Madam, - To celebrate and mark International Women's Day appropriately, the Government should make it a bank holiday .
It is a day to celebrate women and the enormous role they play in the home and in society. It is also an opportunity to reflect on the great lengths to which women's rights have been advanced in the past 100 years.
We have holidays for saints and workers. I think it is high time we had a holiday to celebrate women. - Yours, etc,
Cllr MARY MITCHELL O' CONNOR (PD), Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Today is a time to reflect on the key issues affecting women worldwide - for example, women's vulnerability to HIV and Aids in the developing world due to their unequal social, economic and legal status. In addition, social norms and attitudes make it difficult for women to negotiate safe sex and protect themselves from the pandemic.
Governments and supranational bodies must continue to support programmes to support women affected by HIV and Aids. Without this support millions of women and girls will remain vulnerable to this global emergency. - Yours, etc,
MALCOLM QUIGLEY, Director, Voluntary Service Overseas, Mary's Abbey, Dublin 7.