Happy International Women's Day!!!

It's 8 March today, and the world celebrates International Women's Day -- a day set aside by the United Nations in 1913 to acknowledge "ordinary women in their centuries-old struggle to participate in society on an equal footing with men".

But more so, I wanted to find out about the women's movement in Singapore, and the significance of IWD to us. Who better to tell us more than the Association of Women for Action & Research (AWARE), who have been in the forefront of advocacy work for women since 1985. In fact, this year they celebrate their 25th anniversary!

Corinna Lim, the newly-appointed Executive Director, and Dana Lam, President of AWARE tells us about the women's movement in Singapore.

Well, AWARE announced last week that they've appointed Corinna Lim as its new Executive Director. I was keen to meet her and hear from her, and I felt thankful that she and President Dana Lam were willing to make time to come & share with us, considering how busy they must be around this period.

And they were a blast! I didn't think it would be so easy to chat with them. We chatted about AWARE's new structure, as well as their plans for 2010. Also, I learnt more about our fight for women's rights in Singapore, which started in 1952, with the pioneering Singapore Council of Women, which activist Shirin Fozdar was a part of. Awesome stuff!

But taking a more global perspective, my conversation after this took us to Nepal, where Australian couple Adam & Rebecca Ordish started a foundation to empower girls & women there through scholarships, educational programmes & training opportunities.

Bec & Adam Ordish founded the Mitrataa Foundation to empower girls & women in Nepal.

They started the foundation about 10 years ago, after they spent 5 months living in Nepal as volunteer English teachers. Today, their Dream Catchers Scholarships sponsor hundreds of girls through school; their Dream Centres are havens for them to explore their passions & talents, like drama, dance & art; and the Daisy Chains initiative empowers women to start micro businesses.

The profits they make are not returned to Bec & Adam, but to the next batch of women, whom they also mentor. I was fascinated by this "pay it forward" concept. It leads to women empowering women to be financially independent, a community of business owners flourishes. The point, Bec & Adam tell me, is to work themselves out of a job in Nepal. Now shouldn't that be the aim of all NGOs?

It's awesome work they are doing there in Nepal. If you'd like to find out more or to support them, click here.

Oh yes, and I asked them what "Mitrataa" [pron. MEE-tre-tah] means. "Friendship," Adam explains. "When we were choosing a name, we thought that would be the most simple and accurate word, to establish lasting friendships with the wonderful people in Nepal."

What's IWD all about?

Not too long ago, I did not know there was a day in the year dedicated to women. And even when I did eventually find out about International Women's Day, I had no clue which day it fell on.

It was only through writing a 20-page feature story on IWD for Vanilla magazine a year ago that I did some research on its history, and I came to understand that there were historical circumstances that led to the establishment of IWD.

As part of the Wonder Women in The Living Room series, I felt we had to include a segment on the history & background of International Women's Day because it forms the foundation of WHY we celebrate it.

To help shed some light on the matter, we invited Saleemah Ismail, President of UNIFEM Singapore (United Nations Development Fund for Women), to be our guest today. Saleemah shared that the first women's movement arose in 1909 when female garment workers took to the streets of New York City to demand for better wages.

That was exactly 100 years ago. It was very much an isolated event at the time, a response to unjust circumstances. But what was significant was that it was the first time women - who had no status or voice - banded together and stood up for their rights.

It was only in 1975 that the United Nations declared a Year of the Woman. And in 1977, the 8th of March was set aside each year to celebrate the contribution of women around the world. That marked the birth of IWD, as we know it.

To catch more of that conversation, tune in tonight at 11.10pm. It's a "palatable" history lesson for you, I promise.

A Week of Wonder Women!

You must have heard the trailers on air. Yes! This week, we celebrate International Women's Day (Sunday, 8 March) with our special series, Wonder Women in The Living Room. 

What better way to kick-start this series than by inviting a couple of real-life Wonder Women onto our couch? And that we did, when we had these spunky girls who are on a lofty quest to conquer Mt Everest.

Meet Jane Lee, team leader of the Singapore Women's Everest Team (SWET) and her team-mate, Lee Li Hui. 

Everest Girls Li Hui and Jane on our couch today!

It was a lively chat we had with these girls, who more than amused us with their insights on preparing for the biggest adventure of their lives. Like learning to be comfortable enough to pee & poo in front of each other (there are no toilets on the mountain!), and simply getting used to each other's quirks. 

"It's like getting married," quips Li Hui. "When we spend so much time together, we realise we have very different ways of doing things - like tying plastic bags!" 

And what will they be packing? Well, 60kg each of baggage and food enough to feed the 6 of them for 3 months. And being the true-blue Singaporeans they are, these girls will be bringing along Bak Kut Teh mixes, sambal balachan and bakwa! 

19 days before they set off for Everest. All the best, Wonder Women!

And do they have a message for us this IWD? I love what Jane said, "We all have our own Everest. May you find yours and conquer it."  

Thank you for being role models, for inspiring young girls to do the seemingly impossible, and for opening doors for more women in Singapore to venture into the challenging world of mountaineering. 

To find out more about the Everest Girls and their climb, click here. And for a rundown of the conversations we have lined up for you in this Wonder Women series, click here.