International Women’s Day is celebrated every year on March 8th. It was established to create awareness about gender equality, the effects of gender bias, the role of women in society, abuse against women, reproductive issues faced by women, and much more. While most people are aware of all this, not many know how International Women’s Day came to be.
According to the United Nations, the first milestone for women’s rights in the US was in 1848, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott brought together a few hundred people to their nation’s first women’s rights convention in New York. At this convention they drew the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, demanding civil, social, political, and religious rights for women. However, International Women’s Day started in the United States in 1909, when the Socialist Party of America honored garment workers who had been protesting against inhumane working conditions the year prior. This led to February 8th becoming National Women’s Day.
In 1910, Europe took a step forward by establishing Women’s Day at the Socialist International meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark. A year later, Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland celebrated the first official International Women’s Day on March 19. Over a million people attended protests that rallied behind the suffrage movement, educational rights, representation, and worker’s rights.
In 1913, Russian women observed their first International Women’s Day on the last Sunday in February. In Europe, on or around March 8th of the following year, Women’s Day then became a mechanism used to protest World War I, as women held rallies to protest against the conflict and to express solidarity with other activists. On April 15, 1915, there was a huge gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, where over 1,300 women from 12 countries gathered to once again protest war. Finally, in 1918, women in Russia striked for “Bread and Peace” on the last Sunday in February (which coincided with March 8 on the Gregorian Calendar), and four days later, the Czar abdicated, and the provisional government granted women the right to vote.
International Congress of Women International Congress of Women
Years later, after the second World War, March 8 was celebrated in many countries, and in 1975, the United Nations began officially celebrating International Women’s Day on that very day. Then, in 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights to be observed by Member States on a day of their choosing.
February 23, the final Sunday of February, March 19, and April 15, stand out as significant dates in the timeline of the International Women’s Day movement. So, how did March 8 become a notable date? The answer traces back to Julius Caesar and Gregory XIII. Before the Revolution, Russia was still using the Julian calendar, a system introduced by the Roman emperor nearly 46 years before Christ’s birth. This calendar was later corrected by the Gregorian calendar, implemented by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, to rectify its inaccuracies. Today, the vast majority of nations follow the Gregorian calendar. Therefore, what was February 23 in Russia in 1917 aligned with March 8 in other European countries, explaining the significance of this date. That simple!
Finally, International Women’s Day always has a theme established by the UN. For 2024, it is “Invest in women: Accelerate progress.” The UN expresses that the five key areas needing joint action to commemorate International Women’s Day are: investing in women, a human rights issue; ending poverty; implementing gender-responsive financing; shifting to a green economy and care society; and supporting feminist change-makers.