For more than 90 years, people around the globe have been marking a day to celebrate women and campaign for their social, economic and political advancement. International Women’s Day has its roots in the socialist movements of the early 1900s and was initially a holiday to honor the world’s working women. Later, during the women’s movements of the 1960s, the event began to take on a new global dimension and incorporate a broader range of women’s rights issues.

“Women and HIV/AIDS” is the UN’s focus this year for International Women’s Day. More than half of the people living with HIV/AIDS in the developing world are women, with limited access to public health services and information. Gender inequality puts women at much higher risk for HIV infection. In fact, in some countries, women are twice as likely as men to contract the deadly virus.

In 1977, the United Nations began sponsoring the longstanding date – March 8th – as an occasion to promote and protect the equal rights of women. The UN’s charter was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right, and since its signature in 1945, the Organization has helped create a multitude of programmes and strategies to advance the status of women worldwide.

Today, International Women’s Day has become a time to recognize how far women have come in their struggle for equality – and how much work remains to be done. While women have gained improved access to education, health care, employment, legal justice and decision-making roles over the years, they still constitute the majority of the world’s poor people and are disproportionately victims of violence.

For the UN and its family of organizations, the event has become an opportunity to highlight the link between international peace and development and the improved lives of women. This year’s theme – “Women and HIV/AIDS” – draws attention to the important role women’s equality and empowerment can play in curbing the devastating pandemic. HIV/AIDS is more than just a health crisis; it is a global development challenge. Women’s low status and lack of power in families and communities puts them at higher risk of HIV infection – and as the pandemic spreads, their inequality becomes even more entrenched.

One way development work can help balance out such gender inequities is through “gender mainstreaming,” a process which incorporates “the concerns and experiences of women as well as of men” into the design, implementation, and evaluation of policies and programmes.

To support its fight against rural poverty, IFAD has recently approved a new Plan of Action for “Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective into IFAD’s Operations.” Gender equality and women’s empowerment have become increasingly recognized as both important objectives and tools for poverty reduction, and IFAD continues to improve rural women’s status through increased access to productive resources, such as land and capital. IFAD is also working to increase the participation of women in its workforce.

But policies and procedures alone will not improve women’s standing in the workplace or society at large. Men and women alike need to change their personal attitudes toward gender issues. International Women’s Day serves as an annual reminder of the progress made and the future steps needed towards achieving true gender equality.