The
first national
Women's Day was observed on 28 February 1909 in the United States
following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. In August
1910, an International Women's Conference was organized to precede the general
meeting of the Socialist Second International in Copenhagen. Inspired in part by
the American socialists, German Socialist Luise Zietz proposed the
establishment of an annual 'International Woman's Day' (singular) and was
seconded by communist
Clara
Zetkin,
although no date was specified at that conference. Delegates
(100 women from 17 countries) agreed with the idea as a strategy to promote
equal rights, including suffrage,
for women. The following year, on 18 March 1911, IWD was marked for the first
time, by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. In the
Austro-Hungarian Empire alone, there were 300 demonstrations. In Vienna,
women paraded on the Ringstrasse and carried banners honouring the martyrs of the Paris
Commune.
Women demanded that women be given the right to vote and to hold public office.
They also protested against employment sex discrimination Americans
continued to celebrate National Women's Day on the last Sunday in February.
In
1913 Russian
women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in
February (by Julian calendar then used in Russia). In 1917 demonstrations marking
International Women's Day in Saint
Petersburg
on the last Sunday in February (which fell on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar) initiated the February Revolution. Following the October Revolution, the Bolshevik Alexandra Kollontai persuaded Vladimir
Lenin
to make it an official holiday in the Soviet Union, 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 a non-working day in the USSR "in
commemoration of the outstanding merits of Soviet women in communistic
construction, in the defense of their Fatherland during the Great Patriotic
War, in their heroism and selflessness at the front and in the rear, and also
marking the great contribution of women to strengthening friendship between
peoples, and the struggle for peace. But still, women's day must be celebrated
as are other holidays."
From
its official adoption in Russia following the Soviet Revolution in 1917 the
holiday was predominantly celebrated in communist and socialist countries. It
was celebrated by the communists in China from 1922, and by Spanish communists
from 1936. After the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949
the state council proclaimed on December 23 that March 8 would be made an
official holiday with women in China given a half-day off though today's young
women in college or before motherhood are increasingly reluctant to celebrate
it for the suggestion of the term 'women' of youth ended, prettiness lost, and
relational liberty restricted.
In
the West, International Women's Day was first observed as a popular event after
1977 when the United Nations General
Assembly
invited member states to proclaim March 8 as the UN Day for women's
rights
and world peace.
