Why is March 8 commemorated?

Every March 8, countless people around the world celebrate International Women’s Day, without knowing its true meaning. The date in fact commemorates historical and tragic events, which would be the key to the beginning of a long and arduous road to fight against sexism and in favor of equal rights without distinction of gender.

On March 8, 1857, in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, one of the first female public demonstrations took place. About 20,000 textile workers, known as “garment workers”, made their voices heard in the streets of New York, United States, with the slogan “Bread and roses”. Request equal rights with men, reduction of their working hours, better working conditions in general and cessation of child labor.

51 years later, in the same city and on the same date, some 40,000 garment workers went on strike. Request a salary similar to that of men who performed the same tasks as them and reduced the working day to 10 hours. In addition, denounced the terrible working conditions they suffered daily.

Workers at the Cotton Textil Factory were part of this movement, but their case ended in tragedy. Instead of responding to your requests, the owner of the factory has decided to close its doors so that they give up their fight but there was a fire, declared accidental, and 129 workers died.

In 1910, the 2nd International Conference of Socialist Women was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, with over 100 women representing 17 countries, in search of universal suffrage. Among them were renowned women’s rights defenders Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg. Although in February of the previous year, the Socialist Party of the United States had already commemorated National Women’s Day, it was here that they decided that every March would be “ celebrated. ” International working women’s day In the whole world.

As part of this event, on March 19, 1911, a massive and simultaneous march took place in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland, during which over a million women demanded better wages, decent working conditions, the right to vote and to hold public office, among others. Days later, 123 women and 23 men, mostly immigrants from Eastern Europe and Italy, were killed in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York City.

Since then, several episodes have occurred around the world on that date, as part of the fight for equal rights and opportunities. In coincidence with the 1st World War, the commemoration of this day was used to protest against the consequences of the war in different parts of Europe.

The feminist movements of the Russian Revolution are one example. In 1917, with the fall of the monarchy, countless women demonstrated against the deaths of around 2 million Russian soldiers and demanded better living conditions. This is where they got the right to vote, March 8 of the Gregorian calendar. From this year, Russia joined in the commemoration of Women’s Day. More and more countries have joined together and the fight for equality has become global.

In 1977, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly set the official date for the International women’s rights day for all: March 8. Much later, in 2011, the UN created UN Women, which is dedicated to “promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women”.

In 2015, all UN member states joined the Sustainable Development Goals, as a universal call to “end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of people around the world”, with an agenda that includes 17 different goals, to be achieved by 2030. Among those here, a “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”.

International Women’s Day 2021

This year’s motto is “Women leaders: for an equal future in the world of Covid-19”, with the aim of highlighting the efforts of women to achieve a more equal world and to emerge from the pandemic and, in turn, highlight the gender inequalities that still persist in the world.

“Women continue to be under-represented in public life and in decision-making … Women are heads of state or government in 22 countries, and only 24.9% of national parliamentarians are women. At the current rate of progress, gender equality between heads of government will take another 130 yearsThey declare on the official website of UN Women.

Despite this, they assure that “women are at the forefront of the battle against Covid-19, as frontline and healthcare workers, and as scientists, doctors and caregivers“. “However, they earn 11% less globally than their male counterparts. As an analysis of the work teams on Covid-19 from 87 countries points out, only 3.5% of them had gender parity ”.

For all this, March 29 Forum on Generational Equality in Mexico City, “the most important meeting for investment and adoption of measures for gender equality”, and will end in June in Paris. With representatives from all over the world, the goal will be “To promote transformative and lasting change for future generations.”

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