March 8, 1932 Soviet International Womens Day poster
According to some old notes, the source of which has long
been lost: “The 1932 Soviet poster dedicated to the 8th of March holiday. The
red text reads: ‘8th of March is the day of the rebellion of the working women
against the kitchen slavery’ and the grey text in lower right reads: ‘Down with
the oppression and narrow-mindedness of the household work!’
“Originally in the USSR the holiday had a clear political
character, emphasizing the role of the Soviet state in liberation of women from
the second-class citizens' position.”
And again, according to another unsourced note in my files, “International
Women's Day is sponsored worldwide by the United Nations. The roots of this
celebration goes back to the late 1800's to early 1900s. It grew from women's
socialist movements and early women's trade union groups."
“The first International Women's Day was held March 19,
1911. Women socialists and trade unions held an earlier Women's Day on the last
Sunday in February, 1908. The event grew from there and has been celebrated
annually since. The focus is upon women workers, and advancing women's rights
in the workforce, politics and society.”
According to a media release from March 6, 2015, U.S.
Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) together with Senator
Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and a bipartisan coalition of Senators today announced
that they have introduced a resolution to recognize March 8, 2015 as
International Women’s Day (IWD) and commemorate the achievements of women
around the world.
“‘International Women's Day reminds us to celebrate the
contributions women make around the world and here at home,” Senator Mikulski
said. “Every day, women fight to build stronger economies, improve conditions
for families and communities, and inspire the next generation of young girls.
That's why I fight every day to make sure that women are at the table and empowered
to make a difference.’
“‘Empowering women is one of the most critical tools in our
tool box to fight poverty and injustice. All of us – women and men alike – can
help by supporting women’s efforts to claim their legal rights, to be free from
violence, earn a decent income, get an education, grow food for their families,
and make their voices heard in their communities and beyond,’ said Senator
Cardin.
“‘Twenty years since Beijing, we’ve made progress
integrating the unique needs of women into our domestic and international
policies, but there is much more work to be done.’
“The International Women’s Day resolution celebrates the
economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future
while also recognizing the obstacles women continue to face in the struggle for
equal rights and opportunities. International Women’s Day takes place annually
on March 8.
“In support of the goals of IWD, the resolution also affirms
the advancement of women as a foreign policy priority for the United States. It
notes that the ability of women to realize their full potential through
education and economic empowerment is critical to a nation’s ability to achieve
strong and lasting economic growth, as well as political and social stability.
Specifically, the bipartisan resolution highlights the underrepresentation of women
in all aspects of public life, the denial of basic human rights for women in
select countries, as well as the threat of violence and abuse too many women
around the world continue to face.
“In addition to Senators Mikulski, Cardin and Shaheen, the bipartisan
resolution is cosponsored by Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mark Kirk
(R-Ill.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Dick Durbin
(D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)”
In January 1997, the United Nations Department of Public
Information published some additional information and history of International
Womens Day
International Women's Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by
women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United
Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women
on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic,
linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to
celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least
nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.
International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as
makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to
participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece,
Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during
the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality,
fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.
The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the
turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of
expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies.
Following is a brief chronology of the most important events:
1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of
America, the first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States
on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that
month through 1913.
1910
The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen,
established a Women's Day, international in character, to honour the movement
for women's rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. The
proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100
women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the
Finnish parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance.
1911
As a result of the decision taken at Copenhagen the previous
year, International Women's Day was marked for the first time (19 March) in
Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women
and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public
office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end
to discrimination on the job.
Less than a week later, on 25 March, the tragic Triangle
Fire in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working girls, most of
them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This event had a significant impact on
labour legislation in the United States, and the working conditions leading up
to the disaster were invoked during subsequent observances of International
Women's Day.
1913-1914
As part of the peace movement brewing on the eve of World
War I, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last
Sunday in February 1913. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the
following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express
solidarity with their sisters.
1917
With 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian
women again chose the last Sunday in February to strike for "bread and
peace". Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women
went on anyway. The rest is history: Four days later the Czar was forced to
abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That
historic Sunday fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in
Russia, but on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere.
Since those early years, International Women's Day has
assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries
alike. The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened
by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the
commemoration a rallying point for coordinated efforts to demand women's rights
and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly,
International Women's Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for
change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who
have played an extraordinary role in the history of women's rights.
The Role of the United Nations
Few causes promoted by the United Nations have generated
more intense and widespread support than the campaign to promote and protect
the equal rights of women. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in San
Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to proclaim gender
equality as a fundamental human right. Since then, the Organization has helped
create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards,
programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.
Over the years, United Nations action for the advancement of
women has taken four clear directions: promotion of legal measures;
mobilization of public opinion and international action; training and research,
including the compilation of gender desegregated statistics; and direct
assistance to disadvantaged groups. Today a central organizing principle of the
work of the United Nations is that no enduring solution to society's most
threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the
full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world's women.
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