On the occasion of the 98th International Women's Day....

In Canada:

• Being a woman doesn't pay - labour congress says men still make more
• Canadian Labour Congress launches new campaign and website
• Hundreds of people gathered at the Manitoba Legislature to mark International Women's Day
• Women from Saskatchewan's labour movement will react to a new report from the Canadian Labour Congress about women and wages that contradicts recent and continuing claims from the federal Conservative government that Canadian women have achieved equality.
• CAW Women's Department publishes: Top 10 Reasons Why Harper is Turning Back the Clock on Women's Equality

Around the World: a time to think of women everywhere:

• “A Salute to Women’s Resistance” is the perfect slogan for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day (IWD), March 8th. Struggle is what this day signifies and what its traditions are all about. That and solidarity with women in struggle worldwide are at the heart of this special day.
• A women's group in Russia is celebrating in a most interesting way: playing chess using young men from local univesities as pawns, rooks and other figures . The men will wear specially-designed masks and gowns as the women command them around the chess board.
• On the occasion of International Women's Day, the General Union of Palestinian Women, in collaboration with Palestinian women's institutions, began a march Saturday morning from the heart of Ramallah City.
• In South Africa, women marched in miniskirts to protest harassment from taxi drivers, the Johannesburg Star reported March 5.
• Asia marked International Women's Day from Afghanistan to Australia on Saturday with pleas for greater rights and equality for half the region's population.
• New Zealand women told to behave like ladies not men......arghhhh!
• In Japan, a rally was scheduled in Osaka to express solidarity with women in Iraq.
• 1,500 gathered at the Great Hall of the People Beijing
• Female unionists held a seminar in Kushiro on the northern island of Hokkaido to address the plight of part-time workers and other employees who work irregular hours.
• In Thailand, a release of the Report on Thailand Gender-Disaggregated Statistics 2008, released earlier this week, Thai women still suffer inequalities and rights violations, despite their having proved that professionally they are on a par with men.
• Marking IWD in Zimbabwe this year has not been easy
• Pratibha Patil, the first female president of India, greeted International Women's Day with a call to her sisters to shape their destinies. "Our women folk inspired by Mahatma Gandhi came out of their homes to take part in the freedom struggle," she said. "Beginning with their determined efforts in the days before our freedom, today our women continue to strive to transform the social order into a more just and equal one.
• The Pakistan People's Party will pay tribute to its slain chairperson Benazir Bhutto on the International Women's Day.
• On International Women's Day, experts highlight the difficult situation of women in Pakistan - Almost 20 women raped, killed, or fall to suicide every day
• The Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq sent a message of solidarity through the Global Fund for Women. Sign their petition to End the Genocide of Women in Iraq.
• Women's Day protest marchers demand Philippine president's resignation
• Spain celebrates International Women's Day
• Also announced yesterday was Amnesty International's new report, "Safe Schools" Every Girl's Right" in which the agency called upon governments and school officials across the globe to take action to end violence against girls, specifically in schools where it's prevalent.