International Women's Day

Happy International Women's Day
From 101lifeStyle.com

History / Origin International Women's Day:
In the early 1900s, the idustrialization and booming population growth gave rise to radical ideologies and it was since then that International Women's Day has been observed. From the turn of the 20 th century, m with industrialization, more and more women in industrially developing countries were entering paid work in some numbers. Mainly in the textile, manufacturing industries and also domestic services, their jobs were sex segregated, with conditions and wages worse. Trade unions were developing and industrial disputes broke out, including among sections of non-unionised women workers. In Europe, the flames of revolution were being kindled. Thus chronologically these important events led to the recognization and observance of International Women's Day:

1908: These inequalities and working conditions made the women more vocal in their demands and they were actively involved in campaigns to bring about change. Thus in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

1909: The Socialist Party Of America made a declaration and accordingly the first National Woman's Day (NWD) was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate NWD on the last Sunday of February until 1913.

1910: 1910 saw socialists and feminists across America taking up the cause of Women's Day. Later that year, a second International Conference of Socialist Women was held in Copenhagen with the intention of proposing that Women's Day be made an international event. It was Clara Zetkin - Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, who had already framed a proposal to put to the conference of socialist women that women throughout the world should focus on a particular day each year to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women's clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin's suggestion with unanimous approval and International Women's Day was the result. That conference also reasserted the importance of women's right to vote, maternity benefits were to be for married women only. It also decided to oppose night work as being detrimental to the health of most working women.

1911: After the decision taken in the Copenhagen Conference, the year 1911 saw International Women's Day being marked for the first time on 19 March in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job. However on 25 March 1911, the tragic 'Triangle Fire' in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labour legislation in the United States that became a focus of subsequent International Women's Day events. 1911 also saw women's 'Bread and Roses' campaign - a slogan which appeals for both fair wages and dignified conditions.

1913-1914: On the eve of World War I, Russian women started campaigning for peace and observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. It was in this year that discussions were conducted and porposals made to shift the date of IWD to 8th March, and since then this day has been observed as the global date for IWD. women across Europe held peace rallies on 8 March 1914 campaigning against the war and to express women's solidarity.

1917: When nearly 2 million Russian soldiers died in the war, the women began a strike for "bread and peace" on the last Sunday of February. The striks continued despite oppositions from the political leaders. Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. As per the Julian Calendar then used in Russia, the date the women's strike commenced was Sunday 23 February however this day on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere was 8 March.

1918 and Beyond: Ever since, the growing international women's movement has been much more strengthened by 4 global UN women's conferences. IWD is a time to commemorate at least nine decades of struggle by ordinary women for equality, justice, peace and development, and also to discuss options to improve the conditions of present day women in all spheres. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in San Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. Since then, the Organization has helped create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide. 1975 was designated as 'International Women's Year' by the United Nations. Women's organisations and governments around the world have also observed IWD annually on 8 March by holding large-scale events that honour women's advancement and while diligently reminding of the continued vigilance and action required to ensure that women's equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life.

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