The working-class origins of International Women’s Day – 03/08/2024 – Daily Life

Many people consider March 8th just as a date to honor women, but, unlike other commemorative days, it was not created by commerce – and has deeper historical roots.

Officialized by the United Nations (UN) in 1975, the so-called International Women’s Day has been celebrated since the beginning of the 20th century.

Today, the date is increasingly remembered as a day for the demand for gender equality and demonstrations around the world – bringing it closer to its origins in the struggle of women who worked in factories in the United States and some European countries.

Many of these women engaged in a campaign within the socialist movement to demand better working conditions – which were even worse than those for men at the time.

The origin of the date chosen to celebrate women has some historical explanations. In Brazil, it is very common to relate it to the fire that occurred in New York on March 25, 1911 at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, which killed 146 workers – 125 women and 21 men (mostly Jews) – and brought to light the bad conditions faced by women in the Industrial Revolution.

However, there are records prior to this episode that contain references to women’s demands for their causes to be included in the workers’ struggle movements.

The origins of International Women’s Day

If it were possible to make a timeline of the first “women’s days” that appeared in the world, it would possibly begin with a large march held by women on February 26, 1909, in New York.

That day, around 15 thousand women marched in the city’s streets for better working conditions – at the time, working hours reached 16 hours a day, six days a week and, often, also included Sundays.

This march would have celebrated American “National Women’s Day” for the first time.

Meanwhile, the movement in factories was also growing in Europe. In August 1910, German Clara Zetkin proposed, at a meeting of the Second International Conference of Socialist Women, the creation of a day of demonstrations.

“It was not a question of a specific date. She made statements at the Socialist International with a proposal for there to be a moment in the trade union and socialist movement dedicated to the issue of women”, sociologist Eva Blay, one of the pioneers in studies about women’s rights in the country, in an interview given in 2018.

“The situation of women was very different and worse than that of men in labor issues at that time,” added Blay, who is coordinator of USP Mulheres.

Zetkin’s proposal, according to the records we have today, was an annual day of demonstrations by women for equal rights, without exactly determining a date.

But the first official women’s day was celebrated on March 19, 1911.

But March 8 ended up prevailing, thanks to the wave of protests against hunger and the First World War that took over Russia in 1917, and that would eventually lead to the Russian Revolution.

A group of workers took to the streets in one of these protests on February 23 according to the old Russian calendar – March 8 according to the Gregorian calendar, which the Soviets adopted in 1918 and is used by most countries in the world today.

After the Bolshevik revolution, the date was made official among the Soviets as a celebration of the “heroic and hard-working woman”.

Date was made official in 1975

The so-called International Women’s Day was only made official in 1975, the year the UN established the International Year of Women to remember their political and social achievements.

“This day has historical importance because it raised a problem that has not been resolved to this day. Gender inequality remains. In many places, working conditions are still worse for women (than for men)”, pointed out Eva Blay .

“It’s been more than a hundred years since this was raised and it’s good for us to continue complaining, because the problems persist. Historically, this is fundamental.”

All over the world, the date is still celebrated, but over time it has taken on a “commercial” aspect in many places.

March 8 is considered a national holiday in several countries, such as Russia itself, where sales in flower shops multiply in the days leading up to the date, as men there usually give women flowers on the occasion.

In China, women get half the day off on March 8, as recommended by the government – but not all companies follow this practice.

In the United States, the month of March is a historic month for women’s marches.

In Brazil, the date is also marked by protests in the country’s main cities, with demands for equal pay and protests against the criminalization of abortion and violence against women.

“Certainly, March 8 is a day of struggle, a day to remember that there are still many problems to be resolved, such as violence against women, feminicide, abortion, and the wage gap itself”, noted Blay.

According to her, even after decades of women’s protests and the celebration of March 8, there was still very little progress.

“I think what has evolved is that today we can talk about problems. Before, this was hidden. Everything was kept behind four walls. Before, these problems were more accepted, today they are not.”

* This text was originally published on March 8, 2018 and republished on March 8, 2024. See here.