The Creation of Womens Day

By: Aishu Senthil

International Women’s Day celebrates women all over the world and their contributions to society. But why is it celebrated on March 8th? And how did it all begin? International Women’s day is not the same as National Taco Day or International Dance Day or World Wish Day, for it is a holiday with a deep history steeped in civil rights movements, fighting for women’s solidarity and gender inequality.

Most people have heard of International Women’s day, but not many know of National Women’s Day, which was the predecessor to this globally celebrated holiday. National Women’s Day was established in 1909 by the Socialist Party of America. They agreed to recognize the last Sunday of February as National Women’s Day in America, and February 28th, 1909 marked the first of such a commemoration of women.

This would become a bigger holiday, however, in 1910 and during the second International Conference of Working Women which was held in Copenhagen. A woman named Clara Zetkin (Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) proposed the idea of an International Women's Day, wherein every year in every country, there would be a celebration of women on the same day to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, and working women's clubs, greeted Zetkin's suggestion with unanimous approval. Thus, International Women's Day was born.

This revolutionary day was honored the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19, 1911. More than one million women and men attended International Women’s Day rallies campaigning for women's rights, from working to voting to be trained and holding public office to ending discrimination against women.

However, less than a week later on March 25, 1911, the tragic 'Triangle Fire' in New York City took place, shaking the foundations of International Women’s Day.

The "Triangle Fire" was an infamous, tragic incident in industrial history, a man made disaster caused by a result of neglected safety features. The location: the Triangle factory in Manhattan. This sweatshop factory employed immigrant women, mostly teenagers who could not speak English and worked 12 hours everyday, to work in a cramped space at lines of sewing machines. They were paid tiny wages for their work, and upon striking and revolting, were resisted by the owners of the factory. This issue culminated into the Triangle Fire incident, when a fire was started in a rag bin and forced workers to escape. However, only a few escaped, and the rest were trapped in the building, with many jumping from the windows and plummeting to their doom to escape being burnt alive. The result was 146 being killed, with 140 being working women. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labor legislation in the United States. From then on, it ignited discussions and became a focus of subsequent International Women's Day events.

It was only between 1913 and 1914 that it was decided to shift International Women’s Day from the last Sunday of February to March 8th, in order to be able to celebrate this day internationally on the same day every year. Almost every year, women around the world would rally on March 8th to celebrate the holiday by promoting equal rights for women and to be seen and heard, not dismissed.

The United Nations also took steps to celebrate women and promote International Women’s Day later on in the years, by celebrating International Women's Day for the first time by the United Nations in 1975. It was then proclaimed in the same year that every International Women’s Day would be a UN holiday, and every year there would be a theme for International Women’s Day For example, in 1996 the theme was ‘Celebrating the past, Planning for the Future’, and 1997’s theme was ‘Women at the Peace table’.

In these ways, International Women’s Day has had a great effect on granting women equality and respect, and was certainly key to this powerful movement that continues on till this day.

In 2021, International Women's Day had become a widely discussed topic on social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook. The usage of the hashtag allowed users across the world to discover writing, art, educational graphics, and connecting posts regarding the topic. Many celebrities showed their support by livestreaming with other prominent women or thanking their female friends/ family members. As a trickle down affect, many young Millennials and Generation Z folks upkept this trend for the week in support of women and their accomplishments, marked by the first female vice president (Kamala Harris) and other ground-breaking female activists/ figures.

*Sources *https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Activity/15586/The-history-of- IWD#:~:text=In%201910%20a%20second%20International,of%20an%20International%20Women's%20Day. *https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/triangle-shirtwaist-fire

14.