International Women's Day
This Sunday, March 8th, International Women’s Day will be celebrated in countries across the world. Here is a brief history of the day and of the fight for women’s rights.
The British MP John Stuart Mill was the first Member of Parliament to call for women’s right to vote, in 1869.
On September 19th 1893, New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote.
In 1910, at the second International Conference of Working Women held in Copenhagen, a woman called Clara Zetkin, the leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany suggested, for the first time, the idea of an International Women’s Day. The conference was attended by over 100 women, from 17 different countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women’s clubs, and the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. The proposal was approved almost unanimously. The following year, on March 19th, 1911, the very first International Women’s Day was celebrated in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
The date of March 19th is believed to have been originally chosen because on March 19th, 1848, in the context of the 1848 revolution, the Prussian king recognised for the first time the threat of the proletariat uprising and issued a series of promises, including the promise to introduce the vote for women (which he incidentally did not keep). The success of the first International Women’s Day, marked by over a million people, exceeded expectations with numerous meetings organised in small towns and villages across the four countries.
In 1913, International Women’s Day was transferred to March 8th.
Read entire article at History Today
The British MP John Stuart Mill was the first Member of Parliament to call for women’s right to vote, in 1869.
On September 19th 1893, New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote.
In 1910, at the second International Conference of Working Women held in Copenhagen, a woman called Clara Zetkin, the leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany suggested, for the first time, the idea of an International Women’s Day. The conference was attended by over 100 women, from 17 different countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women’s clubs, and the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. The proposal was approved almost unanimously. The following year, on March 19th, 1911, the very first International Women’s Day was celebrated in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
The date of March 19th is believed to have been originally chosen because on March 19th, 1848, in the context of the 1848 revolution, the Prussian king recognised for the first time the threat of the proletariat uprising and issued a series of promises, including the promise to introduce the vote for women (which he incidentally did not keep). The success of the first International Women’s Day, marked by over a million people, exceeded expectations with numerous meetings organised in small towns and villages across the four countries.
In 1913, International Women’s Day was transferred to March 8th.