International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the historical, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also is a day of action in support of taking action against gender inequality around the world.
This is the day to appreciate their efforts! Organizations large and small come together to show women just how valuable they are in today’s society.
International Women’s Day is on March 8. The achievements of women and how far they have come in the fight for their rights within the political, cultural, and social spheres is celebrated.
History of International Women's Day
Susan B. Anthony was a political activist and an advocate of women’s rights. After the Civil War, she fought for the Fourteenth Amendment that was meant to grant all naturalized and native-born Americans citizenship in the hope that it would include suffrage rights. Although the fourteenth amendment was ratified in 1868, it still didn’t secure their vote. In 1869, the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Anthony to continue the fight for women’s rights.
In the early 1900s, women were experiencing pay inequality, a lack of voting rights, and they were being overworked. In response to all of this 15,000 women marched in through New York City in 1908 to demand their rights. In 1909, the first National Women’s Day was observed in accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. This was celebrated on the last Sunday of February until 1913.
An International Women’s Conference was organized in August 1910, by Clara Zetkin, a German suffragist and leader in the Women’s Office. Zetkin proposed a special Women’s Day to be organized annually and International Women’s Day was honored the following year in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland, with more than one million attending the rallies. On August 18, 1920, the nineteenth amendment was ratified and white women were granted the right to vote in the US.
The liberation movement took place in the 1960s and the effort led to the passage of the Votings Rights Act, allowing all women the right to vote. When the internet became more commonplace, feminism and the fight against gender inequality experienced a resurgence. Now we celebrate International Women’s Day each year as we push continuously with the hope of creating a completely equal society.
