right to work, the right to speak out in 

public and the right to earn an equal wage.

While many of those basic rights have now been afforded to women in Australia, there are 

still many women all across the world who are not legally allowed to own land, who are not 

permitted to work in certain jobs and who experience violence at home every day.

The video below shows some interesting facts and statistics about the changes and developments that have impacted women in the workforce.