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How Women Won the Day -- for Themselves

The genesis of International Women's Day (IWD) was in the early years of the socialist movement and the spread of communism in the world. Communist countries have celebrated IWD each March 8 as a national holiday since the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Less known is that an international day for women had first been suggested by a United States delegation at the International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen in 1910. The conference came about after demonstrations by American women in 1908 and 1909 demanding political and economic rights.

The US suggestion was taken up by Clara Zetkin, a leader of the German Socialist Party, whose proposal for an official International Women's Day was unanimously agreed by the Copenhagen conference. On March 19, 1910, the first IWD was celebrated, unofficially, in various European countries, including Germany, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland to mark the Prussian king's promise -- in face of an armed uprising -- to grant votes to women on that date.

But March 8 was finally deemed as International Women's Day when Russian women went on strike for "bread and peace" on the last Sunday of February, 1914. This was February 23 by the Julian calendar in use in Russia at the time * but March 8 on the Gregorian calendar which is in common use today.

After the Russian czar's abdication, the country's provisional government, precursor to the Bolshevik regime, gave women the vote. In 1975, the United Nations officially recognized March 8 as International Women's Day.

China has long celebrated IWD and, along with other countries, has never seen it for anything less than what it is --a celebration of and for women and the encouragement of their rightful place in society. History shows that, in some countries -- especially in 1970s Europe -- some militant women attempted to hijack the day as a vehicle promoting women's liberation, bra-burning style. The attempt failed because even the protagonists seemed unsure what women's lib really meant, and what it stood for.
IWD is again being marked, and women the world over will be involved in celebrations that remind the world of its strength and relevance.