International Women’s Day 2025: The United Nations says the first National Women’s Day was celebrated in the United States on February 28, 1909.
The United Nations officially made March 8th International Women’s Day in 1977, after first recognizing it in 1975. However, the day’s history goes back even further.
The United Nations says that the first National Women’s Day was celebrated in the United States on February 28, 1909. The Socialist Party of America chose this day to honor a strike by garment workers in New York in 1908. During the strike, women protested bad working conditions. About 15,000 women marched, asking for shorter work hours, better pay, and the right to vote.
Early Feminism In the US and Europe
The 1908 protest in New York was just one of many important events in the fight for women’s rights. The First Wave of Feminism, which took place from the mid-1800s to the 1920s, focused on things like voting rights, equal pay, and gender equality in Western countries.
As early as 1848, activists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the first women’s rights convention in New York after they were not allowed to speak at an anti-slavery meeting. Mott was an important leader in the fight to end slavery, and Stanton became a key feminist leader. In her 1892 speech, The Solitude of Self, she argued that women deserved equal rights for their independence and survival:
“No matter how much women prefer to lean, to be protected and supported, nor how much men desire to have them do so, they must make the voyage of life alone… If not equal to the occasion, alike they perish.”
The Beginning of International Women’s Day
In 1910, the Second International Conference of Working Women took place in Copenhagen. Clara Zetkin, a German socialist and leader of the Women’s Office in the Social Democratic Party, suggested creating an International Women’s Day. This day would be a global celebration for women’s fight for equal rights.
Her idea was accepted, and over 100 women from 17 countries attended the conference. In 1911, more than one million people joined International Women’s Day rallies across Europe, asking for the right to work, vote, get education, hold public office, and end discrimination.
Zetkin, known for her strong activism, believed that workers’ movements were essential to securing women’s rights. The Manchester Guardian later called her the “grandmother of communism.”
Why is March 8th Important?
The date of March 8th comes from Russian history. On February 23, 1913, Russian women protested against World War I using the Julian calendar, which matched March 8th on the Gregorian calendar (the calendar used in most parts of the world). This protest became a symbol for Women’s Day rallies around the world.
Another protest took place on February 23, 1917, when Russian women demanded an end to the war, food shortages, and the rule of Czar Nicholas II. Historian Rochelle Ruthchild said that male revolutionaries like Leon Trotsky were frustrated by these “disobedient women” because they organized protests before the planned May Day (Workers’ Day) demonstrations.
But these protests played a key role in starting the Russian Revolution. Within days, the Czar was removed from power, a communist government was formed, and women in Russia gained the right to vote. White women in the United States won the right to vote in 1920, while women of color gained voting rights later, after the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Women’s History Month and Today’s Recognition
In 2011, President Barack Obama declared March as Women’s History Month to honor 100 years of International Women’s Day.
“International Women’s Day is a chance to pay tribute to ordinary women throughout the world and is rooted in women’s centuries-old struggle to participate in society on an equal footing with men. While enormous progress has been made, there is still work to be done before women achieve true parity.” – President Barack Obama
From its beginnings in labor protests to becoming a worldwide celebration of women’s achievements, International Women’s Day continues to focus on the ongoing fight for gender equality, empowerment, and social justice around the world.
