Every year on March 8, International Women’s Day (IWD) is commemorated. Many celebrate the day, but the history behind the commemoration is not quite widely familiar.
In the early 1900’s a rapid population growth and radical ideologies rose in the industrialized world. Including the critical debate among women about women’s oppression and inequality. Women became more vocal and in 1908, New York City was crowded by 15,000 women demanding shorter working hours, better pay, and voting rights.
In accordance with the declaration, the United States commemorated the first National Woman’s Day (NWD) on February 28, 1909. In 1910 during the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Clara Zetkin, the leader of ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, proposed the idea of an International Women’s Day. Zetkin suggested that every year, there should be a celebration on the same day in every country, to press for their demands. The conference consisted of more than 100 women from 17 countries, who represented unions, socialist parties, working women’s clubs, even the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. Their approval of Zetkin’s idea came to the existence of International Women’s Day.
A year later, following the decision agreed in the conference, Austria, Denmark, and Switzerland honored IWD for the first time on March 19. Meanwhile in Russia, on the eve of World War I campaigning for peace, the women honored IWD on February 23. Later discussions were made and it was agreed for IWD to be celebrated annually on March 8. Since then, this day has been commemorated as International Women’s Day in every country, to honor the women’s struggles in the past, and to celebrate ourselves as a woman in the present. Happy International Women’s Day to every strong woman out there! (Ed)