History of Women’s day

International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8th of March every year. This date is also recognized by the United Nations and it has hence declared this day as a holiday in many countries. This day is an excellent platform for all the women around the world who have different ethnic backgrounds to come together and celebrate the nine decades of struggle for equality, justice and peace. On this day, there is variety of celebrations done. The celebrations range from showing respect and love to women in addition to appreciating the chores done by women. Besides these celebrations, women’s economic and social achievements are as well acknowledged.

The history of this day goes back to the time period when women struggled to participate in a society that was dominated by men. I order to have equal rights and status, women started riots and procession. Though these were in different parts of world but, they shared the same motive. For instance, in ancient Greece, Lysistrata started a sexual strike against men in order to end the war. Similarly, during the French Revolution, Parisian women demanded liberty, equality and fraternity and consequently marched on to Versailles to overcome the Women’s suffrage.

The first Women’s Day was observed across the United States on 28th of February after the declaration by the Socialist Party of America. Later it was continued to celebrate on the last Sunday of that month until 1913.

In 1910, the Socialist International held a meeting in Copenhagen and established a Women’s Day in order to honor the movements initiated by women all over the world and thus support their idea of eliminating universal suffrage for women.

After such establishment, the Women’s Day was marked on 19th March, 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Women demanded the right to vote in addtition to right to work and right to hold an office.

In Europe during 1913 and 1914, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express their solidarity with their sisters. Such protests happened during the 8th of March. However Russians always chose last Sunday of February. In 1917, after the death of 2 million Russian soldiers, Russian women again chose the last Sunday of February to strike for bread and peace. This Sunday fell on 23rd of February on the Julian calendar. However, this day was 8th of March on the Gregorian calendar which was followed elsewhere across the globe.

Hence, since those days, the Women’s Day is celebrated every 8th of March and women are acknowledged for the efforts that they have put forth in order to raise the status of women today. It gave a new global dimension for women today and thus has encouraged women to perform tasks that were once considered impossible for women.