International Women’s Day is celebrated on every 8th March of every year. This year’s promises to be interesting. This day is very symbolic, as it has a historic background of women around the world, who have decided to better their lives. This day comes as a reminder that while a lot has been achieved, the journey is long and a lot more needs to be done.
History and significance of International Women’s Day
Over a century now, International Women’s Day has been celebrated.
The root of this day lies in the labour of movement, but many people think of it as a feminist cause.
International Women’s Day was first organised in 1911 by the early 20th century Marxist from Germany Clara Zetkin.
Trained as a teacher, Zetkin was born in 1857 in Germany’s Wiederau. She was associated with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) — one of the two major political parties in the country today. She was a part of both the the women’s movement and labour movement.
When anti-socialist laws were enforced by German1880s leader Otto von Bismarck in the 1880, Zetkin went into a self-imposed exile in France and Switzerland. During this time, Zetkin wrote and distributed proscribed literature, and met leading socialists of the time. She also played a significant and prominent role in the formation of the Socialist International.
She became the editor of Die Gleichheit (‘Equality’) — SPD’s newspaper for women — from 1892 to 1917 when she returned to Germany
She was closely associated with the far-left thinker and revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg in the SPD. In 1910, Zetkin proposed at a conference that Women’s Day be celebrated in every country on February 28. This was three years after she became a co-founder of the International Socialist Women’s Congress
The conference was made up of 100 women from 17 countries, with unions, working women’s clubs, socialist parties and female legislators unanimously approving the suggestion. For the first time, Women’s Day was observed in 1911.
The date was changed two years later, in 1913. It was then changed to 8th March, and it continues to be celebrated as such every year.
This year’s theme for International women’s day is “ChooseToChallenge.” This indicates that a “challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change.”
I appreciate all women. To all the women out there, I love you all.