The Facts Behind the International Women's Day

A weaving mill in New York, USA ... Extremely heavy working conditions, long working hours and very low wages for all these. As the conditions became more and more intolerable with each passing day, women workers started to push the tolerance limit. The women who decided to go on strike announced their demands: “Working in better conditions, 10 hours of the workday, equal work, equal pay ...”

The seeds of March 8, which is the source of the phenomenal actions almost all over the world, were sown in 1908 when 15,000 working women in New York demanded shorter working hours, higher wages and the right to choose.

This was one of the important actions of the workers' struggle in the USA. With the women's uprising, great worker solidarity was born.

It was first celebrated as National Women's Day with the declaration of the American Socialist Party in 1909. Clara Zetkin (The Leader of the Women's Office; for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) proposed the idea of International Women’s Day be celebrated on the same day worldwide during the second International Conference of Working Women which was held in Copenhagen in 1910. Following this proposal approved unanimously, the first official celebrations were observed in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland on 19 March 1911. It wasn't even a week since the celebrations that the tragic Triangle Fire occurred, which resulted in the death of more than 140 women workers. Such a disastrous incident paved the way for the reorganization of the legislation on women's working conditions and workers' rights in the USA.

After that, the day continued to be celebrated mostly within the framework of improving the working conditions of women and increasing awareness in society in this regard. In 1975, the United Nations officially acknowledged International Women’s Day and in 1996, it was decided to determine a special theme every year during the celebrations. This year, the International International Women's Day (IWD) will be celebrated on Sunday, March 8, with the special 2020 theme, #EachforEqual. Basically, for a better and livable world, each individual is responsible for achieving gender equality. A world that has achieved gender equality will undoubtedly be happier, more prosperous and more harmonic. The notion behind the IWD 2020 campaign theme is “Collective Individualism” By activating our ideas, efforts, and mindsets, each of us can make a great impact on the society and build a desired gender-equal world together.