Maya G. / 2025-03-31
International Women's Day (IWD), celebrated annually on March 8, is a day dedicated to commemorating the brave women who fought for women's rights, as well as a reminder to continue to advocate for gender equality. Incredibly, the idea for International Women's Day dates back to 1910, when it was first floated by Clara Zetkin, the Leader of the "Women's Office" for the Social Democratic Party in Germany. The suggestion was met with unanimous approval in a conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women's clubs and members of parliament. It was then honoured for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland in 1911.
In the same year, more than one million women attended IWD rallies campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, and not be discriminated against. However, less than a week later, the devastating "Triangle Fire" in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women. This drew significant attention to working conditions and labor legislation in the United States that became the focus of subsequent International Women's Day events. In the 1960s to 1980s, second-wave feminism took off, which focused primarily on access to abortions, free childcare and equal pay in the workplace. Additionally, intersectionality was introduced, though not under that name, and feminism became more inclusive of other identities that contributed to gender-based discrimination. Such as race, sexuality and disability, to name a few.
However, the rest of the world had yet to follow suit. It was only in 1975 when the United Nations officially recognised International Women's Day as a legitimate day of significance. Ever since, we've celebrated it on March 8th. For a time, it faded a bit from being in the public consciousness, but came back with a resurgence in 2011. This was the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, and President Barack Obama proclaimed March to be Women's History Month, in honour of the day of significance and as a promise to continue to prioritise gender equality. Since then, IWD has become more mainstream and global than ever before.
A useful resource to learn more about the history of International Women's Day: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Activity/15586/The-history-of-IWD