International Women’s Day is now celebrated in almost every country in the world. Various events are held on this day. But, how the day started is unknown to many. Today that will be highlighted.
In 1908, International Women’s Day was originally started from the labor movement. Around 15,000 women took to the streets of New York City at the same time to demand reduced working hours, increased wages and the right to vote.
A year later, the Socialist Party of America proclaimed the first National Women’s Day. Later, the idea of celebrating this day internationally came to the mind of Clara Zetkin, a lawyer and socialist activist working on women’s rights.
In 1910, the lawyer and socialist activist Clara Zetkin expressed her thoughts at an international conference of women workers in Copenhagen. 100 women from 17 countries were present there and they unanimously accepted his proposal.
But for the first time International Women’s Day was celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. And the centenary of this day was celebrated in 2011.
Earlier, in 1975, the day was formalized by celebration at the United Nations. And for the first time in 1996, a theme for this day was fixed. The United Nations observes the Day of Service with the slogan ‘Celebrating the past, planning for the future’.
Why March 8?
When Clara Zetkin proposed this day, she did not specify a specific date. Even this date was not fixed until 1917. During the service war, Russian women started a movement demanding ‘food and peace’. The movement, which lasted for four consecutive days, finally ended the tsar’s rule there and the interim government accepted women’s right to vote.
The day this movement started in Russia was 23rd February and Sunday according to the Julian calendar (the Julian calendar was followed in Russia at that time). And this day was March 8 in the Gregorian calendar. Since then the day has been recognized as International Women’s Day.
Why is purple worn on this day?
The International Women’s Day website says the colors of the day are purple, green and white. Purple color symbolizes justice and dignity. Green stands for hope and white for purity, although this is disputed. These colors came from the UK Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1908.
