International Women's Day To Be Celebrated in Washington DC

Tomiko Duggan
February 19, 2009
Director of Public Affairs, UPF-Washington, DC

Each year, the International Women’s Day observance in Washington, DC encourages women to become peacemakers in their homes, societies, and the world. This year’s program will take place on March 12 at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill.

The program will bring insights into the essential role women play in the peacemaking process. Speakers include H.E. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Croatian Ambassador; Patricia Smith Melton, Peace X Peace Founder and Board Chair; and two key members of Congress. Last year’s event was graciously sponsored by the Embassy of Tunisia. This year the event is at the home of US lawmakers, who are inviting staffers from the Hill and women from the NGO, civic, religious, diplomatic, and international arenas.

This “Women as Peacemakers” Fifth Annual International Women’s Day program is co-sponsored by the Universal Peace Federation, Peace X Peace, and Women’s Federation for World Peace, USA.

The program includes the Bridge of Peace Ceremony where guests can create a Partnership for Peace with someone from a different race, religion, or culture. Participants are invited to wear their traditional national dress.

In 30 countries, International Women's Day, is celebrated every March as an official holiday. “No enduring solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world's women,” states a central principle of the United Nations. Since 1945, the UN has helped create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programs and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.

The celebration in Washington, DC, is from 5:00 - 7:30 pm, at the Rayburn House Office Building, room B339, on the corners of Independence Avenue and South Capitol Street Southwest. For more information and online registration, see womenaspeacemakers.com.

International Women’s Day Invitation pdf

International Women’s Day 2009 pdf