International Women’s Day celebrates the voices of women and girls who spread messages of equal rights and celebrates all women in all of their diversities.
This day has been observed since the early 1900s, during a time in which population skyrocketed and ideologies became more radical. According to the International Women’s Day (IWD) website, the oppression of women and inequality lead them to vocalize their demands and become active in campaigning for change.
According to the United Nations, the Socialist Party of America designated the first National Women's Day was celebrated on February 28, 1909 to honor women who went on strike in New York in protest of working conditions.
A year later, a gathering of women, activists, and political leader organizations in Copenhagen, approved the idea of an international day for women.
Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland and observed the day the next year on March 19.
The earliest International Women's Day events involved over a million women at rallies for the right to vote, and against gender discrimination, as well as women's anti-war protests and strikes in Russia.
Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on February 23, the last Sunday in February, according to the International Women's Day website. Following discussions, International Women's Day had been established annually on March 8 that translated in the widely adopted Gregorian calendar from February 23.
A detailed timeline of the day's history is provided on the International Women's Day website
Women around the world are still in the fight toward gender and social equity. The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres acknowledges this recurring issue in a statement that recognizes women and girls, their contributions, innovations, and activism.
“We also recognize that in too many areas, the clock on women’s rights is moving backward. The pandemic has kept girls and women out of schools and workplaces. They face rising poverty and rising violence. They do the vast majority of the world’s unpaid but essential care work. They’re targets of violence and abuse, just because of their gender,” Guterres said.
The United Nation’s theme for this year is “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow and call for climate action for women, by women.
“Starting now, on International Women’s Day, it’s time to turn the clock forward for every woman and girl. We cannot emerge from the pandemic with the clock spinning backward on gender equality,” Guterres said.
