Riley Wang, rw163@uakron.edu
International Women’s Day is a holiday celebrated around the world on March 8th. It honors women’s achievements throughout history and the importance of gender equality. During recent years, people often gather on Women’s Day for peaceful demonstrations as a way to bring awareness to topics such as: domestic violence, gender pay gap, and reproductive rights.
International Women’s Day had its start in the United States in 1908, when 15,000 female garment workers marched through the streets of New York City, demanding for better working conditions, higher wages, and the right to vote. A year later, the Socialist Party of America declared February 28th National Women’s Day in honor of the workers’ strike. In 1910, during the International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Clara Zetkin, a German communist and women’s right activist, proposed the idea of an International
Women’s Day. Many women agreed with Zekin’s idea and the holiday was first celebrated in 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. International Women’s Day was officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977.
Now you might be thinking why March 8? When the International Women’s Day first started, there was no fixed day so each country celebrated on a different day. It wasn’t until the March Revolution of 1917 in Russia when the date was set. Thousands of women in Petrograd (now called St. Petersburg) demanded affordable bread and an end to World War I. This led to Czar Nicholas stepping down from power with the provisional government taking his place. The new government granted Russian women the right to vote. The strike happened on February 23rd on the Julian calendar, which corresponds to March 8th in the Gregorian calendar–the day we celebrate now.
March is considered Women’s History Month in the United States. Thousands of schools across the country educated the public about women’s contributions to American society. Some of the most notable female figures in American history are: Harriet Tubman, an abolitionist and a spy for the Union during the Civil War, Sacagawea, a Native American woman who helped Lewis and Clark chart parts of the West in the early 1800s, and Susan B. Anthony, who fought for women’s right to vote during the suffrage movement. A presidential proclamation is also issued every March to commemorate the achievements of American women.
Many women and girls around the world are discouraged to pursue higher education, at risk of domestic violence, and under-represented in leadership roles. Everybody deserves to be treated with respect, feel empowered, and speak their minds. Women make up half of our globe’s population and when presented with the opportunity, have the power to change the world.
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