International Women's Day
International Women's Day (IWD)
is marked on 8 March every year. It is a major day of global
celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of
women. Started as a political event, the holiday blended in the
culture of many countries (primarily Russia and the countries of
former Soviet bloc).
In some celebrations, the day
lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men
to express their love to the women around them - somewhat similar
to Western Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day mixed together. In
others, however, the political and human rights theme as designated
by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social
awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and
examined in a hopeful manner.
The first
IWD was observed on 28 February 1909 in the United States following
a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. Among other
relevant historic events, it commemorates the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory fire (New York, 1911), where over 140 women lost their
lives. The idea of having an international women's day was first
put forward at the turn of the 20th century amid rapid world
industrialization and economic expansion that led to protests over
working conditions. By urban legend, women from clothing and
textile factories staged one such protest on 8 March 1857 in New
York City[citation needed]. The garment workers were protesting
what they saw as very poor working conditions and low wages. The
protesters were attacked and dispersed by police. These women
established their first labor union in the same month two years
later.
More
protests followed on 8 March in subsequent years, most notably in
1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding
shorter hours, better pay and voting rights[citation needed]. In
1910 the first international women's conference was held in
Copenhagen (in the labour-movement building located at Jagtvej 69,
which until recently housed Ungdomshuset) by the Second
International and an 'International Women's Day' was established,
which was submitted by the important German Socialist Clara Zetkin.
The following year, IWD was marked by over a million people in
Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. However, soon
thereafter, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City
killed over 140 garment workers. A lack of safety measures was
blamed for the high death toll. Furthermore, on the eve of World
War I, women across Europe held peace rallies on 8 March 1913. In
the West, International Women's Day was commemorated during the
1910s and 1920s, but dwindled. It was revived by the rise of
feminism in the 1960s.
Demonstrations marking
International Women's Day in Russia proved to be the first stage of
the Russian Revolution of 1917. Following the October Revolution,
the Bolshevik feminist Alexandra Kollontai persuaded Lenin to make
it an official holiday, and it was established, but was a working
day until 1965. On May 8, 1965 by the decree of the USSR Presidium
of the Supreme Soviet International Women's Day was declared as a
non working day in the USSR "in commemoration of outstanding merits
of the Soviet women in communistic construction, in the defense of
their Motherland during the Great Patriotic War, their heroism and
selflessness at the front and in rear, and also marking the big
contribution of women to strengthening friendship between peoples
and struggle for the peace."
