Celebrating Women's History Month
This act of defiance of women since the 8th of March, has already more than a century, denoting the struggle of feminists and the calls to realize the rights of men and women and fighting against all kinds of discriminations and inequalities. The first attempt to proclamate one day as the women day issue relates back to 1909 when the then Socialist Party of America called for it.
Nonetheless, the concept of an International Women’s Day was supported at the International Conference of Socialist Women in August 1910 held in Copenhagen which was initiated by German Clara Zetkin, but no date was given.
At the same time, developed nations were beginning to experience an increase in the volume of women’s voices championing anti-discrimination in employment and the right to vote. The first movement for women’s suffrage began in the year nineteen hundred and three in Great Britain and achieved some success in 1918 where women were allowed to vote (from age 30 and above) – the first time in history. The first date that can be recorded as the celebration of the International Women's Day is March 19, 1911, when a few millions of people took to the streets of Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland to fight for the rights of women.
Since the early 1970s, Western feminist movements have held onto this symbolic date as a key milestone in the struggle for equality, political and social rights, the legalization of abortion, and labor equality. In 1977, United Nations anf other international entities took the decision that March 8 shall be celebrated International Women’s Day.
On March 8, 2010, a series of protests were held on five continents since it was the Centenary of the International Women’s Day. The United Nations prioritized equal rights at the workplace and societies with the slogan ‘Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All’.