There is no need for young girls to fight to enter marriage, Anita Desoso, National Vice Chair of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has said.

According to her, young women must prove with preparations that they are ready to enter into marriage.

She told Chief Jerry Forson on Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Thursday, 8 March on the occasion of International Women’s Day that: “Let’s sit down and ponder this celebration.

“To the young women, don’t fight for marriage, but rather prove that you can marry. Ask yourselves whether you are prepared mentally, physically and emotionally for marriage. Let us prove to the men that we can do it not to fight for it.”

This year’s celebration is under the theme: “Press for Progress”.

The day has been set aside to recognise the achievements of women without regard to national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political divisions.

The first observance of a Women's Day was held on 28 February 1909 in New York.

March 8 was suggested by the 1910 International Woman's Conference to become an International Woman's Day.

After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8 became a national holiday there. The day was then predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations.

The Charter of the United Nations, signed in 1945, was the first international agreement to affirm the principle of equality between women and men. Since then, the UN has helped create a historic legacy of internationally-agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.

Over the years, the UN and its technical agencies have promoted the participation of women as equal partners with men in achieving sustainable development, peace, security, and full respect for human rights.