From Protest to Progress: The History of International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated annually on March 8^th to recognize the social, economic, culture and political achievments of women worlswide. It is a day to celebrate the progress made toward gender equality, to raise awareness about the ongoing struggles for women’s rights, to inspire further action towards a more equitable future.

IWD grew out of the lobar movement in 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. A year later, the Socialist Party of America declared the first and has become a recognized global event by the United Nations, with millions of people across the world coming together to celebrate, honor and support women National Woman's Day.

It idea came from a woman called Clara Zetkin, communist activist and advocate for women's rights in 1910 at an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen with 100 women from 17 countries, and they agreed on her suggestion unanimously.

IWD was first celebrated in 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland and made official in 1975 when the United Nations started celebrating the day. The first theme adopted by the UN (in 1996) was "Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future.

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Clara's idea for an International Women's Day had no fixed date.

It wasn't formalized until a war-time strike in 1917 when Russian women demanded "bread and peace" -and four days into the strike the Tsar was forced to abdicate and the provisional government granted women the right to vote.

The date when the women's strike commenced on the Julian calendar, which was then in use in Russia, was Sunday 23 February. This day in the Gregorian calendar was 8 March - and that's when it's celebrated today.

According to the International Women's Day website