International Women's Day: it's the one day of the year when we can find common cause and celebrate the considerable and often overlooked achievements of females around the world.



The annual event sees millions of people celebrate the writers, educators and political figures making strides for women and girls today - though many wonder if a day is adequate.



Americans may therefore feel a bit short-changed when they discover that the International Women's Day is in fact an hour shorter this year, all thanks to Daylight Savings Time.



At 2am the clocks skipped a full hour, resulting in the day's festivities being a meagre 23 hours. Unlike Europe and much of the rest of the world the US changes its clocks in early March.



It may come as no surprise that a man is to blame for this debacle:



Famed inventor Benjamin Franklin became the scourage of early-shift workers across the world when he introduced the concept in a 1784 essay titled “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light”.



Little did he know his suggestions (made in jest) would come into force over 100 years later during WWI efforts to save on energy consumption.



Former president George W. Bush compounded the problem when he signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, extending the policy by a full four weeks and thereby bringing the event under its provisions.