Why is March 8th International Women's Day?

Why is March 8th International Women's Day?

The stories of the creation of International Women's Day nurtured the imaginary that the date had come from a fire in a New York textile factory in 1911, when about 130 workers were burned to death. Undoubtedly, the incident on March 25 of that year marked the trajectory of feminist struggles throughout the 20th century, but the events that led to the creation of the date are well before this event.

Since the late 19th century, women's organizations from labor movements have protested in various countries in Europe and the United States. The work hours of approximately 15 hours a day and the mediocre wages introduced by the Industrial Revolution led women to strikes to demand better working conditions and an end to child labor, common in factories during the period.

The first National Women's Day was celebrated in May 1908 in the United States, when about 1500 women joined a demonstration for economic and political equality in the country. The following year the Socialist Party officialized the date as February 28, with a protest that brought together more than 3,000 people in central New York and culminated in November 1909 in a long textile strike that closed almost 500 American factories.

In 1910, during the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in Denmark, a resolution to create an annual date for the celebration of women's rights was adopted by more than 100 representatives from 17 countries. The goal was to honor women's struggles and thus gain support for instituting universal suffrage in many nations.

With World War I (1914-1918) there were even more protests around the world. But it was on March 8, 1917 (Feb. 23 in the Julian calendar, adopted by Russia until then), when about 90,000 female workers demonstrated against Tsar Nicholas II, poor working conditions, hunger and Russian participation in the war - in a protest known as "Bread and Peace" - that the date was consecrated, although it was made official as International Women's Day, only in 1921.

Only 20 years later, in 1945, the United Nations (UN) signed the first international agreement affirming principles of equality between men and women. In the 1960s, the feminist movement gained ground, in 1975 the International Year of Women was officially celebrated and in 1977 the "March 8" was officially recognized by the United Nations.

"March 8 must be seen as a moment of mobilization for the conquest of rights and to discuss the discriminations and moral, physical and sexual violence still suffered by women, preventing setbacks that threaten what has already been achieved in several countries," explains Professor Maria Célia Orlato Selem, Master in Feminist Studies at the University of Brasília and doctorate in Cultural History at the University of Campinas (Unicamp).

In Brazil, the movements for women's rights emerged among the anarchist groups of the early 20th century, who sought, as in other countries, better working conditions and quality of life. The women's struggle was strengthened by the movement of the suffragists in the 1920s and 1930s, who obtained the right to vote in 1932, in the Constitution promulgated by Getúlio Vargas. Since the 1970s, organizations that have included gender equality, sexuality and women's health have emerged in the country. In 1982, feminism began to maintain an important dialogue with the State, with the creation of the State Council of the Feminine Condition in São Paulo, and in 1985, with the appearance of the first Specialized Women's Police Station.

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY