08/03/2024
International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8th every year for historical reasons. It traces its roots back to a series of events in the early 20th century:
- In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding better pay, shorter working hours, and the right to vote.
- In 1909, the Socialist Party of America declared the first National Woman's Day on February 28th.
- In 1910, the Second International, a worldwide socialist organization, met in Copenhagen and established International Women's Day to honor the women's rights movement.
The first official IWD was celebrated on March 19, 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. Over 1 million men and women participated in rallies for women's rights.
The date of March 8th was officially adopted in 1921 by the International Working Women's Day Conference to commemorate the strike by Russian women in 1917 demanding "bread and peace" during World War I. The event led to the Russian Revolution and the establishment of women's right to vote in Russia.
Happy Women's Day!
