On March 8, 2024, protests and other key events are being organized across Switzerland for International Women’s Day, as they are around the world.
The objective is to denounce the discrimination that still affects women in many areas and to demand equality. But what were the steps that led to the adoption of the date March 8? And how did this international struggle movement begin? Discover the decisive dates which anchored this day in History.
The first Women’s Rights Days
This day arose from several actions organized in favor of women’s rights in the United States, Europe and Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. A period marked by the fight of women to be able to vote, a right which does not yet exist in the majority of countries.
February 28, 1909: The American Socialist Party is known for organizing the first Women’s Day, on the last Sunday of February. A date that will remain important for several years. During this celebration, it is the first time that the term Women’s Day is used.
1910: Direction Europe and Denmark where the second International Conference of Socialist Women takes place. It was at this time that German politician Clara Zetkin proposed establishing a Women’s Day each year in order to demand the establishment of women’s suffrage. The delegates from the 17 countries present unanimously approved the request, but no date has yet been set.
19 mars 1911: After the decision taken in Denmark a year earlier, a first International Women’s Day took place in Europe in four countries: Germany, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland. Women are demanding the right to vote but also an improvement in their working conditions. More than a million women participate in these gatherings.
Poster for Women’s Day on March 8, 1914, in Germany. © GETTY IMAGES/HERITAGE IMAGES
Protest against the war
Following these first mobilizations, International Women’s Day continued to take place in the middle of the First World War.
15 avril 1915: The many soldiers who died in combat, but also the poverty and difficulties of those left in the country are denounced by many women, who protest against the war. International solidarity is felt and more than a thousand women, from twelve countries, gather in The Hague, Netherlands.
February 23, 1917: In Russia, millions of soldiers were killed during the war and poverty struck the entire country. Russian women are mobilizing to demand “bread and peace”, as well as the return of their husbands from the front. A major workers’ strike and a large demonstration are organized in Petrograd, the former name of Saint Petersburg, on the last Sunday in February. This date corresponds to March 8 in our modern Gregorian calendar.
2 mars 1917:Since this female mobilization, other protests against the tsarist regime will follow one another until the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II (March 15 in our Gregorian calendar). A provisional government then took place and granted women the right to vote in the days that followed.
Photograph of a huge gathering in Saint Petersburg, February 23, 1917, where many women marched. © GETTY IMAGES/HERITAGE IMAGES
An official day
8 mars 1921:Following the revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks took power in Russia. Four years later, Lenin, who was now the head of the country, formalized March 8 as Women’s Rights Day throughout the country. A tribute to the mobilization of the workers of Saint Petersburg.
1977: In the mid-20th century and after World War II, March 8 was celebrated in many states around the world but was confused with Mother’s Day. It was not until 1977 that the United Nations formalized this date as International Women’s Day.
2024: Every year, theHIM thus invites the world population to mobilize for women’s rights. The theme chosen in 2024 denounces, for example, the lack of investment by States to act in favor of women.