For more than a century, March 8 has been celebrated around the world as International Women's Day. For most men, it is an opportunity to thank and express appreciation to the women they care about. Traditionally, they do so with flowers, both in the family and in the workplace. In earlier times, the symbol of this holiday was the red carnation. What are the origins and meaning of this holiday today?
Today's girls can hardly imagine what women had to go through in the past to get the same rights as men, to vote, to study or to work as doctors, for example. What they take for granted today cost their predecessors enormous efforts.
The original idea of the International Women's Day was to commemorate the fight for women's rights, especially for the introduction of women's right to vote, for equality between women and men, for the elimination of discrimination and for better working conditions.
At a time of social crises and national preparations for the coming world war, women began to advocate more for their rights and the opportunity to participate in public life. In 1907, the first international congress of socialist women was held in Stuttgart. It was here that a proposal was made that women should meet on a certain day of the year to bring the issue of women's suffrage to the attention of the general public. Nearly 60 women delegates from 15 countries attended the Stuttgart conference.
In 1908, 15,000 New York seamstresses marched through the streets of New York City demanding better working conditions, higher wages, shorter hours, women's suffrage and an end to child labor. The slogan of the strike was Bread and Roseswhen bread symbolised economic security and roses a better quality of life. Since then, National Women's Day was held in the United States on the last Sunday of February (until 1913). The first celebration of Women's Day was reportedly organized by the American Socialist Party on 28 February 1909 in New York at the suggestion of activist Theresa Malkiel.
The idea of an international holiday then originated in Europe in August 1910, at the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen, where German socialist and founder of the working women's movement Clara Zetkin proposed that women around the world celebrate their day in support of their rights, especially the right to vote. A firm date had not yet been set. All 100 delegates, representing 17 countries, embraced the idea as a strategy to fight for equality. The first such organised gathering of women took place a year later in several European countries, including Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.
According to the International Labour Organisation, the historic landmark in the subsequent celebration of the International Women's Day was the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist garment factory in New York on 25 March 1911, in which 146 young women workers, mostly immigrants, died.
The date of 8 March was not set until after the First World War, when in 1917, at the beginning of the February Revolution, which preceded the outbreak of the October Revolution, disgruntled women took to the streets of St Petersburg and stood in long bread lines. Under the slogan For peace and bread sparked a huge anti-war demonstration and triggered one of the revolutions of the year. A week or so later, the Russian Tsar was forced to abdicate and the provisional government, among other things, granted Russian women the right to vote. The day the women demonstrated fell on February 23 of the Julian calendar, which corresponded to March 8 of the Gregorian calendar. This eventually settled International Women's Day on 8 March.
Officially, this holiday was recognized by the United Nations in 1975, which was declared the International Year of Women. In that year, many national governments also recognized the Women's Day. Today, more than 100 countries around the world have done so. The holiday is commemorated as a day of international solidarity of women for equality, justice, peace and development. Its mission is to recognise the achievements of women in politics, science, culture and other fields, while also seeking to highlight areas where women's disadvantaged status still persists, whether it is the under-representation of women in politics and leadership positions, the pay gap or violence against women. Although many things have changed for the better in this respect, there is still room for improvement, particularly in some Islamic and Arab countries.
In the Czech Republic, 8 March has been a significant day since 2004.
Pixabay/ www.gnews.cz - HeK
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