By Saumya V.
International Women’s Day commemorates women’s struggle for equality and liberation. Historically, women have played an integral role in society’s progression. In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. This protest, also known as “Women’s Day Off,” inspired the first National Women’s Day in the US in 1909. This was far from the only influence the march had. In 1910, an International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen, where activist Clara Zetkin proposed the idea of International Women’s Day, a day when women in every country can press for their demands. Over 100 women from 17 countries met her suggestion with unanimous approval.
The following year, over a million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, to hold public office and end discrimination. Tragically, less than a week later, on March 25th, 1911, the Triangle Fire in NYC claimed the lives of more than 140 working women and girls, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disaster drew attention to working conditions and labor legislation in the United States and became a focus of subsequent International Women’s Day events.
The same year of 1911, suffragist Helen Todd wrote in The American Magazine of her experience travelling with fellow suffragist women, when she stayed at the home of an elderly woman who was unable to attend their march.
“I saw Mother Jones’ pillow…with the inscription, ‘Bread for all, and Roses too.’ … Woman’s vote will go toward helping forward the time when life’s Bread, which is home, shelter and security, and the Roses of life, music, education, nature and books, shall be the heritage of every child that is born in the country, in the government of which she has a voice.”
“There will be no prisons, no scaffolds, no children in factories, no girls driven on the street to earn their bread, in the day when there shall be ‘Bread for all, and Roses too.’”
The rallying cry for Bread and Roses is still remembered today in the struggle for women’s rights.
It wasn’t until 1975 that the United Nations marked International Women’s Day for the first time. Each year, the UN announces an annual theme connected to women’s rights. In 1997 it was “Women at the Peace table” which was followed in 1998 with “Women and Human Rights”, in 1999 with “World Free of Violence Against Women”, and so on. This year, the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women has stated their priority theme for International Women’s Day: “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and addressing structural barriers.”
This International Women’s Day, it is crucial that we remember the history of women’s struggle and immense strength in achieving the right to vote, to hold office, to have safe and equitable working conditions, to uphold marginalized women, to be safe from the threat of violence, to pursue education, to have dignity and bodily autonomy. There remains much to be achieved, we must remain resilient and work collectively to continue these struggles for women’s rights.
Retrieved from History of Women for Racial and Economic Equality –
