SO WHAT ARE WE CELEBRATING???

Today, on International Women's Day, is there anything left to fight for?
The answer, it would seem, is a resounding yes: from women around the world who are using today to launch a raft of campaigns tackling everything from domestic violence to third world debt. The 8th of March has always given us an opportunity to think globally.

One of the most interesting campaigns to link to International Women's Day is Women Make the News. Run by Unesco, it's calling on all media organisations to ensure that the world's news output on the day is produced under the editorial responsibility of women. As new technology expands the range and power of the media, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that the news agenda represents women's needs and interests as much as those of men.

Of course men and women are not so fundamentally different as to choose entirely conflicting agendas - often it's about sensibility rather than gender, an occasional shift of emphasis rather than a complete change of subject. Of course, if all that activity doesn't appeal, you could always take the day off. Today groups of women worldwide will be striking for an end to no pay, low pay and too much work, demanding wages for all caring work, equal pay and paid maternity leave, as well as the abolition of third world debt, the burden of which falls heaviest on women.

So what are we celebrating? The myriad of advances that have improved the lives of women, particularly in the developed world, over the past decade. But still, globally as well as locally, there is plenty to think about, today and every day.