Let’s celebrate International Women’s Day

There’s one day every year when men surprise women, girls, close to their hearts, with flowers, thus thanking them for their wholeheartedness, endless care, unconditional love, morning coffees, freshly ironed clothes and delicious dinners after a day of hard work. Let’s celebrate every women on International Women’s Day!

According to mult-kor.hu, the idea of designating one day of the year for women arose in the beginning of the last century as a result of political, feminist and trade union movements. In 1909, the American Socialist Party chose the 28^th of February to celebrate women, and the date remained until 1913. At the II. International Socialist Women’s Congress, held in Copenhagen in 1910, the German Clara Zetkin suggested that women’s day should be held annually all over the world.

The 8^th of March was chosen as International Women’s Day in 1914 in honour of the strike of the textile workwomen of New York, held in 1857 (according to other resources, in honour of 129 workwomen who died in a fire in a New York factory in 1908 on this day). This was the time when women’s demands for the broadening of their social-economic rights and abolishment of their restrictive practice on the labour market strengthened in most countries.

German poster from 1914 (Wikimedia Commons)

International Women’s Day was held for the first time on the 19^th of March, 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Men also attended the demonstrations, processions. In that time, the main focus was women’s right to vote. When the movements started achieving their main goal in more and more countries, the focus drifted to emancipation in the 1960s.

Throughout time and history, the celebration has lost its political aspect in most places and women are mostly celebrated with flowers and chocolate today. This is also the case in Hungary, where the occasion was first celebrated in 1913 with flyers. In the next year, women’s day events were held all over the country. The celebration of International Women’s Day was obligatory in the Rákosi era, when (from 1948) it was designated to be held on the 8^th March following the Soviet pattern (women protested for bread and peace in 1917 on this day).