International Women's Day

By: Anu Subramanian Senthilkannan

International Women’s Day. A global holiday. Celebrated on 8th March annually since 1975. Commemorates the achievements of women all over the world. Emphasizes the importance of women’s rights and gender equality. But what are the origins of it?

This event was established in the early 20th century when the first “Women’s Day” celebration occurred in Chicago on May 3, 1908. It was organized by the U.S. Socialist Party on a day officially dedicated to “the female workers’ causes” and captured the attention of 1,500 women who expressed their demands of economic and political equality. The next year, women in New York gathered for a similar celebration. European socialists were inspired by these American events so they followed them.

In Copenhagen in August 1910, at the International Women’s Conference, leading German socialists, Luise Zietz and Clara Zetkin suggested the establishment of an annual International Women’s Day as a way to advocate equal rights for women. This proposal was supported by more than 100 female delegates from 17 countries.

International Women’s Day was marked for the first time on March 18, 1911. More than a million European women participated in marches and meetings. In the next few years, similar events happened all over Europe. Most of these demonstrations for women’s rights and female suffrage were led by female socialists and joined by feminists.

Unfortunately, most of these international partnerships that started International Women’s Day came to a stop after the outbreak of World War I and caused splits among the socialist women. While some endorsed nationalist sentiments, some objected to the war and demanded working-class integrity across national boundaries. Eventually, many of these women deserted socialist parties and instead joined communist parties.

Ironically, International Women’s Day celebrations decreased during the war but it served as a catalyst for the Russian Revolution in 1917. On March 8, 1917, in Saint Petersburg, Russian working-class women led a march demanding an end to war and political autocracy. They did this because they were frustrated by increasing food prices and waning living conditions and their cries for “Bread and Peace” could not be stopped. By March 12, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to resign. Due to this event in Russia, the date for the celebration of International Women's Day ended up being set on March 8, not only in Russia but all over Europe.

In 1922, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (also known as Lenin), established International Women’s Day as a communist holiday in the new Soviet Union. In the same year, Chinese communists began celebrating it, and after the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, it became an official holiday. International Women’s Day remained a communist holiday until the end of the 20th century, with states sponsoring celebrations of women’s contributions to that state.

However, much of the excitement for International Women’s Day deteriorated as women in the United States and across most of Europe got rights to voting. During the period between the wars, some European socialist continued to celebrate International Women's Day but not many people attended the events.

Fortunately, when Second-Wave Feminism materialized in the late 1960s, International Women’s Day reemerged as a significant day. Even if the day never recaptured much attention from the American feminists, the European feminists celebrated March 8 as Women’s International Day of Struggle. This new name wasn’t very liked. Nonetheless, March 8 celebrations not only involved feminists but a large mixture of women’s groups and labor organizations, bringing to light important issues like equal pay and reproductive rights.

In 1975, during the International Women’s Year, the United Nations first celebrated International Women’s Day. Two years later, the United Nations General Assembly took up a resolution announcing a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace. The assembly was eager to remove this new holiday from the socialist origins of International Women’s Day and commented that it was to be celebrated “on any day of the year by member states, in accordance with their historical and national traditions.” Furthermore, instead of making it a day of protest, the United Nations stated it as “a time to reflect on progress made” and “celebrate acts of courage and determination of ordinary women.”

In spite of the complicated and long history of International Women’s Day, it is celebrated in many different ways globally. In many (former) Communist regions, it is a public holiday. In Italy, women are given yellow mimosas by men. And in the United States, women are honored by being sent gifts and flowers.

So, it is our duty to celebrate the women in our lives on this day not only with greeting cards, cakes and cosmetics but with love and respect. Women deserve to be treated properly so before buying a significant woman in your life perfume, think about whether you have shown her respect and love.

Source: https://origins.osu.edu/connecting-history/international-womens-day?language_content_entity=en