The Significance of International Women’s Day
International women’s day, which emerged around the socialist women movements of the early 20th century, is now acknowledged in many countries around the world as a celebration of the courage and determination of the women who changed history and those who will advance gender equality into the future.
International women’s day, marked annually worldwide on the 8th of March, as well as Women’s History Month, observed in March in the US, UK, and Australia (and in October in Canada), brings attention to the sociopolitical, economic, and cultural issues that women face and advocates for the advance of women within all those areas.
As the organizers of the celebration state, “Through purposeful collaboration, we can help women advance and unleash the limitless potential offered to economies the world over.”
History
IWD can be traced back to New York City in February 1908, when 15,000 women marched through the city to protest against their working conditions and demanded shorter working hours, better pay, and the right to vote. In honor of the anniversary of those strikes, which were ongoing for more than a year, a National Women’s Day was celebrated for the first time in the U.S. on Feb. 28, 1909, spearheaded by the Socialist Party of America.
Led by German campaigner, socialist, and advocate for working women’s rights Clara Zetkin, the idea to turn the day into an international movement advocating universal suffrage was established at the International Conference of Working Women in 1910. Zetkin’s efforts were crucial to the day’s recognition throughout much of Europe in the early 1910s.
Although International Women’s Day had started with action from the women’s labor movement in the U.S., it took on a truly revolutionary form in Russia in 1917. Just as Zetkin’s idea was spreading through Europe, Russia was facing unrest for other reasons too. It was against the backdrop of a country exhausted by war, widespread food shortages, and escalating popular protest that the nation’s 1917 International Women’s Day demonstration was held on Feb. 23 of that year — the equivalent of March 8 in the Russian calendar, indicating the significance of the date of the commemorations today. Russian women demanded — and gained — the right to vote in 1917 as a direct consequence of the March protests and after more than 40,000 women and men again took to the streets demanding universal suffrage.
The significance of International Women’s Day was made official in 1975 when the United Nations started observing and celebrating the day. The first theme adopted by the UN (in 1996) was “Celebrating the past, Planning for the Future”.
Today
Since those early days, International Women’s Day has grown in prominence and reach and has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike.
The 8th of March has become a time to reflect on progress, build support for women’s rights and encourage women’s participation in all sociopolitical and economic arenas.
IWD is an occasion to review how far women have come in their struggle for equality, peace, and development. It is also an opportunity to unite, network, and mobilize for meaningful change.
This year’s IWD aims to highlight the role women have been playing at the forefront of the global health crisis – as health workers and caregivers, community organizers, and innovators.
The observance of International Women’s Day focuses on the role women can play in ‘building back better’, thanks to their different skills and experience and bring further attention to current issues, such as underrepresentation of women in decision-making and the disproportional affect of the pandemic on women.
International Women’s Day 2021
UN Theme
UN Women announces the theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March 2021 (IWD 2021) as, “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.” The theme celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Colors
Purple, green and white are the colours of IWD according to the International Women’s Day website. “Purple signifies justice and dignity. Green symbolizes hope. White represents purity, albeit a controversial concept. The colours originated from the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in the UK in 1908,” they say.
#IWD2021 campaign theme
#ChooseToChallenge – a challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change. The community of IWD implores us to choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality, choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievement, and help create an inclusive world.
Wanna join?
The traditional International Women’s Day observance and acknowledgment include marches, conferences, speeches, panel discussions, live events, concerts, and parties. This year, most IWD celebrations will take place virtually (all the most reason to join!), and if you’re still working from home, you have the perfect opportunity to attend multiple events.
Here are a few ideas:
To attend
- United Nations observance of International Women’s Day 2021, “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world on the way to the Generation Equality Forum”. Check it out!
- PAHO –WHO Webinar – International Women’s Day 2021, expert panel on Women’s Leadership in and for Health: Accelerating gender equality in the context of COVID-19. Check it out!
- IWD events worldwide – search!
- Livestream Concert: Century of Music by British Women 1921-2021. Check it out!
To read
- Timeline of International Women’s day
- Cambridge’s collection of articles and book chapters which are free to access through the whole of March
- Britannica’s 100 women encyclopedia
- The women making history in 2021
Sharing is caring
- IWD Selfie cards – strike a pose and support the cause!
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