International Women's Day 8th March

The sun is shining outside the window, and, despite the slight frost, one feels that spring is already here, very close and will soon come into its own. And in the meantime, the remnants of the former snowdrifts glisten in the sun.

It is on such a day, the very beginning of spring, March 8, that Women's Day is celebrated: men bustle with boxes of sweets, cakes and, of course, flowers for their beloved women, giving the city an even greater sense of spring and holiday.

And we are all confident today that this is how it should be, and, perhaps, it has always been, and someone is also sure that March 8 is really International Women's Day.

But it's not that simple. Holidays sometimes change their meaning to the completely opposite, and I think that women who celebrated International Women's Day at the beginning of the twentieth century, stood at its origins, would be very surprised if men suddenly began to give them gifts and flowers... After all, frankly, on this day they fought with men, with capitalists, with the state, and even with the whole world full of injustice.

On March 8, 1908, a rally was held at the initiative of the New York Social Democratic Women's Organization in New York, USA. The rally was attended by over 15,000 women. The participants of the meeting marched along the streets of the city. Their demands were as follows: reducing the working day, equalizing the wages of women with the wages of men (at that time, the working day of women lasted longer than the working day of men, in wages, the ratio was the opposite - women received less than men), and the participants of the rally demanded giving women the right to vote.

In 1909, the Socialist Party of America declared National Women's Day, which was celebrated on the last day of February until 1913.

In 1910, at the International Socialist Women's Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, Clara Zetkin (a member and one of the founders of the German Communist Party, as well as an activist of the women's rights movement) proposed the establishment of International Women's Day. On this day, all women in the world will organize demonstrations and processions, the purpose of which is to attract the public to the problem of observing women's rights.

And already in 1911, International Women's Day was celebrated with demonstrations and rallies in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and Austria, though not on the eighth, but on March 19. On March 2, 1913, women rallied in Russia and France, and on March 9 in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Holland. In 1914, International Women's Day was held on March 8th.

But finally, the date of March 8 for Women's Day was fixed in Russia after 1917, after the February Revolution of 1917. After all, it was on February 23, 1917 that riots began in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), which would then develop into a revolution. Yes, it was February 23rd, but according to the old style, and according to the new style, it was March 8th. And in 1921, by decision of the 2nd Communist Women's Conference, it was decided to celebrate International Women's Day on March 8, because women also took an active part in the events that took place in Petrograd on February 23 (March 8) 1917. And since 1966, International Women's Day has become a day off. However, by this time it loses its original meaning and becomes the very holiday that we celebrate today.

That's just the International Women's Day is celebrated now only in the former republics of the USSR - Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Latvia, and also in the countries of the East - Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Nepal, by the way, in Madagascar, Women's Day is a day off only for women ... Celebrated on March 8 in both Serbia and Croatia.

March 8 is also celebrated annually by the UN, but in its original meaning, as the International Day for Women's Rights and International Peace.

Happy Holidays!