The history of International Women’s Day: from its origins to the global fight for equality
International Women’s Day, celebrated every year on March 8, is dedicated to the fight for equality and achievements of women (and not only women). The movement was made official by the UN in 1975, but it began much earlier.
Ending gender inequality, defending rights and celebrating social, political, cultural and economic achievements. These are some of the goals of International Women’s Day, which is celebrated every year on March 8th. However, this date has not always been the same. In some countries it is a day of street protests, in many it is a public holiday. One thing is certain: it is dedicated to women and the fight for equality. The ‘movement’ was made official by the UN in 1975, but it began much earlier.
The origins date back to the early 20th century. In 1909, the Socialist Party of America celebrated the first Women’s Day on February 28 in honour of the 15,000 women who protested against low wages and harsh working conditions in New York, in the United States, Euronews reports.
The following year, women’s rights activist and advocate Clara Zetkin proposed a large-scale celebration of Women’s Day at an international conference of socialist women in Copenhagen, Denmark. 100 women from 17 different countries were present. The idea of creating International Women’s Day was unanimously ‘approved’.
They postpone motherhood and are the target of inequalities at work: a portrait of women in Portugal
After the celebration in the United States and Clara Zetkin’s proposal, International Women’s Day was celebrated for the first time on March 19, 1911, when 1 million people took to the streets in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.
Celebrations followed in the years that followed, with countries around the world marking Women’s Day. For example, China in 1922, Tunisia in 1956 and Ukraine in 1965.
According to the Portuguese Platform for Women’s Rights , it began to be celebrated on March 8 , when in 1917 Russian female workers went on strike to protest for better living and working conditions and against World War I. The protests demanding “bread and peace” were brutally repressed and marked the beginning of the Russian Revolution.
It was not until 1975 that the UN began celebrating International Women’s Day. It was recognized two years later by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 32/142, says the Jacques Delors European Information Centre.
Since then, the UN has been the main driving force behind the day when women’s achievements are celebrated and causes such as the right to vote, equal pay, greater representation in leadership positions and access to education are defended. However, it is a global movement of all those who fight for human rights.
The day is marked with the symbol of the female gender, usually accompanied by the colors purple, green and white. According to the International Women’s Day website, purple symbolizes dignity and justice, green symbolizes hope and white symbolizes purity.
“For all women and girls: rights, equality, empowerment” is the theme of International Women’s Day 2025.
The European Parliament will mark the day with a ceremony on Tuesday in Strasbourg. Women fighting for peace, freedom and justice will give speeches, and then MEPs and representatives of the European Council and the European Union will discuss violence against women, gender inequalities and the need for equal participation of women in society.
In Portugal,the President of the Republic warned this Saturday that there are still “realities to be fulfilled on the path to equality”, 50 years after the United Nations began to mark International Women’s Day.
“There are still realities to be fulfilled on the path to equality: equal pay, representation in leadership positions, protection in situations of physical and/or psychological violence or even access to education”, highlighted Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in a note published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic in which it marks International Women’s Day.