International Women's Day, observed in many parts of the world on March 8th every year, is a time to celebrate and highlight the achievements of women. While Mother's Day is a day devoted only to those women who have children, International Women's Day celebrates all women. These days celebrations are mostly cheerful and often involve giving a bouquet of flowers or a small gift to the women in your life, but the holiday has its origins in protest, workers' rights and even revolution. International Women's Day started out over 100 years ago as a socialist holiday focused on working conditions and voting rights for women.
The Socialist Party of America held the first Women's Day observance on February 28, 1909, in commemoration of a strike by the International Ladies Garment Worker's Union the previous year. A year later, German socialist leader Luise Zietz and communist leader Clara Zetkin proposed starting an official annual Woman's Day commemoration at that year's International Women's Conference. The idea was met with overwhelming approval and the next year International Women's Day was celebrated for the first time on March 19, 1911. Over a million people across Denmark, Germany, Austria and Switzerland celebrated the holiday, focused on promoting equal rights for women. Demonstrations were held to mark the occasion, with women marching for the right to hold elected office and end employment discrimination.
It wasn't until 1914 that International Women's Day was observed on March 8th, with many suffragettes marching on that day in Germany and England. As World War I raged on across Europe, in 1917, women factory workers in Saint Petersburg, Russia went on strike on International Women's Day, protesting the war, food shortages and the czar. What started as a women's march morphed into a huge protest across the city that lasted almost a week. Disillusioned Russian Army forces joined the protesters towards the end of the week. That protest is credited with leading to the abdication of the czar and paving the way for the eventual formation of the Soviet Union.
Because of it's role in starting the revolution in Russia, International Women's Day was made into an official holiday in the newly formed Soviet Union and became an important holiday in other communist countries. While it started out as a working holiday in the Soviet Union, by 1965, International Women's Day was elevated to a non-working day across the country. The holiday was first celebrated by communists in China in 1922, and eventually in 1949, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, all women were given a half-day off from work on International Women's Day. It eventually made its way to Western countries when the United Nations named March 8th a day for women's rights in the 1970s.
Traditions around how to celebrate International Women's Day vary by country. For example in Italy and Portugal, women-only dinner parties are held. In other countries, children bring gifts for their female teachers and employers give gifts to female employees. Many countries continue to hold marches for women's rights. In other countries, it is a time for men to formally recognize the achievements and work of the women in their lives. Traditionally, everyone from sisters, daughters to female friends and colleagues, receive flowers or a small gift in acknowledgement and appreciation.
In recent years celebrations of International Women's Day have varied around the globe, with cultural, educational and political events celebrating the achievements of women and highlighting the need to keep advocating for women's rights. Events have ranged from a Girls in Tech event that spotlighted women entrepreneurs involved in web and app development in Taiwan, to the national newspaper of Scotland changing its name on March 8th, for one day, from The Scotsman to The Scotswoman. In Australia, celebrations of International Women's Day have included a music festival with only women rockers performing. In nearby New Zealand, celebrations have focused on women in science, with talks given by celebrated women scientists about their careers. Here in the US, every March is celebrated as Women's History Month, with leadership conferences, art exhibits and other events centered on women's rights and history taking place.
