Monday, March 8 marked the 110th observance of International Women’s Day (IWD) across the globe, and Agnes Irwin celebrated the occasion with edifying presentations and discussions organized by the Center for the Advancement of Girls. In addition to the revolutionary accomplishments of our world’s most influential women, Agnes Irwin’s student-led activities explored the basic history and significance of International Women’s Day, whose originators, like many early feminists, are widely unknown and unappreciated. To expand upon the facts and stories shared throughout the week preceding IWD, below is a chronology of IWD celebrations, including the first official observance of the day and its unofficial precursors, so as to illustrate the long and arduous road to annual, international female recognition.
Origin
Considered the “impetus for establishing an International Women’s Day,” female garment workers’ 1908 strike in New York City spurred subsequent demonstrations by women’s rights advocates throughout the U.S. and Europe (“Why March 8 is International Women’s Day,” Times). In February 1908, thousands of female employees at a local garment factory swarmed the streets of New York City to protest poor working conditions and low wages. In reverence to these women and their daring effort, members of the Socialist Party of America, led by German activist Theresa Malkiel, held the first International Women’s Day celebration on February 28, 1909, the one year anniversary of the NYC protests.
International Women’s Day originated in America, but its transformation into an international tradition can be accredited to zealous and outspoken German feminist Clara Zetkin. At the 1910 International Women’s Conference, which Zetkin attended as a German delegate, she proposed observing a “special Women’s day” annually in commemoration of the 1908 protests in America, and the other European delegates present unanimously agreed that establishing an International Women’s Day would advance the women’s rights movement and specifically the growing movement for women’s suffrage. On March 9, 1911, the first official International Women’s Day was observed in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden, and men and women alike joined in the boisterous demonstrations. “More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination” (“History of International Women’s Day,” IWD.com).
Russian women’s strike in 1917 contributed perhaps most significantly to the globalization of IWD as well as to the Russian movement for democracy and equality, which failed to withstand the ruthless reign of Stalin or produce long term government reform, but certainly achieved considerable societal change during the 1900s/1910s. On March 8, 1917, the seventh anniversary of IWD, women textile workers in Petrograd rioted to express their discontent with their lack of labor rights and Russia’s continued involvement in World War I, which had exacerbated working conditions, especially for Russian women, and effectively halted industrial production so that food scarcity became widespread. The power these women possessed is perhaps best evidenced by the incumbent czar’s forced abdication and the establishment of a provisional government just days following the protests. Additionally, International Women’s Day celebrations were adopted throughout the Slavic countries in the 1920s, demonstrating the wide reach of Russian feminists’ rallying cry and sparking the development of various traditions surrounding the new holiday.
Traditions and Significance
Around 1922, several East Asian countries celebrated IWD for the first time, and by 1927, following a historic march through the streets of Guangzhou, China, IWD was declared an official holiday and many Asian women were allowed the day off work. In several countries, such as Russia, China, and Italy, a tradition of giving and exhibiting flowers on March 8 arose, and in Portugal, Romania, and India, women began commemorating IWD at dinners and parties. The mimosa flower has become the international symbol of the holiday, and purple, green, and white, all connected to the Women’s Suffrage Movement, are the official colors. Agnes Irwin honored the significance of the color purple, which represents justice, equality, and feminist pride, by encouraging students to wear purple clothing to school this IWD.
Along with making IWD a “purple dress day,” AIS promoted celebration of the day through announcements and presentations which described a diverse selection of female leaders, inventors, and pioneers and their contributions to the world. Beginning March 1, the Center for the Advancement of Girls has included brief biographies of influential female figures in the daily announcements, and as a new member of the Council I contributed with the below profile on Nellie Bly, one of my greatest journalistic inspirations.*
On Tuesday, March 2, CAG even organized a IWD Kahoot that the entire Upper School was invited to participate in during morning assembly. It challenged students to identify influential female figures, such as Amelia Earhart, Shirley Chisholm, Marie Curie, and Frida Kahlo, in an interactive quiz game that educated as well as entertained us. I so enjoyed learning about the leaders and activists who shaped the modern world, the women whom I have to thank for many of the rights I enjoy, that I conducted an independent study into the early feminist movement and the origin of what’s essentially feminists’ day.
This piece is the culmination of my research, and in it I’ve covered the basic facts of IWD, which are more or less the same in every source, but ideas about the significance of IWD vary. Some of its alternate names reflect what it’s all about: Civil Awareness Day, Anti-Sexism Day, Anti-Discrimination Day, and Women and Girls Day. Tributes to the lionhearted women who established or internationalized the holiday also represent the general theme of IWD celebrations: recognizing the toil that women before us willingly endured so that today’s women may pursue their wildest ambitions, comparatively unhampered by antiquated gender stereotypes and standards. I think the greatest significance of IWD, however, lies in its timeless and universal applicability. Every year it inspires us to appreciate women in history and in our own lives, but it always takes on new importance depending on current global or national circumstances. For example, this year, we’re called upon to give special recognition and gratitude to our female frontline workers, who’ve been selfless and indispensable during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the mothers who dropped everything for their children when child care facilities closed. As we begin to make progress in eliminating some gender-based restrictions and disparities, more arise, and so I hope we take this month of March to honor the resilience women everywhere demonstrate in meeting each new challenge and still never abandoning the feminist movement’s original vision for an equitable future.
*Nellie Bly was an American journalist who traveled the world and reported on the injustices she observed in various communities and institutions. In the early years of her career, she challenged societal norms by writing for predominantly male-staffed newspapers and persistently submitting her work to the Pittsburgh Dispatch even after being relegated to the “women’s pages,” which covered only “feminine topics” such as gardening and fashion. She is best known for her record-breaking 72-day circumnavigation of the world, her exposé on the Women’s Lunatic Asylum, in which she described the brutality she witnessed and experienced as an undercover spy there, and her status as one of the most prominent female investigative journalists of the 19th century.
Sources:
https://time.com/5187268/international-womens-day-history/
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Activity/15586/The-history-of-IWD
https://www.aleksandra.com/travel-1/international-womens-day-traditions-and-customs
